Two different license plates on one car?

AmberClad

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
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Is this legal? And if it is, why would anyone do it in the first place?

I was on my way to work this morning, and I was behind one of those taxi van things. This thing had a Maryland plate on it, but below that, someone had attached a second plate. They had folded/manipulated it in a way that you couldn't read the numbers unless you were right up behind it, and the only thing you could see at a distance was the "For Hire" text at the bottom. It was a little hard to make out, but it looked like a Virginia taxi/limo plate to me. The Maryland one was a regular one (not a For-Hire plate). The company that owned the van is a pretty decent-sized one, not what I would consider a shady, questionable company.
 

Gneisenau

Senior member
May 30, 2007
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Somtimes a vehicle may be required to be licensed in more than one state. Especially if it is own by a company. I have driven company cars that carried two license plates so I could legally drive it for work in two states.
If that Taxi transported passengers between states, then it would probably have to be licensed in both states at the same time.
Heaven forbid if one of those states lost out on their vehicle tax...
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
53,477
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Originally posted by: Gneisenau
Somtimes a vehicle may be required to be licensed in more than one state. Especially if it is own by a company. I have driven company cars that carried two license plates so I could legally drive it for work in two states.
If that Taxi transported passengers between states, then it would probably have to be licensed in both states at the same time.
Heaven forbid if one of those states lost out on their vehicle tax...

I dunno I have taken taxis from DC to VA tons of times and they never have had 2 plates on them.
 

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
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I've seen truckers that have a two plate arrangement, one that just has a bunch of places for registration stickers.
 

Gneisenau

Senior member
May 30, 2007
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Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
I've seen truckers that have a two plate arrangement, one that just has a bunch of places for registration stickers.

I have seen trucks out west that have a large plate with 6 or 7 plates on them.

 

Gneisenau

Senior member
May 30, 2007
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Originally posted by: purbeast0
Originally posted by: Gneisenau
Somtimes a vehicle may be required to be licensed in more than one state. Especially if it is own by a company. I have driven company cars that carried two license plates so I could legally drive it for work in two states.
If that Taxi transported passengers between states, then it would probably have to be licensed in both states at the same time.
Heaven forbid if one of those states lost out on their vehicle tax...

I dunno I have taken taxis from DC to VA tons of times and they never have had 2 plates on them.

Ok maybe it's not required between dc and va but maybe between va and maryland? I don't know that area much at all. I do know that states like Wyoming require all vehicles doing buisness within their state to be licensed there. If your company resides outside that state and the vehicle will be doing work in that home state too, then it will either have to have both licenses on it, or they will have to be exchanged all the time.

If we were going to leave the vehicle at the jobsite for the duration of the job, we just relicensed it in that state. If not, it carried more than one plate. Not all states are so hardnosed about it. Some states send highway patrol car into construction parking lots to check license plates. (Including the workmen's private cars.) California will do this, Wyoming will do this. Nevada will do this. I don't know about the east coast though.

 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
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When I chased construction across the west, I often had license plates from 2 different states. Your vehicle can only be titled in one state, but registration in more than one state is actually fairly common.
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
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Originally posted by: Gneisenau
Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
I've seen truckers that have a two plate arrangement, one that just has a bunch of places for registration stickers.

I have seen trucks out west that have a large plate with 6 or 7 plates on them.


yip
 

Injury

Lifer
Jul 19, 2004
13,066
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Originally posted by: BoomerD
When I chased construction across the west, I often had license plates from 2 different states. Your vehicle can only be titled in one state, but registration in more than one state is actually fairly common.

What is the purpose of having it registered in two different states?
 

Nyati13

Senior member
Jan 2, 2003
785
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Originally posted by: Injury
Originally posted by: BoomerD
When I chased construction across the west, I often had license plates from 2 different states. Your vehicle can only be titled in one state, but registration in more than one state is actually fairly common.

What is the purpose of having it registered in two different states?

Taxes.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
65,646
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Originally posted by: Injury
Originally posted by: BoomerD
When I chased construction across the west, I often had license plates from 2 different states. Your vehicle can only be titled in one state, but registration in more than one state is actually fairly common.

What is the purpose of having it registered in two different states?


Most states require you to register and license your vehicle within a certain number of days when you're living/working there. Being somewhat transient, (my home in one state, just working elsewhere) it makes sense to maintain my title and registration in my home state, and just register the vehicle in the other state. Otherwise, everytime I went home between jobs, I'd have to go through all the DMV hassles in my home state again...and again...and again...it's bad enough when you work in 3 or 4 states in a year, and have to deal with the DMV's in each of them...
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
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I think semis used to have to carry a plate for every state they'd drive through. In old movies/photos you'll see trucks with 8 or 9 plates.
 

Spook

Platinum Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Speaking of license plate scams... Im in VA, and I've seen several Dealer plates, on cars that are very obviously not dealership cars... quite worn in, dirty interior, personal stuff in the car. What's with those cars? is this a scam someones running?

Sorry, don't mean to jack your thread... seemed close in topic
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
65,646
14,031
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Originally posted by: Spook
Speaking of license plate scams... Im in VA, and I've seen several Dealer plates, on cars that are very obviously not dealership cars... quite worn in, dirty interior, personal stuff in the car. What's with those cars? is this a scam someones running?

Sorry, don't mean to jack your thread... seemed close in topic

They may be from used car lots, and the salesmen are using them. Pretty common.
 

AmberClad

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2005
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I guess the taxes thing makes the most sense out of the explanations I've heard so far. But I'm not convinced.

This is the first taxi or shuttle I've seen in the DC metropolitan area that needed two plates. You'd think that, with the amount of traveling between DC/MD/VA that the cabbies in this area must do, all of them would need three plates.

So, I wonder though -- if that taxi-van cabby gets pulled over for excessive speeding while he happened to be in VA, would he get the normal ticket for out-of-staters (because of the MD plate), or would he get the $3550 ticket for VA registered vehicles :p? (For those who don't understand the reference, Google "VA abusive driver law")

Aimster - this was a large van, with a very conspicuous paint scheme. I don't think he could get away with driving it around for personal use.