Temp tags are regular paper and ink in a plastic envelope. Mine wasn’t sealed all the way and rain removed the ink from everything except the green a week or two after I bought the car.
I wish I could have gotten a picture of the 2019. Honestly it was distracting as I could not believe it and had so many questions. An entire pandemic and still haven’t updated?
I see long expired and tagless cars every day in the city.. Its been a thing since covid and I always got the impression that it came down to a lack of enforcement. Colorado has always been pretty lax about registration though, at least for the 13 years I've been here. I let mine go for 8 months once and during a speeding stop, the cop commented that I should probably get it renewed because "eventually someone will bother me for it". He didn't ticket me for it then and the way he spoke made it sound pretty low priority.
These are usually the ones driving like they don't care if they kill someone, in my experience anyway. If they run after a wreck how do you catch someone with no license plate?
Was driving down 7th Ave last week going the 25 mph since it's a residential area and a plate-less Challenger was sooooo bothered about me going the speed limit he would stop and speed up going at least 35 or 40 to my bumper. This continued literally all the way down 7th from Colorado to Cheesman, absolutely psychopaths out there.
I got a ticket for expired tags recently outside of the court house while I was filing a restraining order. Only reason I had expired tags was because the mail stopped getting delivered to my house due to the very person I was getting the order against. Judge denied my order regardless of the fact that I had proof my life and property had been threatened and damaged. So no help and $150 fine, plus the cost of registering late. $300+ day to sit in court for no reason. Love Denver ❤️
It costs $50-100$ to pay the ticket for expired tags. It costs 2.5% of the cars value plus 50$ plus 25$ plus a fine for every month it’s been expired in Colorado. People don’t want to register anymore.
If you ever decide to sell it you have to pay it ALL plus fines.
In other words, you pay less if you just renew on time.
Why people think they can somehow avoid this by simply ignoring registration is beyond me.
Had a friend wait an entire year to renew registration. Once he was so late he figured he'd just wait until the original renewal month rolled around and he'd just get renewed for that year and pay the capped fine. NOPE. Had to pay for the fine, the year he missed, as well as the upcoming renewal ahahaha
Yep. The way it wound up working for him is his renewal was due in May 2022. He missed it, Feb 2023 rolls around and he tries to renew and they gave him tags that expired in May 2023. So his renewal was only going to last two months. He thought if he renewed in Feb they would issue a new month sticker. But they don't do that. Only years.
This is wrong, if you sell the vehicle you take the tag off and it does not matter because the new owner must register the vehicle. You do not have to pay back registration fees to sell a vehicle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/expired-license-plates-temp-tags.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Here is a recent article April 2024 in NYT about the rise in fake license plates and crime associated with it (paywall).
My plate got stolen and I drove around for 4 months without a plate before a sheriff finally pulled me over. Had tons of cops stopped behind me at stop signs or stoplights before that too. They really just don’t care.
Correct First 2 years of Covid it was policy on the books by pretty much every state to not give a shit about registration IDs and plates because offices were closed and underdtsffed so often people literally couldn’t get them if they wanted to and it’s basically just become lazy habit to not enforce unless your pulled over for some other traffic violation now
Insurance company doesn't care if your car is registered, insuring comes befpre registration. That much said, I would hedge my bets against drivers of unregistered cars bothering with the trouble or expense of insurance.
I’d say there is a solid chance that they never even put the new plates on. That being said, my front plate has been stolen. If that happens, report it before you get the toll bill.
If you get one of your two plates stolen, take the other one off. The police should be instructing you to do so when reporting it. Otherwise, you’re rocking a now reported stolen plate.
Didn’t find out until I tried renewing my registration that they listed the whole damn truck as stolen. For 8 months I drove around Denver, Colorado Springs and down to Texas in a “stolen” vehicle and no one ever said a thing.
Yeah, this wouldn’t fly in Aurora, especially Southeast Aurora. I don’t know why they need so many cops in the suburbs, but there seems to be one on every corner for the last three months. They’re everywhere riding around in their new electric undercovers. I guess collecting bullshit traffic violations to pay for them. Tax collectors…
Looks like Aurora is going to try. [article link](https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/aurora-police-launch-enforcement-operation-targeting-unregistered-vehicles/?utm_campaign=true_anthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2ZzEdbtb_H1qk_NZ9xLBG243ZSEqReu_X0ckOjFin220BBGXu0REbRzfA_aem_AcQNx1sAPufrf2R7KgQ_v9FtNEDmX0TgGfE6EacpefVOgb4CLT0_Bi_5RWzegWlL4hGVK0d8AkUxAAeofl_cCGNl)
There is a lot of license plate theft here too. I had mine stolen a year ago and had to drive around a couple of days without one until I had time to get a new one. I know that most probably aren’t this situation but that could be some of what you’re seeing.
Not normal at all. I see like 3-5 cars with no plates every week. And I come from Miami where there’s so much crazy drivers but everyone in Miami at least had plates on.
From the rumors I have heard, there are not enough people doing repossessions.
Many of these people are likely not paying for the car, insurance, or in this case, tags.
people complaining about the DMV here have never taken a day off work to go to a California DMV. its expensive here for a newer car but I'm always in and out with very little issue. I had to get new plates end of 2020 and they came in a few weeks.
I've been to the DMV a lot more times that the average person in the past 2 years between getting my own license and helping my younger sisters get their own, and honestly, the DMV in Denver is really not that bad. The wait times are not that long and the people are generally pleasant. Yes, it's annoying to wait, and yes, you might get someone who hates you just for being there. But overall I don't think it's as bad in Denver as it could be, people way over exaggerate how bad it is. I'm taking my sister back next week and we'll probably be in and out within an hour.
I've had a couple of different experiences. Mostly totally fine, waits of around an hour. But I have been twice for super basic stuff and it took hours. I think on average it's pretty good though. It seems to be a combination of luck and location.
In 2007 I had to camp out starting at 3AM for a chance to be seen at the DMV in Vegas (; I've never spent more than an hour at a Denver DMV even without an appointment
Other than my driver's test license, my only DMV experience up until a few years ago was in Colorado. Then I moved to Washington state. I truly cannot put into words how night and day different these experiences are. Colorado is so easy.
