Can I Register My Car In Denver Without Changing My License

What's Driving You Crazy? Out-of-state license plates without a year sticker

Walt from Denver writes, "A couple of people that have moved to Colorado accept told me they know a "loophole" in the constabulary. They stated that they cannot be ticketed for non registering their vehicles in Colorado if the out of state license plate "twelvemonth" sticker is non displayed. I have noticed dozens of out of state license plates without expiration stickers in parking lots. In fact, in the downtown parking garage I frequent, I have noticed for over three years the same vehicles with non-Colorado license plates (without the year expiration sticker). Is the "loophole" a legitimate style to avert having to pay Colorado vehicle licensing/registration fees or are non-Colorado licensed vehicles not being ticketed and given a free pass?"

The answer comes down to this, Walt. Can someone drive on Colorado roads with an expired out of state plate for a long time and seemingly get away with it? Yes. Is this a "legitimate loophole" to avoid paying vehicle registration fees in Colorado or their home state? No.

Colorado law states, afterward becoming a Colorado resident, you lot must transfer your driver license within thirty days and annals your vehicle within xc days. Vehicle registration is completed in the county you reside. According to the Colo Section of Revenue, a person is considered a Colorado resident if, "Colorado is the person's state of domicile or the person qualifies equally a "statutory" resident. When evaluating whether a person'south state of domicile is Colorado, the Department of Revenue will consider, among other factors, Colorado voter registration, Colorado vehicle registration, Colorado driver's license, school registration, property ownership, and residence of spouse and children. A person is a "statutory" resident of Colorado if the person maintains a permanent identify of abode in Colorado and spends, in aggregate, more than six months of the taxation year in Colorado."

Colorado residency can also exist established if a person owns or operates a business in Colorado, is gainfully employed in Colorado or resides in Colorado for 90 consecutive days. Once someone becomes a resident of Colorado, they take ninety days to obtain valid Colorado Registration.

"For law enforcement, it comes downward to stopping the vehicle and figuring out if the person is a resident, when they became a resident, and if they are in violation at that betoken," says Josh Lewis with the Colorado Land Patrol. "Obviously, just having a plate from out of state is not probable cause for us to end a vehicle and check how long they take been a resident."

Lewis says since not all states require a year tab to be shown on their plate, that can hinder knowing if it's expired only by looking. Notwithstanding, if a commuter is stopped for any other reason, troopers will check the registration status of the plates. If the plate comes dorsum as expired in the home state, the driver can be charged for driving with expired plates or not having valid registration.

"Even if they practise not have to switch their plates over, for example, military or out of state college students, they still have to have a current, valid registration to drive here. If they fall under one of those exemptions, they have to make sure their plates are valid through their abode state," Lewis says.

You lot can't e'er assume that someone who is living and working in Colorado and is driving a vehicle with out of state plates is breaking the police. Even if a person qualifies nether the police force to be eligible as a resident of Colorado, they might still claim residency in some other country. In cases like that, the vehicle owner is required to keep their vehicle registration up to appointment in their home country. The only way to know if that is the case is by request the owner of the vehicle or if pulled over past law enforcement.

More: Read more than traffic issues driving people crazy

You also can't assume that a plate on a vehicle without a twelvemonth sticker has an expired registration. In a state similar Texas, the license plate validation is not a sticker on the license plate similar it is in Colorado. Texas issues a decal that is supposed to be displayed on the inside of the windshield. New York and the Commune of Columbia too apply windshield stickers rather than stickers on license plates. New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania don't crave any validation stickers. Not on the plate or on the windshield. Connecticut hasn't required validation stickers of any kind for the past 10 years. The state DMV there says, "There is no longer any visual proof of registration; but the registration certificate carried in the vehicle. Police check all plates for validity solely past means of figurer in this cost cut alter."

Allow's say, for arguments sake, a person from Pennsylvania moves to Colorado, doesn't merits residency in Pennsylvania anymore and can legally be considered a Colorado resident. When that person doesn't register their vehicle with the Colorado DMV after 90 days, that person is breaking the law. Then, if that same driver lets the Pennsylvania registration expire and nonetheless drives in Colorado, that commuter is again breaking the constabulary. If that driver eventually decides to register the vehicle in Colorado, Kyle Boyd with the Colorado Department of Revenue tells me, "When a vehicle is registered outside of that time period higher up, prior Specific Ownership Taxes (SOT) will be collected. SOT is based on the year of industry of the vehicle and the original taxable value, which is determined when the vehicle is new. That does not change throughout the life of the vehicle."

Yous tin see why someone from Pennsylvania might try do skip registering their vehicle in Colorado. The registration in Pennsylvania is a flat fee for passenger cars of only $36.00. In Texas, the flat fee to register a car or lighter pickup truck is only $50.75. In New Jersey, the most expensive registration fee tops out at $84.00 for a passenger car or commuter van. You can come across what some of the other base fees are for vehicle registration in other states from the National Conference of State Legislators page.

Even though the above scenario is frustrating to u.s. who abide by the police force and pay the hundreds or even thousands of dollars in Colorado vehicle registration fees, there volition still be people who break the police as a fashion to save money. Douglas county allows you to report suspected out-of-land plates or expired temporary tags to their motor vehicle section. They frontwards any responses they receive to the law enforcement jurisdiction in which the vehicle is located.

If you would like some more full general data about license plates, the lndex of U.Southward. License Plate Pages has images and history of license plates in each state and how they have inverse over the years.

Denver7 traffic anchor Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the bodily number is over xx years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their bulldoze and the best fashion to avoid the problems that jump upward. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or heed to his Driving You lot Crazy podcast on iTunes , Stitcher , Google Play or Podbean.

Copyright 2020 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This cloth may not exist published, circulate, rewritten, or redistributed.

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