[deleted]

I have a set of vanity plates with my initials on one car, and a set of Loon (conservation) plates on the other car. Between car purchases and trades, my husband is now driving the car with my initial plates, and the Loon plates are on my car. Is it worth the effort and expense to switch them between the cars (so my initial plates are on my car)? Any idea what this would cost? The initial plates expire/need to be re-registered in June and the Loon plates are due to be re-registered in September. Thanks for any advice.

Plates need to stay with the correct car or you will be pulled over and ticketed.

Oh, I understand that. I am wondering if I went to City Hall with the registrations to make the switch—would it be too much of a nuisance for them to do it? How much would it cost?

You need to go to the BMV to do this.

BMV, not City Hall?

When you go in to reup your registration, bring everything for both cars and ask them if it cost more. If not, you'll be ready.

Thanks!

No. My very small town office can do this.

$8 per

do them both at the same time.

$8 per plate or per car? So either $16 or $32? That seems pretty reasonable. (I realize this is totally unnecessary but they are “vanity” plates after all!).

$8 transfer fee for each vehicle.

$16 total.

Thank you!

Straight to jail

You can go to city hall if your city has vehicle registration services. Here in Saco they will do it at city hall, just transferred plates from one car to another like 4 months ago.

It's normal and happens all the time. You have to have permanently stopped driving the "old" car the plates are coming off of, eg, you sold it.

The registration fee is $35, and agent fee $4, but this isn't the lion's share of what you pay. You can see the fee breakdown on your yellow registration paper.

Excise tax is the lion's share of most registrations. If you have a lot of time on your plates before they expire, it'll be worth it. If you try "shenanigans" like moving some plates with a few months left on them to cover ones that expired, the town's demand for an excise tax will thwart you.

It's not a nuisance-- they're paid to do this, and the agent fee is the payment. You can save the $4 by doing it at the DMV but you'd have to be mad to wait in line.

What exactly are you trying to do?

I think we pd 11.00 when we did it

We went to town hall

We own both cars. There isn’t an “old” car. I want to switch the plates between the two cars—eg, get my vanity plates (with my initials) on “my” car (the car I drive 99% of the time) and put the Loon (conservation) plates on my husband’s car.

I have used “old” plates on new cars—I know about that. This is a little bit different and I was wondering what the process is. Thanks!

My city hall can do registrations—that’s where I go. I avoid the BMV!

This should be pretty easy, since you won't be paying any additional excise tax. Town hall or DMV can handle it.

Only funny things will be the premium surcharges for vanity and or conservation, how that'll get handled.

When I switch plates between cars since I recently registered the car I took the plates off of… I got credit towards new and was so much cheaper.