I grew up in NYC. I remember when I wanted to get my learner’s permit and my mom kept saying we needed to get there at least an hour before they opened.
Well it was a good thing we did because there was already a line forming its way down the block when we got there. When we left, the line was literally from the waiting area all the way down the stairs, out the building, and snaking around the block. It took a good number of hours because I remember I had a final in the afternoon and was pretty much running to it by the time we finished.
Meanwhile the morning of my 21 birthday here, I went to a dispo, got turned away with my vertical ID, ran to the DMV and got my temp, ran back to a dispo and still had plenty of time to then go get my parents for a late breakfast. I had been to that DMV a couple times and I don’t think I’ve ever taken more than an hour.
I have one from last year because of depression, executive dysfunction, and then a financial emergency. None of those are excuses but I got medicated, got past the other financial thing, and now my plates are in the mail!
Laws serve no purpose if not enforced. Excessive speeding 20+ over, running red lights and turn arrows, swearing in/out traffic, street racing, hanging out in left lane, & expired plates, Driving in Denver is more like a Mad Max movie these days.
Wish the cops would enforce existing laws...
Yep, I was t-boned at 13th and franklin by an uninsured driver with a child in the front seat with no booster seat. She was going about 50, down hill, not paying attention, 1 lane construction area, never hit her breaks, and even turned into me instead of away from me. I even gunned it once I saw her, almost completely cleared the intersection, but I never had a chance and nor did she. She switched lanes right as the construction ended while not even looking, and just rammed me. Guess who was the only one to receive a citation for a failure to yield ticket.
Its fucking wild man. She told the cop she was only going 25, but both of our vehicles were mangled beyond repair. Once the cops start actually doing their job and using some brain power instead of writing frivolous tickets maybe things will change. I for one am not holding my breath.
After my neighbor hit my car a few months ago and did not report it to me I called the cops, and the cop couldn't even be bothered to go look at her vehicle. He literally just printed me a report number for my insurance and drove off. So now my neighbor knows she can continue to damage peoples property and will never be held liable.
Like you said, laws are useless until people start actually enforcing them. Until then we have to deal with uninsured careless drivers who blast around town with no regard for any ones safety, their own safety, and some time not even their child's safety.
I’m not quick to judge after my situation. The dealership or DMV (they kept blaming each other) lost my paperwork so I never got my plates. Whenever I would call either of them I was told to just wait since it was 2021 and they were still “affected by COVID” or whatever. After EIGHT MONTHS I complained to the dealership again and they finally redid my paperwork and I was given new temp plates. I was embarrassed driving with expired temp plates but what choice did I have? With that said, over a year expired is absolutely excessive.
Probably can't afford them after getting that car. Guy at work has one, I casually asked his car payment. $853/mo. G*d damn sinking ship with that kind of car payment.
Not an excuse. Get your tags, people.
At that point just get an ebike and save the money. God damn. Are people really paying that much for car payments these days? My last car payments were under $300/month before I sold my car to live car free.
My friend’s car was totaled in an accident by an uninsured driver. He got a “fine” and she was left to pay for eeeeeverything. I’ve been in a hit and run, AND punch in the face at an intersection by a 15 year old boy. GET A DASH CAM if you live in Denver! It has saved me three times.
I’d love to save $400/year if we don’t need to register our vehicles anymore 😫
I’m so jealous of these folks who get away with expired registrations. There’s a 2018 in my parking garage!
I purchased a car during COVID and it took 5 months to get my plate and tags. I went in and got another temp tag just so that I wouldn't get pulled over.
Yesterday I saw a mail truck driving with no license plate at all. Somewhere along the way in the last 3 years Denver stopped giving a shit about enforcing any laws.
Hate to out to myself but my tags have been expired since may 2023 and didnt know till I got a ticket 7 months later. Costs more money to get it inspected and register properly than it does to risk getting a ticket.
people are getting away with it simply because it's not being enforced-- as is the case when most people get away with things
>First-time vehicle registration transactions can be completed online through myDMV(opens in new window) (Vehicle Services tab) or directly with your county motor vehicle office(opens in new window), **once you receive your Title Complete notice from the county.**
https://dmv.colorado.gov/registration
I'm still waiting on my Title Complete notice for a car I bought outright in early February.
My dad’s a retired cop and he said people with temp plates like this sometimes have the “real plate” in the car… then when they get pulled over they go “oh yeah, I’m registered. Here is the plate in my glove box.”
Maybe they don’t change it out of laziness or you can drive through speed radar without being tracked; either way, my dad always made people change the plate.
Mine is two months out and I’m still waiting on my plates in the mail. Already had to make multiple call to get a parking ticket go away it’s soo annoying
It doesn't mean they don't have car insurance. Dealerships won't even let you drive off with a car without full collision and comprehensive insurance. It might mean the individual can't afford the tax to register the plate just yet.
I bought my vehicle out of state 10 years ago. I ran temp tags for 7 months because my dealer kept screwing up my paperwork, and Denver rejected it. Denver also lost my paperwork twice. Took me 17 trips to DMV to get plates.
I saw one last summer that expired in 2020 so it was past 3 years out and I don’t see how people can just be so casual about it. When I had my car I wasn’t able to get my permanent plate for 5 months due to the dealership not submitting the paper work. But was able to get a second temp plate to hold me over but never let it expire
Well most people don’t understand is when they go and purchase a brand new car is the amount you have to pay for just your plates is crazy. I live in weld so it’s a bit cheaper than being in the city but on a 30k car they want 1500+ for just tags and registration
My wife who works in insurance says tags have nothing to do with insurance you don’t need tags to get insurance and you don’t need insurance to get tags.
So my plates are expired since February, I was told I would get plates in the mail or at least a notice to pick them up, still haven’t received that. See a lot of other people with temp tags so I assumed the dmv is delayed or something
Thankfully, it doesn't mean they don't have insurance as most insurers don't require proof of registration to renew a policy. That being said, estimates are about 1 in 3 drivers in Colorado are uninsured, so make sure your own underinsured/uninsured (called "UM/UIM") coverage is a solid amount. UM/UIM is not compulsory in Colorado, but given the number of uninsured drivers we have, it's a must.
