What is the legal penalty for taking the registration date off another license plate and putting it on yours?
I know someone who is thinking about doing this and I would like to know the exact penalty in order to deter them from doing this. The reason is that they can’t pass emissions/inspection and it costs too much money to repair the car enough to pass. So they want to just drive around their old car and replace the registration with someone else’s. But isn’t there a pretty severe penalty if a cop pulls them over and finds that they have a fake date of registration on the license plate?
The answer, as always, is it depends on what state. I can see the person being arrested for registration fraud and having the car impounded. The car won’t be released until all back registration is paid for. This would be lots of $$$ as they would have to shell out the money for the back registration, tow, and storage fees all at once.
Criminally, the person would pay a fine, be placed on misdemeanor probation (most likely informal), and have a conviction on their record.
If the police want to push it, they can be charged with theft and/or vehicle tampering for the original theft of the reg tab
The answer, as always, is it depends on what state. I can see the person being arrested for registration fraud and having the car impounded. The car won’t be released until all back registration is paid for. This would be lots of $$$ as they would have to shell out the money for the back registration, tow, and storage fees all at once.
Criminally, the person would pay a fine, be placed on misdemeanor probation (most likely informal), and have a conviction on their record.
If the police want to push it, they can be charged with theft and/or vehicle tampering for the original theft of the reg tab
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Police officer.
I would certainly expect a trip down to the police station if they get caught.
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