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Yes, you need to return it. Returning the plate is the only way the DMV knows that you are no longer registering the car in NC. If you don't return, they will expect you to continue paying registration fees, property taxes, and maintain NC insurance (don't know how much they enforce that, better safe than sorry). You can return it by mailing it to 3148 Mail Service Center; Raleigh North Carolina 27699. Include a note asking for a receipt to be mailed to your new address, and they'll send one by mail a few weeks later.
That's crazy. Once the car is registered in another state then the NC registration becomes void so there is no need to return the NC plate. If you cancel the insurance but maintain NC registration/ownership of the car or still reside in NC, then yes you need to return the NC plate but not if you move out of state and register the vehicle that state. NC DMV can't fine you for a vehicle no longer registered in this state.
Here's an anecdote that happened to my family. We moved to Raleigh in 1983 from NY state. A few months after we moved, one evening there's a knock on the door and a police officer is standing there. He said that we had not returned our NY license plates after registering our vehicles in NC and he was there to collect them. My dad told him he was unaware he was supposed to return them and they were hanging in the garage. He turned them over, the officer told him to have a good evening and that was that. We always found that to be a very odd experience.
That's crazy. Once the car is registered in another state then the NC registration becomes void so there is no need to return the NC plate. If you cancel the insurance but maintain NC registration/ownership of the car or still reside in NC, then yes you need to return the NC plate but not if you move out of state and register the vehicle that state. NC DMV can't fine you for a vehicle no longer registered in this state.
But you will continue to pay property tax on the car in the County it is registered in. There is no big deal about simply mailing the plate back, send it certified mail return receipt requested, or Priority Mail with a confirmation delivery. Why borrow problems.
Done quite a bit of State hopping and I haven't ever returned license plates (more out of ignorance than a desire to break the law). I haven't had a tax bill or police officer come knocking from the previous Counties.
You should return it. Not because the state will come looking for you or try to continue taxing you (they won't), but for a much better reason: you can get a pro-rated refund of the property tax you paid on the car here in NC.
Send the plate to the DMV at the address that mpheels posted. The DMV will send you a certificate (Form FS-20) to confirm that the plate was turned in. Send a refund request and a copy of that certificate to the tax office in the county where the car was previously registered, and they will send you a refund check. I did exactly this when I moved from NC to California several years ago, and I got back a total of about $150 in property taxes on two cars.
But you will continue to pay property tax on the car in the County it is registered in. There is no big deal about simply mailing the plate back, send it certified mail return receipt requested, or Priority Mail with a confirmation delivery. Why borrow problems.
You don't seem to understand that if the vehicle is registered in another state then NC property taxes are no longer applicable because the former NC registration becomes null and void at that point.
Here's an anecdote that happened to my family. We moved to Raleigh in 1983 from NY state. A few months after we moved, one evening there's a knock on the door and a police officer is standing there. He said that we had not returned our NY license plates after registering our vehicles in NC and he was there to collect them. My dad told him he was unaware he was supposed to return them and they were hanging in the garage. He turned them over, the officer told him to have a good evening and that was that. We always found that to be a very odd experience.
1983....? Seriously?
How relevant is that now today over three decades later?
You should return it. Not because the state will come looking for you or try to continue taxing you (they won't), but for a much better reason: you can get a pro-rated refund of the property tax you paid on the car here in NC.
I can certainly understand going through the hassle for newer high tax value cars but my cars are so old that the small tax value refund I might get wouldn't be worth the effort for just a few bucks.
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