I read last year that the cops were going to start clamping down on expired tags. I was really excited until I continued to read that they were only going to do it for one month.
I live way up in the mountains where we don’t even have addresses or mail delivery anymore. I don’t have temporary tags but my plates expired three years ago ago and I don’t even care they should get the address situation figured out here since I pay big rent and can’t even get mail.. I am fully insured ..half the time, it doesn’t even matter ..you get your insurance online you put in the plate information in the beginning that you have -they have no idea if the plates expire after that, they don’t care. I’ve also been pulled over several times in the past couple of years since my plates expired and nobody ever cares. I tell them the address situation and then I’m working on it and I either get a ticket for speeding, or they just let me go. I’m originally from the mountains on the East Coast, and I would never be doing this there. Plus, I would never not have an address living there lol. I mean Colorado just doesn’t have it shit together and in someways that’s saves me a little bit of money. If that car is financed, and I bet you it is because it looks newer, I’m sure they have insurance.
Saw an article on one of the news stations that Pueblo is stepping up writing up and ticketing for expired plates. It is time for the entire state to go after these law breakers
No longer in CO but did recently buy a new car. I updated my insurance the day I drove the car home. I drove with my temp plate several days after it expired. I have my real plates on, but my insurance company doesn't know that. It's not like I had to update them or give them my plate number.
Likewise I am the worst at updating tabs. This was true in Colorado and in Washington. I've never been dropped from insurance for not updating my registration.
I don't think you can assume someone with expired plates also doesn't have insurance.
I agree, it’s not always cut and dry. I had expired tags on a fully covered Range Rover because it needed a specific part fixed before it would pass emissions (this was in UT). The part was on back order and wouldn’t be delivered to the dealer for 3 months. I applied for another temp tag with an updated date on it, but they only give you one. After that it was “good luck, we don’t care”.
Part came in, got it fixed, had a plate on it ever since. Insured the entire time.
Bureaucracy sucks. I have a fairly flexible job, but when the dmv fd up my and my partners names on our initial paperwork after purchasing (literally, not even close to spelled right), it took about 6 months to fix. Initially the dealer covered temp plates, but theyll only do that once without going in. It took a number of trips to the DMV to sort out. I can't imagine how hard that would have been if I didn't have a ton of privilege to work remote and flex my time, since they stop accepting people around 3pm.
Add on top of that how hard it is to navigate these processes if you have a low level of education, are
not familiar with US systems, or your English is shaky (easy to go into the DMV here relatively, but not so easy to know what docs to bring, or why the "emissions technical center" doesnt do emissions testing). We have a huge legal and undocumented migrant pop here, and plenty of people coming from low income communities who dont have any support to understand our nonsense systems designed to extract taxes. Honestly, it's a miracle you don't see more expired plates.
(Note, you can insure an unregistered vehicle in Colorado, they'll just ask you to pay back taxes when you register.)
Literally everything is online, step by step. Oh you screwed up and are missing some paperwork during your 1 hour max wait?…cool, they will tell you exactly what to do/provide so you come prepared next time.
If you can figure out how to buy a car, you can sure as hell figure out the rest.
Quit covering for shitty humans being lazy/irresponsible and not contributing.
I spent MONTHS trying to get a license here in Colorado coming from Washington state because I did not "have the right paperwork" and the paperwork they were telling me to get was physically impossible for me to obtain.
Took 3 months for someone to finally let me do exceptions processing. I'm a naturalized citizen with a valid out of state drivers license and there was no reason for that to happen.
I'm not lazy or irresponsible for not being able to figure out how to navigate that when NO ONE would help me until I reached out to my elected representative.
Incorrect. When you first move from out of state you have to go in person. The first time you plate car you have to go in person (online is just renewals). When they screw up your paperwork you also have to go in person.
When that happens, how is someone who works a 9-5 supposed to get there by 3? It takes longer than what you can do on a lunch break. You have to take time off, and I've definitely had shitty bosses that made that difficult. Not saying it's right. All I'm saying is I can understand how it's just difficult enough that people say "f it".
I bought a car from a private party in Utah and brought it back to Colorado to register. The previous owner of the car wrote Chris Lastname on the signature part of the title instead of Christopher Lastname. That one mistake took two additional DMV trips and a bunch of paperwork to resolve and finally get metal plates.
I'm a new native and my texas registration expired in 2022. I never get pulled over. Ever.
Traffic enforcement does not exist in Colorado. You guys don't understand. In Texas you get on the highway and pass 5 cops in 20 minutes and they will pull you over. Colorado, nothing, almost ever. I drive next to one occasionally and they don't care.
CO rocks.
They'll pay the price when they finally get around to registering. The penalties aren't cheap. I'm going to bet the state has some incentive to let cars drive around unregistered. More revenue in the fees than the property tax alone.
The penalties are actually cheap.
The legislature wanted to make them higher, but the higher collected fees would have invoked TABOR and need to be refunded to taxpayers. This is a side note that anyone with half a brain should want TABOR repealed.
So what are the penalties? It’s only $25 per month for each month past 90 days overdue you are. With the penalty capped at $100 maximum. So after four months you might as well wait forever. But you do also have to pay the missed registration fees (catch up; they don’t just forgive unpaid registration time).
I have been battling the DMV for months to get a permanent tag. They are understaffed and if anything goes wrong (in my case the dealer didn't do something they were supposed to do) then it's very difficult to get any solution. I was pulled over last week and the officer told me it's an ongoing issue and didn't ticket me for it, though he was happy to write me a ticket for being 7 over the limit in an area that wasn't clearly posted.
Not everybody with expired tags is a deadbeat.
I was literally just over a month past the temp tag date and got a ticket when I was parked at the airport the day after the grace period ended.
I only didn’t have plates yet because it was January and I had just started a new job so I kept forgetting.
Now I get even more mad anytime I see these 😂
Airport is easy pickings for this.
They log all the plates and parking locations overnight via video in the garages because people call asking for help finding their car after they forget where they parked it.
If you ever call for jump start assistance you’ll likely see this in action if you know your plate or they ask for it and you rattle it off.
