how much is a temporary tag and what do i have to do to get one

Buying a new or used motorcar from a dealership tin can be a lot of fun. Looking at all of your options, figuring out which model is best for you, and taking that exam drive to get your first feel of the perfect car at a used car dealership near you lot are all great moments that can make the procedure more rewarding than yous might first expect. Simply, to be fair, there can also exist some hassles that bleed a bit of the enjoyment out of the entire affair––especially if you live in a state that doesn't permit temporary plates!

Temporary plates should, in theory, exist a simple concept that functions the aforementioned from i state to some other in the US. Sadly, as with so many things when it comes to government regulations and red record, that is not the instance. For the most part, the idea behind and function of temporary plates or tags is actually quite uncomplicated, and information technology works well. Only there are some outliers that muck upward the whole thing, and if yous're in certain states (looking at you Massachusetts), then your life tin can get pretty complicated pretty quickly.

Then let's have a look at what you need to know about temporary plates before you caput to a used auto dealership near you.

What are Temporary Plates?

We'll beginning this off merely and get into more complicated issues a bit later on. Temporary plates or tags are, in essence, just temporary versions of the license plates that are required on vehicles throughout the US. These license plates, too known every bit vehicle registration plates, are proof that a vehicle is registered with the state in which its owner lives, and that any necessary fees have been paid to keep it registered in that state.

A standard license plate is all well and good for when you're driving around on most days, but when y'all become a new vehicle (even a used one that's new to you), and then there's leap to be some period of time between when y'all take possession of the car and can get it registered. That is what temporary plates are for––they are usually printed on paper and placed where the standard plates would otherwise go. This provides proof of short-term registration and that you purchased the vehicle legally, giving y'all a little fourth dimension to have the vehicle properly registered and get the real license plates.

Getting Temporary Plates

Unremarkably, in states that allow temporary plates (which is to say, nigh states that abide past the rules of common sense), motorcar dealerships will be authorized to provide their customers with temporary plates or tags. When you finish buying or financing a vehicle, the dealership will print out or write out temporary tags based on information they receive from the land's motor vehicle registry, department, or bureau. Depending on other state requirements, you likely demand to provide proof of insurance prior to the dealership placing temporary plates on the vehicle.

Some states might besides let other designated individuals or companies to provide temporary plates for customers. In general, nonetheless, this is unremarkably handled by a dealership that sells cars, trucks, SUVs, and trailers. The state licensing or motor vehicle section tin also event temporary plates. This is usually done when you register your vehicle and need to wait until your permanent plates are sent to you so you tin can drive until then.

Does Every Country Allow Temporary Plates?

No, not every state bug or allows temporary plates to be used by its residents. Fortunately, the majority of states in the US practice let temporary plates to be issued by registered machine dealerships and similar businesses, making life simple for drivers in their state. Even those states that do non issue temporary plates will typically accept a temporary tag from some other country when someone is driving through, and so long every bit the commuter is a resident of a different state.

California was, notoriously, 1 of the exceptions to the temporary plate dominion for many years. In the past, a simple paper "license" was placed where the plates should go––often ad the dealership that sold the vehicle, rather than an bodily temporary tag. This was legal for about threescore days, but people would oft continue to bulldoze with these dealer "plates" for years, rather than attaching their official plates to try to avoid parking tickets and red light cameras.

As of 2019, however, California joined most of the country and began issuing temporary plates on vehicles bought from a dealership. Some other states, however, continue to resist this push into the modern era, nearly famously Massachusetts. Oh, Massachusetts…

The Massachusetts Problem

While California didn't event temporary plates from its dealerships for a long fourth dimension, their workaround was elementary. Fifty-fifty though information technology could be abused by drivers (and it certainly was), it didn't actively make the lives of California drivers more difficult. Massachusetts, on the other manus, has gone a different way with it.

You see, Massachusetts doesn't effect temporary licenses or tags either, but they don't requite you some simple paper from a dealer––they give you cypher. You have to have your plate from registering the vehicle at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV), or y'all are driving your new vehicle illegally. Dealerships in Massachusetts cannot issue you lot a temporary plate, and dealers in neighboring states can provide a temporary tag for their state, just Massachusetts law strictly doesn't recognize them. Fun, right?

The proficient news is that this is mostly a trouble for Massachusetts residents. If y'all live in a different state and y'all're simply passing through with temporary tags from a used car dealership most yous, so you should be okay. You might still go pulled over for having them, simply so long as you can show that you live in a different state, you will probably be fine.

Of course, if y'all alive in Massachusetts, but want to go to a dealership in New Hampshire, for example, and so set up yourself for a heaping helping of frustration. You see, y'all need plates or tags from the Massachusetts RMV to legally drive your vehicle home, which gives y'all three options:

• Some dealers volition be overnice and send an employee beyond land lines to an RMV location, where they will stand in line to go the vehicle registered and bring the plates back to put on your vehicle so y'all can drive abroad. But this certainly isn't guaranteed to happen.
• Yous tin can have your vehicle towed or trailered to your home, then get it registered and put your plates on information technology so you tin can drive. This isn't ideal, but it works.
• There is a 7 Twenty-four hour period Transfer Law in Massachusetts that does give you a trivial flake of leeway, but it is perplexingly strict. To employ it you must exist at to the lowest degree xviii years old, become rid of your quondam vehicle, have the new vehicle be the aforementioned type and have the aforementioned number of wheels equally your old one, go on your new vehicle documentation with y'all, and physically identify the plates from your one-time vehicle onto your new 1. Seriously.

And then yes, those are some pretty impressive hoops to jump through. Why would Massachusetts make this whole process so complicated? At that place are numerous views on that, but some people can't assist but detect it makes it much easier to buy a vehicle from a Massachusetts dealership if you lot alive in the land, than to go to a dealer in a nearby land. Surely, that must be a coincidence…

Hope this helped clear some things upwards for yous and got you lot gear up to head to the used auto dealership near y'all with a scrap more confidence. Unless you live in Massachusetts, of class, in which case, you're on your own!

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Source: https://www.autoinfluence.com/the-ins-and-outs-of-temporary-plates/

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