PennDOT Requests plates

[SPORT]

Anybody ever heard of DOT demanding that you submit your plates for X amount of months due to cancelling your insurance and STORING your bike over the winter?

A colleague shared with me that he received a letter from PennDOT (Pennsylvania's DMV) that because he did not have insurance on his bike for the last 3 months, that he must surrender his plates for 3 months. His bike was stored in a private garage and not ridden for the months it was not insured.

Something sounds fishy to me...Is it legal for the state to act in such a way? Is this just a law for insurance companies to conn more money out of their clients?

 

[Slow Ride]

Anybody ever heard of DOT demanding that you submit your plates for X amount of months due to cancelling your insurance and STORING your bike over the winter?
A colleague shared with me that he received a letter from PennDOT (Pennsylvania's DMV) that because he did not have insurance on his bike for the last 3 months, that he must surrender his plates for 3 months. His bike was stored in a private garage and not ridden for the months it was not insured.

Something sounds fishy to me...Is it legal for the state to act in such a way? Is this just a law for insurance companies to con more money out of their clients?

WV law is the same as far as I know, Drop your insurance and you must turn in your tag.

I use State Farm and they prorate charges meaning less money over the winter.

I don't have my copies with me but it was something like :

Dec-Feb $50

Mar-May $75

Jun-Aug $200

Sept-Nov $75

But like all things there is a catch, up to $20 worth of fees by not paying full year.

Chuck

 

[old Pilot]

Anybody ever heard of DOT demanding that you submit your plates for X amount of months due to cancelling your insurance and STORING your bike over the winter?
A colleague shared with me that he received a letter from PennDOT (Pennsylvania's DMV) that because he did not have insurance on his bike for the last 3 months, that he must surrender his plates for 3 months. His bike was stored in a private garage and not ridden for the months it was not insured.

Something sounds fishy to me...Is it legal for the state to act in such a way? Is this just a law for insurance companies to conn more money out of their clients?

PennDOT will do this. The State Police will actually come to get the tags if not surrendered. When I was gone cruising on my boat for several years I stored my vehicles in PA. I contacted my ins co & paid only a very minimal storage rate for that time. Really, it was cheap. Less than $100/yr total for two vehicles and the po po did not try to take my tags.

 

[jekirby]

My father got in all kinds of trouble for this years ago. He had a small camper and only used it 4 months out of the year. This was give or take 20 years ago. His insurance company would allow him to insure the vehicle for 6 months. Tag renewal was for the whole year. After a few years of this, the DMV got wind of this and tried to take his license. Fortunately for him this was a small town and the sheriff let him pay the last year in "back insurance" and promise never to do it again. Sometimes small southern towns rock. I have never heard of surrendering tags here, but I know they can suspend you license.

On a side note, it used to be legal here to have 9 month motorcycle policies (I did it for years) and register the bike year-round. Banks even allowed this when financing motorcycles. I guess it was in the wording of the ins contract. I have not heard of this for a long time.

 

[FJR Flyer]

From what I was told by Progressive and Geico, their annual rates take into account the probability that you won't ride much in the winter. Which works out well for those of us that can ride in the winter (freak blizzards notwithstanding).

 

[Bounce]

Anybody ever heard of DOT demanding that you submit your plates for X amount of months due to cancelling your insurance and STORING your bike over the winter?
A colleague shared with me that he received a letter from PennDOT (Pennsylvania's DMV) that because he did not have insurance on his bike for the last 3 months, that he must surrender his plates for 3 months. His bike was stored in a private garage and not ridden for the months it was not insured.

Something sounds fishy to me...Is it legal for the state to act in such a way? Is this just a law for insurance companies to conn more money out of their clients?

When a clueless ass munch from AR hit my brand new truck because he was running studded snow tires in the spring and couldn't stop at a stop sign, the staties came and pulled the tags off his car for failing to have insurance (after he got back home).

 

[Happy Rider]

Here in the Peoples Republic of California when you cancel your insurance policy the insurance company is required by law to notify DMV of the new status. DMV will then suspend the registration for the vehicle. You still get to keep the plates. When you decide to insure the vehicle again they make you jump through some hurdles by sending proof of insurance to the capitol in Sacramento. Many people have told me that they were not able to go to their local DMV and show proof. I understand the intent of the law but it's another one of those laws that is difficult to enforce. The only way a LEO can determine the registration has been suspended is to run a registration check on the vehicle. The stupid thing is that if you get pulled over for a primary violation and the LEO determines that you are not insured they write you a ticket and let you drive away with no insurance. If you don't have a driver license the car gets inpounded. I personally would rather have an unlicensed and insured driver on the road than have a licensed and uninsured driver out there. It's another one of those loop holes to keep the people who think driving is a right and not a privilege happy. :huh:

 

[bramfrank]

Up here in Kommunist Kweebek they give zero credit for winter cancellations, whether for storage or sale, for insurance or vehicle registration. They charge based on a 6 or 8 month riding season (too lazy to check), though, aside from a snow tire restriction, there is no prohibition against riding during the winter months.

