I got a bill for my house insurance the other day and had only 8 days to pay it because they had my old address even though I'd notified them a couple of times. So I called the agent who handles my car and home insurance and asked him to take care of it. Well he said he would and then called me back to say that my auto insurance had lapsed. When I asked why, I was told because my wife's license had expired. I said I thought we'd discussed this earlier in the year and he said we had. So, lucky for me, I'd had no accidents or LEO problem because I'd been driving since February with no insurance on my car.
In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, only the State Police would bother pulling someone over for registration tags or inspection stickers. You might get another ticket for those things if they pulled you over for something else, but they weren't watching for the tags. Some of the more money-hungry city police in Maine will watch for expirations, but neither the State Police, any of the Sheriff's Departments, or most city cops don't look for it. Again, you'll get some extra tickets if you're pulled over for speeding or something, or if you're in an accident, but they don't watch for them.
Along with tags, I seriously doubt if any law enforcement agency look for anyone illegally parking in a Handicap space or even someone using an outdated Handicap Placard. There are plenty of handicap folks out there that get very perturbed when someone that is not handicapped is parked in a handicap spot. There are those that just don't care and park in the spot due to no other spots available. And, now that Lowe's has Military Veteran posted parking spots, who will monitor those?
But they are regulated by individual states; not a federal law. Also, you only have to be concerned about the laws of the state where your vehicle is registered so all the other state laws don't matter.
I think the days of the "meter maid" (who issued citations for such victimless crimes) is long gone. And I imagine that Lowe's is depending on the integrity of customers choosing to use the Military Veteran spaces. People either have integrity or they do not; no citations will be issued for being a jackass.
Yesterday, we stopped at local Safeway. As we were leaving, I noticed a vehicles license plate from Florida and the tags of 06/2014. I mentioned to the lady, with her older teen son, about Florida on her plate. She moved here from Miami, but was totally shocked at the lack of diversity here. Then I mentioned about her tags. She asked me if I was a cop and I said "no, but as an EMT, I had worked along side of law enforcement". She knew how outdated her year tag was and it didn't seem to bother her. Then she told me that she got pulled over in South Dakota, but the officer let her go. Get this............she has no registration in the vehicle at all and she told us that. Guess, due to the virus situation (courts), law enforcement here aren't pulling folks over for expired tags. We don't have a bad virus thing here, but....... Then, while at King Scooper's (another local grocery store), I seen a Firebird or Camaro without any rear plate on at all. No paper plate either. Both of these drivers, Florida and non-plate car, weren't worried at all about legal vehicle registration!
When I lived in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the State Police would enforce registration and inspection tag violations, and some city police departments would, but most other law enforcement people thought that to be not their problem since it was a state requirement. One of the newspapers did a story sometime in the 1990s saying that about 70% of the drivers in the Valley were uninsured.
@Ken Anderson Living in Phoenix, the Financial Responsibility Law was passed requiring all vehicles have liability coverage. Within a couple of years, lawsuits were filed against the state claiming the majority of the 2/3 of vehicles uninsured were driven to work by folks unable to buy insurance.........they were being deprived of their right to feed their families! Huge public uproar. The fix? Insurance for those poor folks was provided by the taxpayers, which bought the shirkers their insurance. You can BET those uninsured had money with which to buy alcohol and cigarettes! Frank
I think the idea in the Valley was that if this stuff was important to the State, then the State should enforce it. That's sort of the feeling in much of Maine about the crazy virus mandates.
Thats Arizona? Even in the peoples republic of NY car insurance is your responsibility No money no insurance, so sorry! In NY the insurance company notifies the state the minute your policy lapses. Your registration is invalid at that moment. There is a civil penalty of $80.00 a day for each day you are out of compliance. Most often you will be nabbed by the aforementioned plate readers. Not a big uninsured driver problem here...
I remember letting our next door neighbor know that his "year" tag had expired. He told me he had the new one in his glove compartment and simply had been to lazy to put it on. The new tag was on his plate the next day. The only way to get a new "year" tag is thru an appointment or do it online. We will end up doing our Durango and boat trailer online next month. Currently, nobody can just walk into the registration office, get a number from a Kiosk and take a seat in their office until called. We even have a Senior couple in our complex that has a "year" tag, but no "month" tag on their rear plate. And, there are some vehicles in the complex that show 1 (January) 2020 tags.
As far as insurance goes, for years when I lived there, it wasn't mandatory. If a person was pulled over, "proof of insurance" was never asked for, only DL and registration. Those without insurance were suppose to have the finances to pay for any repairs/injuries in an accident. Then, came along "No Fault" insurance, where each party paid for their own repairs/injuries. And, "Uninsured Motorist" came into view also. We have insurance on everything........apartment (Renter's), boat/trailer and vehicle. Funny, but years ago, apartment complexes didn't require Renter's Insurance, but now they sure do!
In Texas you have to provide proof of insurance AND a valid vehicle inspection to get your annual tags. I wish they'd do away with that stupid money grab, the vehicle "inspection."
We don't have a vehicle inspection here, but do have a smog inspection. From what I've seen on streets/freeways, a vehicle inspection and be real plus. There are those that don't care what works and doesn't work on their vehicle. Here we have seen: badly cracked windshields, no front bumper, broken off side mirrors, plus other things not fixed by the owner. When we lived in Florida, where there is no vehicle inspection or smog inspection, people think that having neither is absolutely great. Their vehicle could be smoking like crazy or barely drivable and it is still being driven. In fact, not having either of these inspections is considered a "selling point" for moving to any part of Florida.