Untaken advice

dropstep wrote: I once got a random non compliance suspension for having plates in my name that werent insured. Sold the car to a guy who was going to derby it and forgot. 90 day suspension and 2 years of an sr-22 bond taught me to remove and turn in plates and always get the title notarized.

Did they not mail you anything before issuing the suspension? How did they prove you operated the vehicle on public roads without insurance? Obviously it varies by state but I thought it was legal to have a registered car that was uninsured as long as you didn't drive it.

Correct Brian. My son sold a motorcycle to a knuckle head in Queens who didn't have a license or a clue. He never registered or insured it and used a stolen plate so when he got in an accident and the bike got impounded, the NYC cops called. They traced the VIN back to Ian. Luckily he had a Bill of Sale saying as-is signed by the buyer, he also had the plates.

Jumper's buddy should have done the right thing or remove all identifiers.
Interested in seeing how this ends and who ends up on the hook for towing etc.

Dan

dculberson wrote: Obviously it varies by state but I thought it was legal to have a registered car that was uninsured as long as you didn't drive it.

As Sky_Render said: Don't try that in Maryland. Friend of the wife's had a second vehicle she used as a winter beater. She thought she could save some money by dropping the insurance in the summer. Ended up costing her $500.

I had a professor who told me to go into sales.

He was right. I should have gone into sales.

I made this mistake recently.

Wanted to sell my 205k 2.7l all-manual 98 Tacoma. It ran, top end made some noise, check engine light had turned on and off by itself, and it was pretty rough around the edges. Scanned craigslist for the lowest prices 4x4 model I could find (which was a v6 model with 280k), and priced mine $500 cheaper. It sold in 3 days.

Thing was, the guy I sold it to intended to flip it. He of course didn't tell me this, and when he drove off with my license plate still attached, I thought nothing of it. Then my wife spotted him driving it around town, and I saw it listed on Craigslist a week later for $1500 more than what I had sold it to him for. When I confronted him about it, he got pissed off telling me I had ripped him off and he wouldn't return the plate. I canceled it with the state.

He even advertised it as "two owner" vehicle (he was technically the third but never transfer the title).

I later learned that this is common for people who flip vehicles. Get the seller to give you the tag so the vehicle never sits in your name. Avoids taxes and registering as a dealer.

Most of the time i have the plates off the car before they pay for it. I do tend to leave them on for the test drive.

@Hal: So what were they fined for? Is it illegal to have an uninsured car that is registered in Md? (As opposed to operating an uninsured car, which is what's illegal in Ohio, I believe!)

In Nevada, you can be fined for having a vehicle that is licensed, but uninsured.

So when you sell a car, you turn in the plate to the DMV and then, once the receipt is in your hand, you cancel the insurance.

If you cancel insurance before turning in the plate, you can and will be fined.

dculberson wrote: @Hal: So what were they fined for? Is it illegal to have an uninsured car that is registered in Md? (As opposed to operating an uninsured car, which is what's illegal in Ohio, I believe!)

YES! If you drop the insurance, you better turn the tags in. MD can be very lenient on some things (only need safety inspection on transfer of ownership) and very tough on others.

When I first moved to MD I still had 6 months to go on my PA tags so I didn't register the car in MD. About 2 months in I was approached by a city police officer as I parked the car where I was renting. I was told he had seen my car there frequently and I had 30 day to get the registration changed or I would be ticketed.

dculberson wrote:

dropstep wrote: I once got a random non compliance suspension for having plates in my name that werent insured. Sold the car to a guy who was going to derby it and forgot. 90 day suspension and 2 years of an sr-22 bond taught me to remove and turn in plates and always get the title notarized.

Did they not mail you anything before issuing the suspension? How did they prove you operated the vehicle on public roads without insurance? Obviously it varies by state but I thought it was legal to have a registered car that was uninsured as long as you didn't drive it.

the letter got too me 2 days before i was suspended. i could have drove to columbus for the hearing to prove that the car was inoperable (time stamped photos) or sold if i had the title notarized. I was going to be paying the reinstatement fee regardless and had just been laid off so i ate the suspension.