OTR18WHEELER

So...I can't get a personalized plate here in Indiana, but my '85 does qualify for the historical car plate option.
I know these cars made history, but historical seems model T'ish to me.
opinions?

BigCavolo

25 years is Antique in TX. I love it. No inspection. Exempt from anything I put on it. 46 bucks for 5 years!

mkriete

I looked into historical plates in Missouri. This registration gives you the option to register the car with old plates from your model year. No inspections required. However, it limited use of the car to only car shows, educational events, and driving between events. That's not what I wanted, so I have a standard plates. I know this varies state to state.

phendriks

My appraiser/adjuster advised against this route as well. Although the state won't probably pursue an infraction ( test drives are also allowed in Ontario), if there is a crash, then what? Your insurance has an opportunity to challenge the claim.

Cheers, Phendriks

ThetaTau87

I have historic plates. $30 for 10 years here in MI. I could find a plate from '89 and then it's $30 and they're good as long as I own it. Use is restricted to driving to/from shows, car club events, servicing and test drives. Cops writing tickets for this is rare.

I dropped my classic car agreed value insurance and have standard coverage with no restrictions on use so that there can never be a denied claim based on use restrictions.

The Deputy

^^^^This^^^^

Authentic plate is non-expiring here in MI and actually offers more types of driving activities than historical plate. I've still got full coverage insurance and it is based on 5K miles a year...so, they don't care what I'm doing or where I'm going. Put 200 miles on 78 and 500 on the 84...so I'm well within their wheelhouse.

Brian.

Wisconsin Joe

Look at it from a practical point of view.

Does it make sense?

Wisconsin has "Collector" plates. Essentially original condition*, you have to own a regularly registered car, more than 20 years old, can't drive it in Jan or Feb (can get a 3 day permit if it needs to be moved). Can't be used for commercial purposes (no Uber in the 928), trucks can't carry more than 500 lbs, a couple other things.

Costs $50 to get registered as "a collector", then 2 years of registration fees for the plate. 2nd or 3rd cars simply cost the 2 years registration fee. They send you a plate with the same number, just an "A" (then a "B", then a "C") at the end.
No other cost. No annual registration fee. No local "wheel tax" that gets added onto the registration fee.

So the $85 per year that I pay ($75 reg fee, $10 wheel tax) only gets paid on the Cayenne. Both the 928 & 944 are "collector" plates.
In Wisconsin, I wouldn't drive them in the winter anyway.

It's well worth it to me. 14 years worth of savings on the 944, 3 on the 928 so far.

See what Indiana requires and offers (pluses and minuses) before you decide. It may make sense, it may not.

* - "Original Condition" means as it was available when new. Not necessarily as it was. For example, a 70s Camaro can have any engine they sold it with, not just the one it came with. They have some pretty detailed rules, and require pictures of the car, interior and engine.
For the guys who seriously modify stuff, they have "Hobbyist" plates that are similar, but don't require originality. I have a friend who has a 47 Ford convertible with a Corvette crate motor in it. He can't run "Collector" plates, so he runs "Hobbyist".

hacker-pschorr

Wisconsin we have three plate options:

Collector: over 20 years. $200 first car, $150 every car after. One time fee. No stickers or registration fees after that. One catch here, if you sell a car and register something new with the same plate, still pay the $150 fee.

Hobbiest: You can register almost anything on wheels with this one. Designed for the home made hobbiest type car. There are people in Wisconsin with all out race cars running around with Hybbiest plates on.

Antique: Really old cars, I think pre-war


If you really want to screw with the local PD, get a "Collector Special" plate for your daily driver. You'll end up with two cars with the exact same license plate.
Except one will be blue and say "Collector" the other on your daily driver will look like a regular plate with "Collector Special" along the bottom.

I have yet to meet a police officer who had any idea the collector special plate exists. So wen they run your plate, the car with the collector plate will come up. I stopped using this plate on my daily driver since I once pulled over with the cop suspecting my Yukon was stolen since the number tag came back as a 1979 Porsche 928. I had to walk him through looking up the Collector Special designation to prove my tags were correct.

Ghosteh

Many states give you the option of running "year of manufacture" plates when you have a car registered with antique plates. The current antique plates have to be carried with you inside the car, but you bolt on the others. Nothing is recorded or registered with the YOM plates that you run, and there's no restrictions that it has to be from a specific state.

IMHO, that's the best deal out there!