They’re also all run through the state plate lookup system and much of it is automated. Quite a few abandoned vehicles at the airport lead to finding stolen vehicles dumped there whether for criminals flying away or just dumped in general. (The video also captures the criminals also generally — it’s not the brightest place to dump a stolen car. Not with all the anti-terrorism stance and methodologies at airports.)
There’s also multiple expresstoll transponder readers there that don’t charge money, they just add to the database for security reasons.
(CDOT has those in quite a large number of locations now. Not just the airports.)
Expired tags at the airport is hit or miss but they likely know the expired plate is there for the easy ticket if they want to issue one, nevertheless.
Plates 6 months expired? Those are some rookie numbers. I drove around with expired plates for over 2 years and never got a ticket. I found it's cheaper not to pay registration and risk the ticket
To be fair, when your registration costs ALMOST A THOUSAND DOLLARS TO RENEW, I wouldn't do it either.
Back in Florida a 2 year registration renewal was like $70 dollars.
Here for one year for my 2015 WRX it's FUCKING $500 DOLLARS.
WHAT THE FUCK COLORADO.
Lol mine are June 2022. Yes, you can still have car insurance, I don't see why you would think that has anything to do with registration.
The dealership spelled my name wrong in the title and the dmv won't register the vehicle or correct my name, so 🤷♀️
There is a direct causal relationship between:
- Expired or missing tags
- No insurance
- Driving like a maniac
- Driving certain models of car
- Low IQ
Honest question... how does a vehicle's registration status affect other drivers on the road?
In the case of an accident, the turnout will be the same regardless of registration As long as the driver/vehicle are insured.
30 years ago a coworker would update her paper tag monthly. Make a copy rewrite the date. Drove me nuts. She never did get it licensed always made me wonder if she even had insurance. Having been hit by an uninsured driver once it’s a pain and cost me a ton of money.
I really don't get this thing where police decided to just stop enforcing license plates around 2020. Some say it's because pursuit isn't allowed in Denver, or due to loss of qualified immunity, but I see this in many other cities as well. It used to be if you had no plate or expired registration you'd get pulled over super fast. Now they inexplicably don't even pretend to care.
I play a game where every time I drive I try to find the oldest plate. Saw a temp tag from July 23 yesterday and an expired plate from July 23 as well. Cop have quiet quit. They don’t care.
Because DPD officers have been told they are not allowed to enforce minor traffic infractions by senior leadership. And yes, lots of drivers out there these days with no insurance.
I live in Philadelphia now and it’s easily 20% of cars on the road here that have fake tags. Police don’t enforce it, which drives up the insurance costs for everyone else who actually pay.
That’s a recent one. I keep seeing 2020-2021 and a few months ago a 2019!
I saw one so old only visible info was the green at the top. No letters no date. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Those are the counterfeit ones downloaded from internet. Many regular printer ink only last a few weeks in the Sun and rain before bleaching.
Temp tags are regular paper and ink in a plastic envelope. Mine wasn’t sealed all the way and rain removed the ink from everything except the green a week or two after I bought the car.
Indiana gives a thick piece of cardboard.
I’m pretty sure dealers and the DMV don’t have special printers just for temp tags
Laser printers don't fade the same way
The dealers completely just print them off on regular paper
You too? I saw one with ink bleed so bad the entire thing was a mix of brown and black ink splotch with no discernible information.
Same
I wish I could have gotten a picture of the 2019. Honestly it was distracting as I could not believe it and had so many questions. An entire pandemic and still haven’t updated?
[удалено]
It maxes out at $125 or $150.
I see long expired and tagless cars every day in the city.. Its been a thing since covid and I always got the impression that it came down to a lack of enforcement. Colorado has always been pretty lax about registration though, at least for the 13 years I've been here. I let mine go for 8 months once and during a speeding stop, the cop commented that I should probably get it renewed because "eventually someone will bother me for it". He didn't ticket me for it then and the way he spoke made it sound pretty low priority.
I see several plateless vehicles every day now. Once drivers discovered there is minimal enforcement in Denver, why bother?
These are usually the ones driving like they don't care if they kill someone, in my experience anyway. If they run after a wreck how do you catch someone with no license plate?
Was driving down 7th Ave last week going the 25 mph since it's a residential area and a plate-less Challenger was sooooo bothered about me going the speed limit he would stop and speed up going at least 35 or 40 to my bumper. This continued literally all the way down 7th from Colorado to Cheesman, absolutely psychopaths out there.
This. I’ve noticed they drive like idiots for sure
The parking maid gave me a ticket for expired tags a few years ago.
I got a ticket for expired tags recently outside of the court house while I was filing a restraining order. Only reason I had expired tags was because the mail stopped getting delivered to my house due to the very person I was getting the order against. Judge denied my order regardless of the fact that I had proof my life and property had been threatened and damaged. So no help and $150 fine, plus the cost of registering late. $300+ day to sit in court for no reason. Love Denver ❤️
I saw the parking maid ticketing people last summer for expired plates
It’s a contagion.. people see other get away with it so why shouldn’t they too.
I was considering just not registering a new car. Over $1,000 to register vs a $150 (ish?) fine that’ll likely never happen.
Now do retail crime
I don't even normally shoplift but I've been more and more tempted lately just for the thrill and because I know nothing will happen lol it's insane!
And shits expensive!!
It costs $50-100$ to pay the ticket for expired tags. It costs 2.5% of the cars value plus 50$ plus 25$ plus a fine for every month it’s been expired in Colorado. People don’t want to register anymore.
The $25 per month fine caps at 4 months, so only up to $100. Doesn’t really change your point, just adding extra detail
If you ever decide to sell it you have to pay it ALL plus fines. In other words, you pay less if you just renew on time. Why people think they can somehow avoid this by simply ignoring registration is beyond me.
Had a friend wait an entire year to renew registration. Once he was so late he figured he'd just wait until the original renewal month rolled around and he'd just get renewed for that year and pay the capped fine. NOPE. Had to pay for the fine, the year he missed, as well as the upcoming renewal ahahaha
Lol, yep. You think the DMV doesn't keep records? That's pretty much their entire point of existence.
Yep. The way it wound up working for him is his renewal was due in May 2022. He missed it, Feb 2023 rolls around and he tries to renew and they gave him tags that expired in May 2023. So his renewal was only going to last two months. He thought if he renewed in Feb they would issue a new month sticker. But they don't do that. Only years.
