The price of vanity plates: XXXXXXX car tag nets man $19,000 in tickets

[snopes]

For Huntsville resident Scottie Roberson, the letter X -- seven of them, to be exact -- led to more than $19,000 in Birmingham parking tickets.

Roberson said he has been to Birmingham only once in the past five years and left without a ticket. He said city officials told him the tickets were issued by mistake because of his vanity plate -- XXXXXXX.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/10/...lates_xxx.html

[Lambda]

Someone either needs to design a form which has a tick box for no plate or enter a code which wouldn't be a legal plate (n/a or n/p perhaps). Or call the police and get the car towed if it has no licence.

[Eddylizard]

Slightly off topic, but the previous owner of my parent's house is a serial illegal parker, and he never bothered to tell the DVLA or indeed anyone that he'd moved.

So they have been getting fine after fine after fine addressed to this chap, followed by threats of court action.

Their attitude until I became aware was to toss the letters in the bin.

I took on the problem a year and a half ago when I became aware. It's been a slog. I've convinced DVLA that the bugger doesn't live here, I've convinced Traffic For London to check with DVLA, and I've convinced Camden Council (which is where he seems to perform most of his parking infractions) that he doesn't live here.

Now as to all the other people he owes money to, that's a work in progress.

[Sooeygun]

My dad switched to vanity plates because he was getting parking tickets for someone who had the exact same plate #. And it was easier just to do the vanity plate route than to deal with all the red tape of fixing the duplicate plate issue. He got out of the tickets (had to go before a judge and make a sworn statement).

Eddylizard, sounds like the previous tenant at my last apt. We kept getting parking ticket after parking ticket (assumed all of them were parking tickets by the return address and holding them up to the light ) and collection notices for parking fines in the mail and dutifully marked 'moved' on them. Finally, his vehicle license renewal came in the mail (recognized the envelope style and return address). Problem solved. Here, you can't get your sticker unless you pay your parking tickets (and I assume he updated his address).

[ButterscotchCat]

My vanity plates cost more annually than my auto registration. Last year my vanity plate cost me $45 and my registration fee was $42. Is that sad or good?

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Sooeygun

Eddylizard, sounds like the previous tenant at my last apt. We kept getting parking ticket after parking ticket (assumed all of them were parking tickets by the return address and holding them up to the light ) and collection notices for parking fines in the mail and dutifully marked 'moved' on them. Finally, his vehicle license renewal came in the mail (recognized the envelope style and return address). Problem solved. Here, you can't get your sticker unless you pay your parking tickets (and I assume he updated his address).

Well we took to opening them and contacting the parties directly. A big plus was getting DVLA which is our central vehicle registration agency to recognise the fact he doesn't live here; and DVLA is where the parking authorities go with the numberplate details to find out where to send the fine.

Better still, DVLA send out a tax renewal form annually (my limited understanding is that our vehicle tax is comparable to your tags/stickers - an annual fee paid for keeping the car on the road.)

Without that form you cannot renew your tax (not very easily at least, and the alternative would involve disclosing the change of address, plus a degree of inconvenience), without the tax the vehicle is not street legal, and therefore aside from whatever else he's probably been driving around for four years without a valid tax disc. Sigh.

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

My vanity plates cost more annually than my auto registration. Last year my vanity plate cost me $45 and my registration fee was $42. Is that sad or good?

It's called "I've earned my money and I'll spend it in the way I choose" I think. If that's your pleasure, and it clearly isn't harming anyone else, then go for it. There's no need to justify what you do with your own money to anyone else.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

My vanity plates cost more annually than my auto registration. Last year my vanity plate cost me $45 and my registration fee was $42. Is that sad or good?

At three bucks difference I'd call it a wash. I follow Eddy's view that something like that falls into "discretionary spending" and isn't anyone else's bidness till it hurts someone. Although I do sometimes question the sanity of people on Eddy's side of the pond who spend thousands and thousands of pounds on the "unique registrations" that are advertised in the back of the car magazines.

-RB

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

Although I do sometimes question the sanity of people on Eddy's side of the pond who spend thousands and thousands of pounds on the "unique registrations" that are advertised in the back of the car magazines.

-RB

If it's any consolation, I question their sanity too. Especially when I see someone driving a £500 piece of crap with a £1,000 vanity plate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression there the freedom in most states to pick the letters and numbers on your vanity plate - such that within the standard format you can have anything you choose, as long as it isn't deemed rude or offensive, and nobody already owns it.

Here vanity plates have to have been previously issued, then subsequently retired. It's mainly the older plates that were issued before standardisation of format sometime in the early 1960's that make interesting words. So it's scarcity value.

You can I believe make up your own plate, but you have to conform to the current format. Which is

LL - registration area (so my bog standard plate is GF - Garden of England). I'm not sure if they'll let you register to an area with a more interesting letter code.

NN - The year it was registered, ant the half of that year it was registered. So I have 09 - the zero says it's the first half and the 9 says 2009.

LLL - the unique bit. I'm not telling. It was randomly assigned from a list of issued by DVLA.

If I'd wanted, I could have chosen the last three letters - for about £200 IIRC. Not terribly exciting though. The last three letters aren't much to work with. GF09 LZD?

