Expired Registration Question - No longer have car (Durham: sale, transporting)
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Car registration expired on 6/30, my husband got pulled over on 8/19 and was ticketed. He hadn't been driving the car during its expired registration, it was just parked at our house. That evening he was driving the car to the person's house who had just purchased the car, since we bought a new one. Of course the one 30 minute stretch of time that we drove the car without registration, he got pulled over!
Many of the previous suggestions say to bring proof of new registration with ticket to the courthouse, but we don't have the car anymore so I don't know what to do. We're heading to Durham on Friday for this and I would love to avoid the $215 fine+court fees.
If your husband drove a car with expired registration and got a ticket I don't know that there is much that can be done. Have you turned in your old plates yet? I'd go have a word with the DA and explain the situation (after the plates are turned in)... Maybe you'll get a break.
Might have been better to have the buyer drive the car without a plate? I was always told it was better to drive in transit without a plate than with the wrong plate. The plate needed to be turned in as soon as the car was no longer driven?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The law requires that you have a current registration. In the case of a sale such as you did, they probably have a temporary permit available to move it without the registration, as we do here in WA. It's specifically meant for buying, selling, or transporting during a restoration or major repair. Despite your story a judge would likely make you pay the fine.
Might have been better to have the buyer drive the car without a plate? I was always told it was better to drive in transit without a plate than with the wrong plate. The plate needed to be turned in as soon as the car was no longer driven?
yep, found this out the hard way. Just bought a car on a friday evening, no way to get a plate. Put a plate from my other car on it. I got pulled for "ficticious tags". My tags were confiscated, and it was within the cops right to tow the vehicle, but he did not do that. At court the case was dismissed when I showed the I got the new car registered, but I still had to go to the DMV and get a new set of tags for my original car. Once they are confiscated they are gone and you have to re-register the vehicle.
Thanks everyone. The ticket was given on a Friday and the plates were turned in the next week. Sounds like the easiest thing is just to go explain our story and see what happens. Either way, I think it's ridiculous that the fine was $25 but the court fees were $180. I figure that if I'm going to have to pay anyway, I'm going to make the court do some work.
Same thing happened to me when I was selling my car. Did you get the ticket for expired registration?
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