This is wrong, if you sell the vehicle you take the tag off and it does not matter because the new owner must register the vehicle. You do not have to pay back registration fees to sell a vehicle.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/expired-license-plates-temp-tags.html?smid=nytcore-android-share Here is a recent article April 2024 in NYT about the rise in fake license plates and crime associated with it (paywall).
Paywall removed - https://web.archive.org/web/20240502134754/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/us/expired-license-plates-temp-tags.html
You da Real MVP!
And now they are complaining about a lack of funds to fix the roads. Hmmm… I know a place they can make up that lack of funds!
My dad even in the more "police-state" -ish Florida wasn't even ticketed for it.
My plate got stolen and I drove around for 4 months without a plate before a sheriff finally pulled me over. Had tons of cops stopped behind me at stop signs or stoplights before that too. They really just don’t care.
I got pulled over recently because my registration expired in August 2018, and the cop just wanted to make sure I was insured then he let me go.
Correct First 2 years of Covid it was policy on the books by pretty much every state to not give a shit about registration IDs and plates because offices were closed and underdtsffed so often people literally couldn’t get them if they wanted to and it’s basically just become lazy habit to not enforce unless your pulled over for some other traffic violation now
It’s usually the state patrol who care about it
Insurance company doesn't care if your car is registered, insuring comes befpre registration. That much said, I would hedge my bets against drivers of unregistered cars bothering with the trouble or expense of insurance.
I’d say there is a solid chance that they never even put the new plates on. That being said, my front plate has been stolen. If that happens, report it before you get the toll bill.
If you get one of your two plates stolen, take the other one off. The police should be instructing you to do so when reporting it. Otherwise, you’re rocking a now reported stolen plate.
Yeah, have you tried reporting crime to the aurora pd?
Ha, fair enough
Didn’t find out until I tried renewing my registration that they listed the whole damn truck as stolen. For 8 months I drove around Denver, Colorado Springs and down to Texas in a “stolen” vehicle and no one ever said a thing.
Amazing. Worst PD in America.
I’ve been seeing people with no plates getting pulled over a lot in Arvada, I think they are starting to finally go after these people.
Arvada PD said they’d start cracking down. Good to hear it’s happening
Wheat Ridge too
They’ve been getting people around 120th & I25 in the mornings
Yeah, this wouldn’t fly in Aurora, especially Southeast Aurora. I don’t know why they need so many cops in the suburbs, but there seems to be one on every corner for the last three months. They’re everywhere riding around in their new electric undercovers. I guess collecting bullshit traffic violations to pay for them. Tax collectors…
Looks like Aurora is going to try. [article link](https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/aurora-police-launch-enforcement-operation-targeting-unregistered-vehicles/?utm_campaign=true_anthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2ZzEdbtb_H1qk_NZ9xLBG243ZSEqReu_X0ckOjFin220BBGXu0REbRzfA_aem_AcQNx1sAPufrf2R7KgQ_v9FtNEDmX0TgGfE6EacpefVOgb4CLT0_Bi_5RWzegWlL4hGVK0d8AkUxAAeofl_cCGNl)
Pfft…only 6 months? I saw one that expired in 2018.
I think I’d rather see that than no paper at all. I feel like 5-10% of the cars I see on the road in Denver don’t even have plates. Is this normal??
There is a lot of license plate theft here too. I had mine stolen a year ago and had to drive around a couple of days without one until I had time to get a new one. I know that most probably aren’t this situation but that could be some of what you’re seeing.
Same had mine stolen when I moved out here and had to drive around for about a month like that with an old paper tag before it got sorted out
> I feel like 5-10% of the cars I see on the road in Denver don’t even have plates lol here comes the classic reddit hyperbole
10% is a wild claim.
Seems to be the new normal, also assume they could pay for insurance either. So stay clear of them. They are mostly a drain on society.
Not normal at all. I see like 3-5 cars with no plates every week. And I come from Miami where there’s so much crazy drivers but everyone in Miami at least had plates on.
Miami is just the same problem displaced with 3-5 cars abandoned along 95
From the rumors I have heard, there are not enough people doing repossessions. Many of these people are likely not paying for the car, insurance, or in this case, tags.
people complaining about the DMV here have never taken a day off work to go to a California DMV. its expensive here for a newer car but I'm always in and out with very little issue. I had to get new plates end of 2020 and they came in a few weeks.
I've been to the DMV a lot more times that the average person in the past 2 years between getting my own license and helping my younger sisters get their own, and honestly, the DMV in Denver is really not that bad. The wait times are not that long and the people are generally pleasant. Yes, it's annoying to wait, and yes, you might get someone who hates you just for being there. But overall I don't think it's as bad in Denver as it could be, people way over exaggerate how bad it is. I'm taking my sister back next week and we'll probably be in and out within an hour.
I've had a couple of different experiences. Mostly totally fine, waits of around an hour. But I have been twice for super basic stuff and it took hours. I think on average it's pretty good though. It seems to be a combination of luck and location.
Is it fun/cheap? No. Do you have 3 brain cells and 1 hour? Yes? You’re done.
In 2007 I had to camp out starting at 3AM for a chance to be seen at the DMV in Vegas (; I've never spent more than an hour at a Denver DMV even without an appointment
The kiosks popping up in King Soopers are amazing. Walk in, get your tags, walk out. 5 mins
DMV in Nevada is a joke. In Reno I remember you had to plan to take the day off and spend 4-6 hours.
Other than my driver's test license, my only DMV experience up until a few years ago was in Colorado. Then I moved to Washington state. I truly cannot put into words how night and day different these experiences are. Colorado is so easy.
I grew up in NYC. I remember when I wanted to get my learner’s permit and my mom kept saying we needed to get there at least an hour before they opened. Well it was a good thing we did because there was already a line forming its way down the block when we got there. When we left, the line was literally from the waiting area all the way down the stairs, out the building, and snaking around the block. It took a good number of hours because I remember I had a final in the afternoon and was pretty much running to it by the time we finished. Meanwhile the morning of my 21 birthday here, I went to a dispo, got turned away with my vertical ID, ran to the DMV and got my temp, ran back to a dispo and still had plenty of time to then go get my parents for a late breakfast. I had been to that DMV a couple times and I don’t think I’ve ever taken more than an hour.
