Really. Renewal of license is basically annual tax on your vehicle which I believe is the same thing as the “tax disc” mentioned. FWIW, the system that yabob mentioned is different in state by state. Texas registration sticker goes inside (peel wax paper, stick it on the window). Plates remain unchanged unless there is a transfer of ownership.
Why is it “nutty”? In Texas we used to have that similar system. Basically, you get new sticker, scratch off the old one, and then stick the new one on the plate. Texas changed it due to the high incidence of criminals using shaving blades to un-stick 'em and sell the stickers on the black market.
The year sticker serves as a quick visual check for the cop driving behind you that your registration is up to date. Yes, they can be stolen, but it isn’t a terribly common occurrence. For one thing, they tend to be hard to peel off in one piece. You usually just stick your new sticker over last years. It happened to me once, though. The cop pulled me over, ran my license plate and verified that I was actually up to date before coming up to my car. He then simply told me that someone had stolen my sticker and I should send in to the DMV for a new one. I didn’t, after learning a new sticker cost $30 or something like that. I was due to get next year’s registration in the mail anyway, so I just drove around a few more weeks and sent in my new registration as soon as it came.
Many states used to issue new plates every year, and changed the color scheme so that out of date plates would be obvious. They instituted the stickers so they wouldn’t lose that ability.
They can’t be peeled off easily – they have some pretty badass adhesive on them usually. The registration sticker is used in some states so the cops can tell that your fees are up to date by glancing at your license plate instead of demanding to see your registration card. License plates are typically replaced every several years – in New York it’s every ten years but some states replace them more often.
And some states never issue new plates. In CA, you still occasionally see the old gold on black plates. They quit issuing that color scheme in 1969, but there are still some old cars on the highway wearing them (CA is a “plate with car” state).
Note for non-US readers: some states are “plate with car” states where the license plate transfers with the car when you sell it. Others are “plate with owner” states where the owner removes the plates after selling the car, and registers them to a new vehicle or turns them in. Both systems boil down to about the same amount of paperwork, as the state has to keep track of the owner / car / license number combinations in any case.
This still doesn’t make any sense to me. In what world in my insurance “valid” when it is not paid? And is this officer supposed to call my insurance company to check on the “validity” of my coverage at the time of a simple traffic stop? Or is the insurance company just going to magically let him know?
I have no idea what you mean by “an electronic relationship with the state”. I register my car with the state and I renew my registration (by mail, if I haven’t let it lapse) every year. If they are in touch with my insurer to make sure I’m insured, that’s news to me. If they even know who I’m insured with, I’d be very surprised.
AFAIK in my state it is a legal requirement to carry liability insurance, but you can drive without it for years by timely renewing your registration, because – unlike Fozzie’s stat – they have no way to check. The state doesn’t find out you don’t have it unless or until you wreck your car. Or when you can’t produce a valid proof of insurance when stopped.
As noted before, the adhesive is pretty severe and won’t transfer well once it is peeled off. Stealing one would be about as effective as stealing a whole license plate and you can’t prevent that. That would be a dumbass thing to do though because neither trick would survive an in-state stop and would get you in some serious trouble because the police in-state always cross-check those things. Out of state, the person attempting such a thing is most likely a felon and has bigger things to worry about.
Speaking as someone who knows, I think there is a serious misrepresentation about what can go wrong with large databases and with the “burden” that two small pieces of paper in your glove compartment have on you. If we want to get back to the basics here, the “glove compartment” is rarely used to carry gloves although I have a pair of leather ones in mine just to make it legit. It should also contain your owners manual with a couple of hundred pages, your two or three pieces of paper that we already discussed, and anything else you might cram in there.
Those two pieces of paper might greatly diminish the performance of your SUV but they are very handy if you are cruising down the plains 2000 miles away from home and get stopped at 2:00 am.
Does anyone know what the actual issue is in this thread? I think the SDMB has either jumped the shark or has added prorated rates for the mentally challenged. The whole discussion seems to center around what grand information systems might exist in the future, whether those are 100% infallible, and why people should be forced to carry around two pieces of paper in a compartment that is built for it in every single car in the U.S. based on civil rights.
The paper copies are just receipts that are also stored on computers somewhere but those systems won’t be available to every police department in North America all the time. Why would someone have a problem keeping a receipt in their car when their is already a place and convention for it? The mind boggles.
Well, in the case of registration or DL you are right. The police can check those electronically, they really do not need to see them. It’s either a hang-over from the old days or an excuse to write a ticket.
However, AFAIK, in CA all your need is proof of Insurance when you register a vehicle. Your insurance can lapse or you can change carriers or something and the DMV has no idea.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr18.htm
If the DMV was notified everytime you canceled your insurance, then it’d be crazy with dudes shopping around for policies like they do.
Well, for one example, you could have your documents stolen along with your garage door opener and find a big surprise when you get home.
That happened to a friend of mine. 
I wonder whether it’s a hangover from the 1940s - a general aversion in the UK to the idea of needing “papers” with you to be produced on demand when the police request it.
