If you sell a car, turn in the plates immediately.

At the fire station where I worked, we let some of the neighbors park overnight. One time I noticed that an older station wagon did not move for several days. Upon investigation, I found that it was parked a bit into the bushes, had no rear plate (at the time Mass, did not require a front plate), and was full of junk like old tires, batteries and trash.

The police found that it was still registered to an old lady in Boston - she had given the car to a nice young feller - she had to get it towed away and disposed of. I thought she was sick over the matter.

I've sold many a car and never had a second thought about it because I always remove the plates. But your post got me to thinking and I discovered that in the state of Missouri it has been the law since Jan 1 2006 that, with some exceptions, an individual must file a Notice of Sale with the DOR when selling a motor vehicle, trailer or ATV.

Crap! I had no idea. I did sell a vehicle after that date. I didn't suffer the consequences for not filing ($200 fine), presumably because the buyer registered and licensed the vehicle within the 60 day requirement.

Now I know. Thanks for your post.


--
'79 242, '84 DL 2 door, '80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon, '15 XC70 T6 AWD

I sold our C70 a couple of months ago. The buyer was a little "sketchy" but he brought the asking price in cash. Then it got strange. He moved all the junk and the plate from his car to the C70. I suggested that it would be better to be stopped with no plate and the transferred title, than with the wrong plate, but he didn't care. (He did pick up his car the next day)

Two weeks ago I received a registered letter from a garage over 100 miles away in another State. The C70, with no plate, had been impounded after the driver and a companion shoplifted and fled police. They abandoned the car, which was traced back to me by the VIN. He had never registered it.

The letter instructed me to retrieve the car, or, if I was no longer the owner, return the letter with an explanation that it had been sold. Curious, I called the garage and spoke with the owner "Buddy," who gave me the details above. We had a laugh and I told him he could do whatever he wanted with the car, it wasn't mine.

I did not return the license plate when I sold it but should have. Also, when selling a car, I always take a picture of the buyers driver's license, but after two months I deleted it. I did have the buyers name, which I recorded on a receipt I created.


Erwin
Memphis
'88 745T $
'92 945T $
'95 855T $$
'08 V70 $