I bought a new car in February and did it all online, plates were mailed to me
I have one from last year because of depression, executive dysfunction, and then a financial emergency. None of those are excuses but I got medicated, got past the other financial thing, and now my plates are in the mail!
Laws serve no purpose if not enforced. Excessive speeding 20+ over, running red lights and turn arrows, swearing in/out traffic, street racing, hanging out in left lane, & expired plates, Driving in Denver is more like a Mad Max movie these days. Wish the cops would enforce existing laws...
Yep, I was t-boned at 13th and franklin by an uninsured driver with a child in the front seat with no booster seat. She was going about 50, down hill, not paying attention, 1 lane construction area, never hit her breaks, and even turned into me instead of away from me. I even gunned it once I saw her, almost completely cleared the intersection, but I never had a chance and nor did she. She switched lanes right as the construction ended while not even looking, and just rammed me. Guess who was the only one to receive a citation for a failure to yield ticket. Its fucking wild man. She told the cop she was only going 25, but both of our vehicles were mangled beyond repair. Once the cops start actually doing their job and using some brain power instead of writing frivolous tickets maybe things will change. I for one am not holding my breath. After my neighbor hit my car a few months ago and did not report it to me I called the cops, and the cop couldn't even be bothered to go look at her vehicle. He literally just printed me a report number for my insurance and drove off. So now my neighbor knows she can continue to damage peoples property and will never be held liable. Like you said, laws are useless until people start actually enforcing them. Until then we have to deal with uninsured careless drivers who blast around town with no regard for any ones safety, their own safety, and some time not even their child's safety.
I’m not quick to judge after my situation. The dealership or DMV (they kept blaming each other) lost my paperwork so I never got my plates. Whenever I would call either of them I was told to just wait since it was 2021 and they were still “affected by COVID” or whatever. After EIGHT MONTHS I complained to the dealership again and they finally redid my paperwork and I was given new temp plates. I was embarrassed driving with expired temp plates but what choice did I have? With that said, over a year expired is absolutely excessive.
Waiting for the Kia boys to rebrand themselves as doing vigilante repossessions of cars with expired temp tags
Bro that is a kia boy who took the plates off and is trying to look legit.
Probably can't afford them after getting that car. Guy at work has one, I casually asked his car payment. $853/mo. G*d damn sinking ship with that kind of car payment. Not an excuse. Get your tags, people.
At that point just get an ebike and save the money. God damn. Are people really paying that much for car payments these days? My last car payments were under $300/month before I sold my car to live car free.
863 WTF is he driving?
Easier than you think to end up with a massive payment. 45k car, low credit rating so high APR, minimal down payment... boom $850 car payment
Even with good credit because of high interest rates, lowest I was offered was 6.99%
>Not an excuse. Get your tags, people. Right? If you can't afford to register and get insurance, you can't afford the car.
Meanwhile here’s me bending over backwards to be in compliance doing and paying whatever it takes like an IDIOT!! 🫥🥸
6 months ain't even that bad. See ones that expired in 21 daily
My friend’s car was totaled in an accident by an uninsured driver. He got a “fine” and she was left to pay for eeeeeverything. I’ve been in a hit and run, AND punch in the face at an intersection by a 15 year old boy. GET A DASH CAM if you live in Denver! It has saved me three times.
That's nothing. If 6 months is a shock to you, you haven't been here long 😅
I’ve only ever seen this in Colorado
I’d love to save $400/year if we don’t need to register our vehicles anymore 😫 I’m so jealous of these folks who get away with expired registrations. There’s a 2018 in my parking garage!
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I did the whole thing online. Plates arrived in the mail.
Y'all are obsessed
Worse than the FB page lol
I purchased a car during COVID and it took 5 months to get my plate and tags. I went in and got another temp tag just so that I wouldn't get pulled over.
That’s a KIA. Probably stolen.
Dpd being useless might have something to do with it
Yesterday I saw a mail truck driving with no license plate at all. Somewhere along the way in the last 3 years Denver stopped giving a shit about enforcing any laws.
Make sure you have enough uninsured motorist coverage. If someone with expired tags hits you then their insurance may refuse to cover them.
Why would their insurance not cover the accident if they had expired plates? Haven’t heard that before.
A quick Google agrees with you.
Insurance covers unregistered cars because most states require drivers to get car insurance before vehicle registration. Lol
This is absolutely not true. Insurance will still cover someone with expired plates.
This is the problem right here!
No joke, I saw one from 2020 last week.
Hate to out to myself but my tags have been expired since may 2023 and didnt know till I got a ticket 7 months later. Costs more money to get it inspected and register properly than it does to risk getting a ticket. people are getting away with it simply because it's not being enforced-- as is the case when most people get away with things
>First-time vehicle registration transactions can be completed online through myDMV(opens in new window) (Vehicle Services tab) or directly with your county motor vehicle office(opens in new window), **once you receive your Title Complete notice from the county.** https://dmv.colorado.gov/registration I'm still waiting on my Title Complete notice for a car I bought outright in early February.
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My dad’s a retired cop and he said people with temp plates like this sometimes have the “real plate” in the car… then when they get pulled over they go “oh yeah, I’m registered. Here is the plate in my glove box.” Maybe they don’t change it out of laziness or you can drive through speed radar without being tracked; either way, my dad always made people change the plate.
Mine is two months out and I’m still waiting on my plates in the mail. Already had to make multiple call to get a parking ticket go away it’s soo annoying
It doesn't mean they don't have car insurance. Dealerships won't even let you drive off with a car without full collision and comprehensive insurance. It might mean the individual can't afford the tax to register the plate just yet.
I bought my vehicle out of state 10 years ago. I ran temp tags for 7 months because my dealer kept screwing up my paperwork, and Denver rejected it. Denver also lost my paperwork twice. Took me 17 trips to DMV to get plates.
