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Old 07-16-2015, 06:14 PM
 
Location: Far NW San Antonio
293 posts, read 390,061 times
Reputation: 187

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I just got the notice to pay for my vehicle registraton renewel. At the bottom in bold letters it says new plates required and they are 7 years old. Does this mean I have to go to the DMV and get new license plates or will they be the same just new plates but keeping the same letters and numbers? What happens if I dont get new plates? I have never heard of this before
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Old 07-16-2015, 06:22 PM
 
1,647 posts, read 2,050,106 times
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Why don't you just call and ask? Easy.
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Old 07-16-2015, 06:28 PM
 
4,300 posts, read 7,166,187 times
Reputation: 3445
You will have to get new plates, which will have new numbers. They will also issue a new windshield sticker. You will need to go the Tax Assessor's office, one of the substations, or you can get them by mail (which is what I did when I had to replace my seven-year-old plates). You can't get the new plates at contract places like HEB, like you can with the renewal stickers.

Last edited by ged_782; 07-16-2015 at 07:05 PM..
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Old 07-16-2015, 08:39 PM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,131 posts, read 85,956,304 times
Reputation: 130800
The plates are good for seven years, and then you are required to obtain a new set of plates from your local county tax office. Mandatory replacement is necessary because at seven years the "reflectivity" of the license plate sheeting begins to diminish.

Trying to issue a plate with the same number that you have/had, would not be an economically sound idea. License plates are manufactured by prisoners, and are made by the thousands. The plates are made by offenders at the Wynne Correctional Unit in Huntsville. TxDOT contracts with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to manufacture
license plates.

With new laws implemented in the last legislative session, when you sell your car - the plates no longer go WITH the car and used car dealers have to change THEIR way of operations. They can no longer sell the car with metal tags on them.
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Old 07-16-2015, 11:33 PM
 
Location: Mid South Central TX
3,216 posts, read 8,518,670 times
Reputation: 2263
Second the pay by mail option. Pay online with a credit card, and they will mail them to you. Otherwise, you can spend 1+ hours at the tax assessor...
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Old 07-17-2015, 12:25 AM
 
Location: San Antonio, Texas
4,287 posts, read 7,987,895 times
Reputation: 3938
Quote:
Originally Posted by elnina View Post
The plates are good for seven years, and then you are required to obtain a new set of plates from your local county tax office. Mandatory replacement is necessary because at seven years the "reflectivity" of the license plate sheeting begins to diminish.

Trying to issue a plate with the same number that you have/had, would not be an economically sound idea. License plates are manufactured by prisoners, and are made by the thousands. The plates are made by offenders at the Wynne Correctional Unit in Huntsville. TxDOT contracts with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to manufacture
license plates.

With new laws implemented in the last legislative session, when you sell your car - the plates no longer go WITH the car and used car dealers have to change THEIR way of operations. They can no longer sell the car with metal tags on them.
And of course, the "reflectivity" excuse has little to do with motorist safety but everything to do with revenue generation: toll booths, red-light cameras & automatic license-plate readers have difficulty recognizing plates with lowered reflectivity, so they replace them every 7 years.

Disgusting! Horrific!
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Old 07-17-2015, 04:37 AM
 
2,600 posts, read 8,728,070 times
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Yes.
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Old 07-17-2015, 06:23 AM
 
4,300 posts, read 7,166,187 times
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Texas license plates were replaced annually until 1975. In 1975, it was initially announced that the plates would be replaced at 5 year intervals, but it got stretched to 8 years. Then, a few years ago they dropped it down a year to 7 years.

Another factor is that they would eventually run out of letter/number combinations, if the plates could be kept for an infinite period of time. Some of us remember when they issued plates with three letters, followed by three numbers. When they ran out of combinations, they started reversing it to three numbers, followed by three letters.

When they ran out of those combinations, it was back to three letters, followed by three numbers. But by that time, all of the previously issued three letter/three number combination plates had been retired. Now that the new plates have seven characters, they bought some more time (offset by increasing numbers of vehicles being registered Statewide).

There is no extra charge for mandatory license plate replacement.
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Old 07-17-2015, 11:52 AM
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
432 posts, read 519,148 times
Reputation: 230
When do the plates start staying with the person, not the car ?

It was like this in GA resulting in lots of homemade paper plates which said 'tag applied for'.

Or worse, when selling a used car, the buyer would often ask to keep the plates for a while as part of the deal.
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Old 07-17-2015, 04:05 PM
 
Location: San 'Tone
302 posts, read 1,149,729 times
Reputation: 356
Quote:
Originally Posted by steve807 View Post
When do the plates start staying with the person, not the car ?

It was like this in GA resulting in lots of homemade paper plates which said 'tag applied for'.

Or worse, when selling a used car, the buyer would often ask to keep the plates for a while as part of the deal.

Specialized and custom plates stay with the owner. If you sell your vehicle, you are able to transfer your specialized plates to your new vehicle or you can simply take them out of circulation by not paying for renewal should you no longer have need for them.
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