My Michigan insurance is perfectly valid in Canada, but the Canadians don’t know that unless I have a different form issued by my insurance company that shows the information the Canadians want in the manner that the Canadians want to see it. I don’t have to pay extra or anything; it’s just a matter of walking up to the service desk and letting them know I need a Canadian card. It’s not even anything fancy – it’s hand written with most of the information taken off of my normal proof of insurance.
US title = UK registration, US registration = UK tax disc. :smack: (Edit: and even the UK registration is only two pages long and is supplied neatly folded, anyway.)
On the other hand, the US belief that paper=good, electronic=fallible seems to permeate some of this. Whereas the UK is getting the whole thing (insurance, registration, tax, MOT) onto a (yes, fallible, and possibly sinister) DVLA database rather than requiring papers to be carried. Neither option seems perfect. And the problems with communicating electronic information across state borders are paralleled by getting it across national borders in Europe, or even with the separately-administered Northern Ireland system.
It seems to be about clarifying how the two very different systems work, and the benefits and drawbacks of each.
One thing I don’t get about the American system - if you’re keeping your proof of insurance in your car, what about if you’re covered to drive other cars?
Whenever I’ve been in the states, people have borrowed each others’ cars at will. We’re much more anal about it over here. And I think the reason is that in the US the car is covered to a certain extent for all drivers (with the owner’s permission), whereas in the UK the insurance covers only the specific driver. Thus when I borrow my friend’s car over here, I am only insured on it because I have a policy for my own car that covers me for all vehicles, third-party only. Is that right?
We carry our papers with us here, because we live in a country that is 3000 miles wide by some 1500 miles tall. England, by comparison, is barely the size of one of our states. So imagine if you were in Ohio, and you never drive out of Ohio (kinda like Balthisar in Michigan), and if I get stopped while driving in, say, Athens (some 180 miles from my home) I can simply pop into my local Toledo, Ohio police station and say, “See, I really am licensed, own the car, and am insured.”
Now, imagine if you drove all over Europe, and you had to prove these things to people in places as diverse as Russia, Greece and, God forbid, France. Would you want to have to travel back there to prove them? :eek:
As for carrying things like proof of insurance: I’d much rather prove my insurance is up to date with a card in my wallet than have the insurance companies contacting the government and engaging in database synchronization. Think about it… :dubious:
UK, please! It makes us a little bigger 
However, while your reason is a good one in practical terms, is it the actual reason for the more sensible policy your country adopts?
While your point is basically valid, and it’s the reason for some standardisation across the EU (e.g. on driving licence format), you maybe have a slight misunderstanding of the British system. If I get stopped for speeding on Shetland, I don’t have to make the 1200-mile round trip to fetch my documents, only produce them to any police station within X days (not sure how many it is). And if I fail to do so within that time scale, and have a justifiable delay (e.g. I wasn’t able to fetch them) but do so as early as possible, the reasonable cause for the delay would be accepted by a magistrate.
My head hurts.
So I’ll throw my local jurisdiction’s rules in to confuse things even more.
If you are driving a car in the Australian state of New South Wales (and I think all other states too), you need one thing, and one thing only - your driver’s licence. You will be fined for not being able to produce that, but you are not expected to be carrying any other paperwork. In fact, it’s recommended you don’t carry your car registration papers, but that you do at least know your insurance company’s name, or preferably the policy number (this can be written on the back of a napkin or even memorised - but it’s not against the law not to know it off hand).
Cars are registered here for twelve month intervals. I’m not sure what the “insurance” is that the Americans are placing so much importance on, but here, there are several different types of insurance, only one of which is compulsory. The compulsory one is called CTP (Compulsory Third Party). This is the “green slip” you buy from an insurer to take to the motor registry along with the “pink slip” (roadworthiness certificate from a mechanic) to renew your registration. You can’t register a car without it. This is for PERSONAL INJURY ONLY to third parties, and doesn’t cover the other guy’s Beemer you just wrote off. It’s advisable (but not compulsory) to get third party PROPERTY DAMAGE insurance too, or if your car isn’t a beater, to get COMPREHENSIVE insurance which covers your car too. These two latter are not part of the registration process, and cops will not be interested in them.
When you get your car registered there is a sticker you place on the windscreen. This is replaced each year with one of a different colour. If you are pulled over, the cop might check the sticker is valid. He will check your licence. And that’s all. You can keep your glovebox for gloves.
The UK is similar, but it’s all incorporated as one policy. The third party cover is the legal obligation, but nearly everybody has more cover than this for their own car. Generally the registered owner of the car is the policy holder, and additional drivers can be added, enabling them to drive the same car with the same cover. (Adding your spouse will typically not increase the premium, but adding your 17-year-old son certainly will.) Some policies entitle the policy holder to drive other people’s cars, but only with third party cover.
Edit: and you get a single piece of paper from the insurance company certificating all of this, plus it nowadays goes into the DVLA database.