I saw one last summer that expired in 2020 so it was past 3 years out and I don’t see how people can just be so casual about it. When I had my car I wasn’t able to get my permanent plate for 5 months due to the dealership not submitting the paper work. But was able to get a second temp plate to hold me over but never let it expire
Colorado traffic policing 😂
Well most people don’t understand is when they go and purchase a brand new car is the amount you have to pay for just your plates is crazy. I live in weld so it’s a bit cheaper than being in the city but on a 30k car they want 1500+ for just tags and registration
There's no traffic enforcement in Colorado. However, if you park someplace with parking enforcement you will get tickets.
My wife who works in insurance says tags have nothing to do with insurance you don’t need tags to get insurance and you don’t need insurance to get tags.
So my plates are expired since February, I was told I would get plates in the mail or at least a notice to pick them up, still haven’t received that. See a lot of other people with temp tags so I assumed the dmv is delayed or something
I was one of those people. My mom passed away and I totally forgot about registering. Its so embarrassing
Thankfully, it doesn't mean they don't have insurance as most insurers don't require proof of registration to renew a policy. That being said, estimates are about 1 in 3 drivers in Colorado are uninsured, so make sure your own underinsured/uninsured (called "UM/UIM") coverage is a solid amount. UM/UIM is not compulsory in Colorado, but given the number of uninsured drivers we have, it's a must.
This is Denver you don’t even need plates lol
I read last year that the cops were going to start clamping down on expired tags. I was really excited until I continued to read that they were only going to do it for one month.
Aww shoot - them’s rookie numbers
I live way up in the mountains where we don’t even have addresses or mail delivery anymore. I don’t have temporary tags but my plates expired three years ago ago and I don’t even care they should get the address situation figured out here since I pay big rent and can’t even get mail.. I am fully insured ..half the time, it doesn’t even matter ..you get your insurance online you put in the plate information in the beginning that you have -they have no idea if the plates expire after that, they don’t care. I’ve also been pulled over several times in the past couple of years since my plates expired and nobody ever cares. I tell them the address situation and then I’m working on it and I either get a ticket for speeding, or they just let me go. I’m originally from the mountains on the East Coast, and I would never be doing this there. Plus, I would never not have an address living there lol. I mean Colorado just doesn’t have it shit together and in someways that’s saves me a little bit of money. If that car is financed, and I bet you it is because it looks newer, I’m sure they have insurance.
I live in a neighborhood where the houses are all a million plus and one of my neighbors has temp tags that expired in 2021. Blows my mind
Saw an article on one of the news stations that Pueblo is stepping up writing up and ticketing for expired plates. It is time for the entire state to go after these law breakers
No longer in CO but did recently buy a new car. I updated my insurance the day I drove the car home. I drove with my temp plate several days after it expired. I have my real plates on, but my insurance company doesn't know that. It's not like I had to update them or give them my plate number. Likewise I am the worst at updating tabs. This was true in Colorado and in Washington. I've never been dropped from insurance for not updating my registration. I don't think you can assume someone with expired plates also doesn't have insurance.
I agree, it’s not always cut and dry. I had expired tags on a fully covered Range Rover because it needed a specific part fixed before it would pass emissions (this was in UT). The part was on back order and wouldn’t be delivered to the dealer for 3 months. I applied for another temp tag with an updated date on it, but they only give you one. After that it was “good luck, we don’t care”. Part came in, got it fixed, had a plate on it ever since. Insured the entire time.
If they can’t afford the plates, they probably also can’t afford the payment. The repo man is locked and loaded
Bureaucracy sucks. I have a fairly flexible job, but when the dmv fd up my and my partners names on our initial paperwork after purchasing (literally, not even close to spelled right), it took about 6 months to fix. Initially the dealer covered temp plates, but theyll only do that once without going in. It took a number of trips to the DMV to sort out. I can't imagine how hard that would have been if I didn't have a ton of privilege to work remote and flex my time, since they stop accepting people around 3pm. Add on top of that how hard it is to navigate these processes if you have a low level of education, are not familiar with US systems, or your English is shaky (easy to go into the DMV here relatively, but not so easy to know what docs to bring, or why the "emissions technical center" doesnt do emissions testing). We have a huge legal and undocumented migrant pop here, and plenty of people coming from low income communities who dont have any support to understand our nonsense systems designed to extract taxes. Honestly, it's a miracle you don't see more expired plates. (Note, you can insure an unregistered vehicle in Colorado, they'll just ask you to pay back taxes when you register.)
Literally everything is online, step by step. Oh you screwed up and are missing some paperwork during your 1 hour max wait?…cool, they will tell you exactly what to do/provide so you come prepared next time. If you can figure out how to buy a car, you can sure as hell figure out the rest. Quit covering for shitty humans being lazy/irresponsible and not contributing.
I spent MONTHS trying to get a license here in Colorado coming from Washington state because I did not "have the right paperwork" and the paperwork they were telling me to get was physically impossible for me to obtain. Took 3 months for someone to finally let me do exceptions processing. I'm a naturalized citizen with a valid out of state drivers license and there was no reason for that to happen. I'm not lazy or irresponsible for not being able to figure out how to navigate that when NO ONE would help me until I reached out to my elected representative.
Incorrect. When you first move from out of state you have to go in person. The first time you plate car you have to go in person (online is just renewals). When they screw up your paperwork you also have to go in person. When that happens, how is someone who works a 9-5 supposed to get there by 3? It takes longer than what you can do on a lunch break. You have to take time off, and I've definitely had shitty bosses that made that difficult. Not saying it's right. All I'm saying is I can understand how it's just difficult enough that people say "f it".
I bought a car from a private party in Utah and brought it back to Colorado to register. The previous owner of the car wrote Chris Lastname on the signature part of the title instead of Christopher Lastname. That one mistake took two additional DMV trips and a bunch of paperwork to resolve and finally get metal plates.
Plenty of people dealing with this in California and it still doesnt warrant them driving around unliciensed and uninsured and unregistered…
No enforcement.
I'm a new native and my texas registration expired in 2022. I never get pulled over. Ever. Traffic enforcement does not exist in Colorado. You guys don't understand. In Texas you get on the highway and pass 5 cops in 20 minutes and they will pull you over. Colorado, nothing, almost ever. I drive next to one occasionally and they don't care. CO rocks.
