*boggles*

[tsaiko]

License plates expire in Indiana? o_O

I discovered this when I went to get a parking permit for campus. They had me add my vehicle. Two of the questions were "What is the month that your plate expires? What is the year your plate expires?"

WTF? I have NC plates. Those things don't expire. Hell, my grandfather has had the same plates since before I was born and I'm 28. And is their database smart enough to realize "Oh! She has out of state plates. They might not expire."? Nope. I had to completely make up the expiration month/date in order to register my car.

This is kind of like having roads with no lines. It's going to take a while for my mind to wrap around the concept.

Comments

[achika-chan.livejournal.com]

Yep, they expire. Yet another reason why Indiana is wacko.

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

My dad mentioned that at one time, NC would send you a new license plate every year. I boggled at that as well. It's just so... bizarre.

[tygati.livejournal.com]

*blink* Woah. Okay, Idaho, Oregon, and California all expire. >.> You can register them for a year or two years at a time. *nod*

[mechante-fille.livejournal.com]

Maine license plates do not expire. You have to re-register the car every year. Is that what they mean? The registration sticker goes on the plates. Unlike one I saw for... some other state recently, where there was a sticker on the registration windshield, and it was good until 2009.

Can you keep your car registered in NC? In most states you have 30 days to switch all that over... but maybe as a student you are keeping your 'permanent address' in NC?

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

Now see you have to re-register the car every year in NC, but that involves them sending you a new sticker and you paying your taxes on time. That's in. You also have to keep your car inspected and that is shown through a big sticker on your windshield.

I'm going to use the couple of months to that we have both apartments to figure that out. I can honestly say that for those months I have an NC address. But I do want to switch over to Indiana since that means next year I can pay in-state tuition.

[siha-chan.livejournal.com]

Yea, NC has to re-register every year. Which is basically the same as expiring. In AL they used 'expire' to basically say when you need to re-register your plates.

As far as I know it's the same in a lot of states... at least the ones I've lived in. Usually a state won't make you buy another plate until they redesign the plate (which they just did in NC and AL). That's one place where AL is drastically different. You have to pay like 200 for a plate, but I don't think they have to pay the taxes every year like NC does (bleed ya dry they will with those taxes).

Basically I think you can put down when you're due to re-register your plates as your expirations month and year. No worries... the fun part is getting all that transferred to the next state. Good Luck!

[suntyger.livejournal.com]

Huh, I've never lived anywhere that license plates didn't expire--in fact, it wasn't until I moved to California that I ever saw an option to register them for more than one year at a time. Getting the plates renewed every year has always just been a fact of life for me.

[mashiroikaze.livejournal.com]

I agree with the sentiments above - it's unusual for plates *not* to expire. That doesn't mean you get a new license plate every year, though - it just means you have to put up a new sticker on the car every year or two. And woe be it if you try driving on expired tags (and in some cases, parking with expired tags) - they come down like a metric ton of bricks on your ass for it.

I guess in DC the plates themselves don't expire, but the vehicle does. Here, the plates don't have stickers - the sticker is in the windshield (which I always thought odd), opposite of the inspection sticker. Same basic idea, though. Most other states I've had experience with require that you re-register your tags every year or every two years.

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

Now see, in NC you have to get new stickers every year but I've never had any place ask what month/year the stickers were. No one cares but the state of NC. That's why I boggled over the plate expiration. I eventually put down when my stickers expired, but I don't think that's what they were talking about.

Someone else mentioned the stickers on the car. That's seems weird to me too. Then again, some states don't require car inspections (Georgia for one) and that absolutely floored my sister when she was down there.

[itlandm.livejournal.com]

Wait, there are roads with no lines too?

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

YES! First time in Indiana I noticed them. Obviously they are common in some areas. Not where I live. Where I live there are lines on every road.

[ainokitsune.livejournal.com]

Same in Ohio. You have to go in and buy little new stickers with the year of expiry on 'em, but not replace the entire plates. So there are the little colored stickers--two in front (I think) and one for the rear plate.

I forget how frequently, but I think I did it twice when I had my car...

[tsaiko.livejournal.com]

Now see, we have those stickers too in NC that have to be replaced every year. And when I say replaced, it means NC sends them in the mail as long as you've paid the taxes on the vehicle. It just usually when I'm getting a parking permit, no one cares. There just stickers. Only the state cares if I have them. I was just floored that I was asked. And they specifically said when the plate expires.