> Just curious as to what is meant by N-reg. Is this some kind of
> regulation by the British motor vehicle agency?
Hi Adrain
Thanks for the explanation.
If the US were to give a license plate for life for each car, that would put
a lot of cons out of work. What with an amalgamation of 50 states,
commonwealths, districts and territories, it is impractical because each of
them issues their own plates and they try to be artsy-fartsy. Each of them
has their own little quirks on driving regulations. In some states, you
cannot make a right turn (in your case it would have to be a left turn) on a
red light. Most states in the west, it allowable to make a right turn on red
light, traffic permitting. On my Honda, I had plates depicting Crater Lake
and a part of my fee went to support the arts. Some have a salmon, others a
Conestoga wagon to commemorate the invasion by the whites and the killing
off of all of the Native Americans. My current plates is the everyday run
of the mill with pine trees on it.
The current numbering system started out with AAA000 and when they got to
ZZZ999, they switched and started with 000AAA. When I spent 2 years living
in CA I had to turn in my OR plates and pay a whole bunch of money for fees
and sales taxes and then when I returned to Oregon it cost me about $120 to
get the special plates and transfer the title from CA to OR. After I moved
back I was constantly being dunned by the CA DMV for not paying my renewal
fees. It took forever to get through to them that I had moved out of state
and now longer registered in CA. It was like when I called my cable TV and
internet service to transfer my service to OR. The customer service rep was
at loss because she couldn't find Oregon, CA. I had to explain to her that
Oregon was a separate state. Then I was told, even though the company
services both states that I had to call another 800 number to transfer my
service.
When I bought the Citroen, the seller had taken the Idaho plates off of the
car believing that since they were Idaho plates I wouldn't need them.
Fortunately the OR DMV let get away without having to turn them in. I had a
signed bill of sale from the seller. I had to have the car run through the
DEQ for smog (it failed). My mechanic took it through and it passed. DEQ is
done by the state, not some jacked up service station and it cost $22 or
there abouts and the license tabs are good for 2 years. I won't have to pay
for new tabs until Feb. 2008. They have gotten a little expensive, I think I
had to pay $30 for the two years. Used to be $12 for the two years.
>> Just curious as to what is meant by N-reg. Is this some kind of
>> regulation by the British motor vehicle agency?
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regmarks/reg_marks_current_system.htm
Frank Kemper - 25 Jun 2006 10:14 GMT
"Gene S. Park" <gene.park@comcast.net> haute in die Tasten:
> When I spent 2 years living
> in CA I had to turn in my OR plates and pay a whole bunch of
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> fees. It took forever to get through to them that I had moved
> out of state and now longer registered in CA.
In Germany we also have a system of local license plates. Whole of
the country is divided into hundreds of licensing districts and each
district has its own letter code. A one letter code stands for a big
district like "B" for Berlin or "M" for munich. In addition to this,
each license plate gets a combination of one or two letters and up to
4 digits. If I take the plate number M-FK 3033, one can see that my
car is registrered in Munich. If you are an expert, you can also see,
that this car is registered in Munich City, as the Munich County area
always issues license plates with only one letter behind the M.
If you move to another city (i.e. leave your licensing district), you
are required to report to the local licensing authority and get
yoursef a new plate. Cost are roughly 70 Euros for that, including
the new plates (in Germany it is mandatory to have plates on front
and rear of your car). Many people try to avoid this, because the
cost for insurance depend on the licensing district you are
registered in. Most countryside disitrcts are cheaper than the
metropolitan districts. Many people, who move away from their parents
to join University or have a job in the city, keep their country
licensing plate as long as possible. If they catch you, you are
fined, but the fine is not very high. Other than in the U.S. all
german licensing authorities exchange their data in real time. So if
you decide to de-mobilize your car over winter, you just have to go
to your authoriy, where they remove the official seals from your
plates. Some weeks later you get a notice from the tax authority
telling you how much money you get back (for the car taxes which are
not used up). Your insurance company is also notified and pays you
back some money. This more or less runs automatically and flawlessly.
OTOH the german licensing plate system has some drawbacks. One
drawback is the fact that you need one set of pates for every vehicle
you own (which includes paying car tax and car insurance for the
vehicle). In Austria for example it is possible to use one set of
plates for several cars, so you can use the subcompact for commuting
to work during the week and the Corvette Convertible for weekend fun
- with just one set of plates and one insurance fee.
Frank

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Citroen - Made in Trance
Adrian - 25 Jun 2006 11:33 GMT
> OTOH the german licensing plate system has some drawbacks. One
> drawback is the fact that you need one set of pates for every vehicle
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> to work during the week and the Corvette Convertible for weekend fun
> - with just one set of plates and one insurance fee.
I dunno about a Corvette (my hair's my own still), but I *like* the sound
of that idea. Maybe it's something to do with having seven cars...?
Whiskers - 25 Jun 2006 13:27 GMT
snip
> there abouts and the license tabs are good for 2 years. I won't have to pay
> for new tabs until Feb. 2008. They have gotten a little expensive, I think I
> had to pay $30 for the two years. Used to be $12 for the two years.
snip
Is there any other regular charge or tax? In the UK we have to pay an
annual 'vehicle excise license fee', commonly referred to as 'road tax'.
The amount depends on the vehicle, but for my car it was 120 pounds last
time. We get a paper 'tax disc' to show that we've paid, and that has to
be displayed on the vehicle at all times or risk a fine or even criminal
charges. Some local councils have the power to remove 'untaxed vehicles'
from public roads and crush them if not claimed. (We also have to provide
evidence of statutory vehicle insurance and a 'current' road-worthiness
certificate in order to get the tax disc).
If a vehicle is permanently removed from one EU country to another, it has
to be registered, licensed, and taxed, in the new country, but within the
UK a vehicle normally keeps its original registration number for ever.
It is possible to transfer a 'cherished number-plate' from one vehicle to
another though, so there's a lucrative market in numbers such as COM 1 C
and A 1 and CAR 99.

Signature
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~
Adrian - 25 Jun 2006 14:50 GMT
> It is possible to transfer a 'cherished
> number-plate' from one vehicle to another though, so there's a
> lucrative market in numbers such as COM 1 C and A 1 and CAR 99.
And - rather bizarrely - GAZ4536 and X5GIT other such plates that scream
"I'm VERY VERY SAD!"
Adrian - 25 Jun 2006 15:00 GMT
>> It is possible to transfer a 'cherished
>> number-plate' from one vehicle to another though, so there's a
>> lucrative market in numbers such as COM 1 C and A 1 and CAR 99.
> And - rather bizarrely - GAZ4536 and X5GIT other such plates that scream
> "I'm VERY VERY SAD!"
For the benefit of non-UKers...
http://www.regtransfers.co.uk/
http://www.nationalnumbers.co.uk/
http://www.newreg.co.uk/
It seems I could have the plate with my initials followed by the number 1
for *only* £19,000. They don't even quote a price for 1 followed by the
initials.