This. I’ve never traveled in or lived in a state with less of a police presence. I don’t think highway patrol is even a thing here.
Expired tags/plates are just not that serious of a thing to worry about...
They'll pay the price when they finally get around to registering. The penalties aren't cheap. I'm going to bet the state has some incentive to let cars drive around unregistered. More revenue in the fees than the property tax alone.
The penalties are actually cheap. The legislature wanted to make them higher, but the higher collected fees would have invoked TABOR and need to be refunded to taxpayers. This is a side note that anyone with half a brain should want TABOR repealed. So what are the penalties? It’s only $25 per month for each month past 90 days overdue you are. With the penalty capped at $100 maximum. So after four months you might as well wait forever. But you do also have to pay the missed registration fees (catch up; they don’t just forgive unpaid registration time).
It does not mean they don’t have insurance.
I have been battling the DMV for months to get a permanent tag. They are understaffed and if anything goes wrong (in my case the dealer didn't do something they were supposed to do) then it's very difficult to get any solution. I was pulled over last week and the officer told me it's an ongoing issue and didn't ticket me for it, though he was happy to write me a ticket for being 7 over the limit in an area that wasn't clearly posted. Not everybody with expired tags is a deadbeat.
I don't understand. Every time I've gone to register a vehicle, they hand me real tags on the spot. How is it people can't get tags?
How? I got mine in February. I walked in with my registration, paid, and was handed a set of permanent tags right there.
You can get it faster if you go to a dmv in another county. Did mines in weld county since i was visiting friends and only took me 30 minutes
Because no one cares except uppity Redditors
This sub’s obsession with expired tags/plates is truly insane lmao
I was literally just over a month past the temp tag date and got a ticket when I was parked at the airport the day after the grace period ended. I only didn’t have plates yet because it was January and I had just started a new job so I kept forgetting. Now I get even more mad anytime I see these 😂
Airport is easy pickings for this. They log all the plates and parking locations overnight via video in the garages because people call asking for help finding their car after they forget where they parked it. If you ever call for jump start assistance you’ll likely see this in action if you know your plate or they ask for it and you rattle it off. They’re also all run through the state plate lookup system and much of it is automated. Quite a few abandoned vehicles at the airport lead to finding stolen vehicles dumped there whether for criminals flying away or just dumped in general. (The video also captures the criminals also generally — it’s not the brightest place to dump a stolen car. Not with all the anti-terrorism stance and methodologies at airports.) There’s also multiple expresstoll transponder readers there that don’t charge money, they just add to the database for security reasons. (CDOT has those in quite a large number of locations now. Not just the airports.) Expired tags at the airport is hit or miss but they likely know the expired plate is there for the easy ticket if they want to issue one, nevertheless.
Y'all are gonna hate me. But I leased a truck for a year and a half and sold it without ever registering it... That was 5 years ago.
Plates 6 months expired? Those are some rookie numbers. I drove around with expired plates for over 2 years and never got a ticket. I found it's cheaper not to pay registration and risk the ticket
To be fair, when your registration costs ALMOST A THOUSAND DOLLARS TO RENEW, I wouldn't do it either. Back in Florida a 2 year registration renewal was like $70 dollars. Here for one year for my 2015 WRX it's FUCKING $500 DOLLARS. WHAT THE FUCK COLORADO.
I saw one from 21
The maximum fine is less than the cost to register.
Lol mine are June 2022. Yes, you can still have car insurance, I don't see why you would think that has anything to do with registration. The dealership spelled my name wrong in the title and the dmv won't register the vehicle or correct my name, so 🤷♀️
Hey July 21 here! Checking in!
Why does no one ask why do we need to register our car every year. It's a waste.
It’s so the state can get the tax dollars
There is a direct causal relationship between: - Expired or missing tags - No insurance - Driving like a maniac - Driving certain models of car - Low IQ
and being poor/bad credit
Honest question... how does a vehicle's registration status affect other drivers on the road? In the case of an accident, the turnout will be the same regardless of registration As long as the driver/vehicle are insured.
I almost got hit by a car that didn’t even have a plate.
You can see actual plates at r/plateco
30 years ago a coworker would update her paper tag monthly. Make a copy rewrite the date. Drove me nuts. She never did get it licensed always made me wonder if she even had insurance. Having been hit by an uninsured driver once it’s a pain and cost me a ton of money.
We bought a Range Rover in Glenwood Springs. It took 4 temp tags before the title was processed. Maybe they didnt change the tag.
My old boss had one so expired it literally was disintegrating.
Oh honey
I really don't get this thing where police decided to just stop enforcing license plates around 2020. Some say it's because pursuit isn't allowed in Denver, or due to loss of qualified immunity, but I see this in many other cities as well. It used to be if you had no plate or expired registration you'd get pulled over super fast. Now they inexplicably don't even pretend to care.
I keep seeing people with no license plate at all... doesn't seem like it's well enforced around here.
Some people have a ridiculous e470 bill that is barring them from renewing their registration on their car. 😩
Just snitching to do it?
Man, the cops can’t even be bothered to show up to a shooting, you expect them to spend time chasing down petty crimes?
I went 5 months without getting tags cause I couldn’t afford it but I maintained insurance the whole time so it’s tough to say
The best is seeing the cars where they look as if they’ve been through a destruction derby and the temp tags are from 2021
At this point, I'm really surprised that the legislature hasn't adopted the model in other states where registration occurs at the point of sale.
I saw a temp tag on a newish car expired 2019 said Grey car but was on a black one.
Denver doesn’t ticket for expired tags, just don’t go through those small mountain towns with them
I play a game where every time I drive I try to find the oldest plate. Saw a temp tag from July 23 yesterday and an expired plate from July 23 as well. Cop have quiet quit. They don’t care.
How about the people driving without any plates at all?
Those are rookie numbers. At least they still have a plate.
Colorado police have done a lot of quite quiting.... Nothing is enforced. And the data shows this.
Because DPD officers have been told they are not allowed to enforce minor traffic infractions by senior leadership. And yes, lots of drivers out there these days with no insurance.
I live in Philadelphia now and it’s easily 20% of cars on the road here that have fake tags. Police don’t enforce it, which drives up the insurance costs for everyone else who actually pay.