US titles vary from state to state, of course, but most aren’t very large, either. Sometimes called the “pink slip” in CA and some other states, a lot of them are a single medium size sheet, and not necessarily pink. The current CA title is a multicolored affair that looks like this (some guy scanned the title on his Corolla and put it on his web site. I wouldn’t do that.):
http://old.soliton.net/old/images/corolla/pinkslip.jpg
The older form WAS pink.
TheLoadedDog, in some US states auto insurance is not required, but many do require it. In California you are required to carry a minimum of $30,000 of liability insurance per car; anything above and beyond that is optional. This covers personal injury and property damage. It doesn’t have to be through an insurance company, if you’re swimming in cash you can put $30,000 in a bond and carry proof of that instead.
In order to legal operate the car, it must be registered with the state (or another state if passing through) and the associated fee must be paid. As was said above, the papers (“proof of insurance” and “registration”) are simply receipts showing you’ve taken care of those two requirements. Police here will check both of these, but may not necissarily run it through their computer.
Using my insurance company as an example, basically you get multiple copies of a card or letter sized document with your name and the cars you are insuring. You keep one copy per car.
Up until last year, this is what Virginia required you to have with you when driving –
Valid license plates with current year’s sticker affixed in the proper places
Valid driver’s license
Proof of insurance
Vehicle registration card
Annual safety inspection sticker (stuck on windshield)
Annual personal property tax sticker (stuck on windshield)
Last year, they eliminated No. 6 – you still have to pay the tax, but you don’t have to have the sticker.
My question is – aren’t the license plates and the registration card somewhat duplicative?
Well, the license plate only carries minimal information - a plate number and current year sticker, usually. The registration card has the VIN number, car make/model, and owner’s name, as well as the plate number.
And you had to go and bring up “safety inspections”. I was just waiting for somebody to muddy the waters by throwing those into the mix. THAT does strike me as redundant documentation which could be folded into the registration process and not require a separate sticker, but states that have safety inspections seem to stick to a tradition of having a window sticker. CA doesn’t have safety inspections, but if they did, it could be handled the way smog certification is. If your car is due for smog testing, you simply have to go get that done and pass before the DMV will issue your new registration. You could do the same thing with safety inspections.
I got pulled over a few months ago, and because my glove compartment is a mess, I was unable to find my proof of insurance card right away. I did find my old (expired) one, and gave it to the officer explaining that I still had the same policy. As he continued to write my ticket (why do I never get just a warning?) I found my current card and gave it to him. He said that since I had found it, he was going to cancel the additional fine he was in the process of giving me for not having it.
Since I live in Texas, we do have annual vehicle safety inspection stickers. They could make the whole system rolled into one, but that would mean that the registration place would also need a mechanic or someone “certified” to the check the car to see if it passes muster. I’m not sure how it works in other states, but I rather like the convenience of the system separating the registration and the vehicle inspection. In Texas, any mechanic certified by the state can do the vehicle inspection and give you the sticker. So. The process is usually pretty fast.
Not much difference once the processes are combined. The registration place doesn’t have to do the inspection - the mechanic who does it just issues a certificate you have to present as part of your registration process, there’s a part of the registration form for them to fill in and sign, or it’s done electronically. I haven’t registered a car in person in years. I’ve either done it online or through the mail. These days, once the smog tester certifies you, they flag you as “tested” in the state DB, and your registration simply goes through.
Yeah, in Virginia, you have to get the emissions test certification and present it to the DMV in order to renew your registration. I wonder why they don’t handle safety inspections that way.
Tsk, tsk, it’s licenCe
Dear me jjimm you disappoint.
I think there’s been some slight misinformation.
Title = proof of ownership
Driver’s license = Proof the driver allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
Registration = Proof taxes have been paid that allow that car to drive on public roads.
Only the second two must be carried in the car, the license typically in the drivers wallet, just in case he needs to drive a vehicle he doesn’t own, or has more than one car. Elwood Blues, having only one car, kept his license on the visor.
And yeah. I couldn’t get last year’s sticker off with a chisel, so I just put the new year’s sticker on top.
Isn’t that what I said? 
:smack:
On re-reading, yes :smack:
Just for the record, I did say originally that the law in Michigan requires these documents, and that even if it weren’t so, I’d still carry them because of my frequent travels out of state, including Canada, Ohio, Indianapolis, and Illinois, let alone family road trips which could be anywhere.
Now that I think of it, I got pulled over entering Wisconsin from the Minnesota state line (new limit, trucks didn’t let me see new state line, cop let me go). I had an expired license (the printed document, electronically I was good), and it never came up in our discussion.
Arse biscuits!
Hob Nobs?
Gingernuts.
Guess what I ate ten minutes ago…
chowder’s hob nob? And/or his ginger nuts?