In our case it's just a tax and insurance grab for the vast majority of riders who don't ride from November to March to prevent them from claiming back some of the overly inflated fees we pay.

(~$640 for the tags and registration for an FJR (which includes in-province bodily injury insurance) and, in my case about $420 plus tax for private theft, collision and (this last mandatory) property liability insurance)

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I don't know if the state I now live in will, actually, send someone to confiscate the license plates from the vehicle? I do know that the local DMV gal said that you're required to remove your license plate when you sell the vehicle (but few do and it's not enforced). The state is very aggressive about insurance and license plates -- the ins. co.s and the state are completely tied-in. The state also rates high in the amount of drunk drivers on the road and the resulting statistics.

A state in which I previously lived let the license plates stay on the vehicle and drunks would search-out cars for sale merely by the amount of time they had left on their tabs. They had no drivers license and couldn't drive legally in any manner -- but, they could buy a used car from a private party with time on the license tabs (and not transfer the title).

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

... I personally would rather have an unlicensed and insured driver on the road than have a licensed and uninsured driver out there. It's another one of those loop holes to keep the people who think driving is a right and not a privilege happy. :huh:

The purpose of licensing (I think?) is to insure that everyone on the road knows how to drive and knows the rules. That requires good training facilities and adequate testing. Neither seems to be much in evidence...

As to whether driving's a right: Without good public transportation and considering that the U.S. auto industry requires the scrapping of 13 million vehicles annually to stay afloat -- private vehicles (cars) are the way people in America must get around. It may just be a right (in modern America)?

 

[Larry33319]

The trick is NOT to cancel your insurance but to Remove the vehicle from Service. I did this for many years with a motor home and never had a problem in either Maryland or Florida. I was able to keep my tags and when I was ready to put the vehicle back in service I just reinstated my insurance. It costs next to nothing to do this.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Randy, as you know, I'm in Md. I sold my Triumph to my brother who took it to Florida and parked it to take his first year+ vacation with the Army in Iraq. I canceled the insurance after I took the plate to MVA and got tired of waiting, so dropped it on the counter, and told the guy I sold the bike, and left. Months late, I got a letter with a bill from the Peoples Republic of MD for $1200.00!!!

The guy at MVA must've never logged in the plate and canceled it. Since Russ never titled or tagged it for the year and I had no receipt, I couldn't prove that Russ wasn't riding my bike with no insurance.

Bob

 

[Randy]

They've been doing this for a while. I think it's a good practice. If you're dropping insurance to store your bike, then you don't need the plates. To avoid this, downgrade to the state minimums during storage. That way you're at least partially covered if you go out on one of those rare spring/summer like days that occasionally pop up in the middle of winter. If the bike is financed, I don't think you're permitted to drop full coverage insurance.

 

[ffejtable]

NJ is the same way, although I have dropped insurance on at least 4 bikes in the last 6 years and they have never asked for the plates. I don't think they ever asked for my car plates either, but I understand the law and the reasons... Some people can't be trusted to do the right thing.

 

[twistedcricket]

so what happens if there's damage to the bike while it's stored without insurance?

 

[Auburn]

so what happens if there's damage to the bike while it's stored without insurance?

You are SOL

 

[Deacon51]

I sold a bike here in Maryland and canceled the insurance.

I only had 3 months left on the tags. The "Free" state sent me a bill for $150 for the first month plus $7 a day for the remaining ~60 days. Nice to get a letter saying that my insurance company had notified the state of my canceled policy, please pay $500 bucks.

Luckily my Commands legal office was willing to help me out.

Maryland did say that if I had sent my tags in I would have received a prorated refund for the remaining time.

 

[Roadstar]

I know it`s been awhile since the first post , but i get so amused at PA laws (shaking head while in both hands) Is there a reason why he would just have insurance on a bike for 9 months (is it to save some bucks) I have always had full year insurance on all my bikes , since one does get the itch on them indian summer days in the winter & i try to ride every holiday every year. If this bike has a loan , i`m sure the finance company notified MV on it (hence the taking of the plate).