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

At three bucks difference I'd call it a wash. I follow Eddy's view that something like that falls into "discretionary spending" and isn't anyone else's bidness till it hurts someone. Although I do sometimes question the sanity of people on Eddy's side of the pond who spend thousands and thousands of pounds on the "unique registrations" that are advertised in the back of the car magazines.

-RB

It's not 3 bucks. It's an additional $45. Not that that should change your answer - it is BC's money.

[purpleiguana]

I was reading Jim Carrey's info on imdb (I forget why) and it says that he has a motorcycle with the plate "NO TAG" and has gotten into similar difficulty as the OP.

[ButterscotchCat]

Originally Posted by Roadie

It's not 3 bucks. It's an additional $45. Not that that should change your answer - it is BC's money.

Yep, it is my money. I figure I am doing great with spending less than $100 annually for my registration. My car my be old (read collector's item). But, it runs like a top and I enjoy driving it. What more can a person ask for?

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

If it's any consolation, I question their sanity too. Especially when I see someone driving a £500 piece of crap with a £1,000 vanity plate.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression there the freedom in most states to pick the letters and numbers on your vanity plate - such that within the standard format you can have anything you choose, as long as it isn't deemed rude or offensive, and nobody already owns it.

Here vanity plates have to have been previously issued, then subsequently retired. It's mainly the older plates that were issued before standardisation of format sometime in the early 1960's that make interesting words. So it's scarcity value.

You can I believe make up your own plate, but you have to conform to the current format.

Correct, you can pick whatever you want, provided it's not already taken, etc. You generally can't sell numbers, although I believe that there have been instances of registrations being sold if a plate is particularly interesting-someone was supposedly auctioning off the only California plate that says "FERRARI" a few years back. I've never bothered to get a vanity plate because I'm not clever enough to come up with anything that's not taken.

I've read about people spending the extra cash to buy an older registration number for classic cars, and wish there was a similar scheme here. A few states allow the use of older plates (notably California, if the registration hasn't changed since the original plate was issued you don't have to buy the new styles), but not mine. I hate the current Illinois plates and would love to still use the previous version on my car, or be able to legally use original '71 style plates for my MG.

-RB

[ButterscotchCat]

If my car came with the original, which I think was black background w/ gold or numbers/letters, or, it may have been blue w/ gold number/letters. I would have kept those plates. It had newer white w/ blue numbers/letters. So, that is why I opted for the vanity plates.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

If my car came with the original, which I think was black background w/ gold or numbers/letters, or, it may have been blue w/ gold number/letters. I would have kept those plates. It had newer white w/ blue numbers/letters. So, that is why I opted for the vanity plates.

The classic "black plate" was first issued in 1963, and was replaced by the slightly less classic blue ones in 1969 (although some smaller municipalities probably continued to issue black plates until 1970 or '71 to use up stock). Your classic car probably had black or blues when it was new, but of course plates don't go with the car when it's sold and re-registered.

One Eastern state (I want to say New Hampshire) had a deal where you could buy old, age appropriate plates and use them with current registrations. If you bought, say 1965 plates for your '65 Mustang, and they said BC 2233, you could check with the DMV and find out if that particular number was in use, then register BC 2233 as a vanity plate and use the old plates with new stickers (although you'd still have to pay for new plates). This is an idea I like, but I bet it could be hard to track in a larger state.

Can ya tell license plates are a hobby of mine?

-RB

[ButterscotchCat]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

The classic "black plate" was first issued in 1963, and was replaced by the slightly less classic blue ones in 1969 (although some smaller municipalities probably continued to issue black plates until 1970 or '71 to use up stock). Your classic car probably had black or blues when it was new, but of course plates don't go with the car when it's sold and re-registered.

Can ya tell license plates are a hobby of mine?

-RB

Actually, the old plates go with the car unless they are too damaged to be readable by the police/or stolen/lost. You'll see plenty of old cars with the Black or Blue plates driving around here.

[Roadsterboy]

Originally Posted by ButterscotchCat

Actually, the old plates go with the car unless they are too damaged to be readable by the police/or stolen/lost. You'll see plenty of old cars with the Black or Blue plates driving around here.

Really? I was told otherwise! I know I saw the older plates quite a lot when I've visited California, but I just thought they were on cars with long term owners. What happens with vanity plates? Or can you opt to keep them?

-RB

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

Really? I was told otherwise! I know I saw the older plates quite a lot when I've visited California, but I just thought they were on cars with long term owners. What happens with vanity plates? Or can you opt to keep them?

-RB

Standard issue plates go with the car, personalized go with the owner. So, for instance, I had a '63 falcon with B&Y plates when I bought it. I put personalized plates on it. When I sold the car, the new owner was issued new white/blues, and I had the option of putting the personalized ones on my new car or turning them in. I did not have the option of retaining the personalized ones unless they were assigned to a vehicle - in other words, you can't keep personalized plates unless you have a vehicle to attach them to.

[BrianB]

Originally Posted by Roadsterboy

Really? I was told otherwise! I know I saw the older plates quite a lot when I've visited California, but I just thought they were on cars with long term owners.

When I graduated from high school in '76 my mother gave me her '68 Mustang, of which she was the original owner. I eventually sold it in '88 but in those 12 years I owned it I had the original yellow letters on black plates.
Brian