Surrendering car registration - then?

[Scruit]

My wife's 2001 Outback broke down and needs a lot of work to fix it.  We're getting her a new car this weekend.  Her old one is going to get parked in the corner of my barn for ~3 years until my son is old enough to drive, at which time he and I will work on it together and it will be come his.

 

In the meantime, I don't want to be paying registration and insurance on it.   Has anyone here dealt with surrendering a vehicle registration (to avoid the risk of one of those "proof of insurance demand" letters*) and then re-registering it years later?   Do I have to do anything special to re-register it?  Or just take the title down to the BMV as if it was a new purchase?

 

 

* = I actually got one of those on my Bronco while it was stripped down to the bare frame.  I still had to prove insurance.

[Anden]

We received a letter on our Expedition and all we had to do was send them a picture of it with no plates on it. Never had to prove insurance just told them it was out of service. 

[Scruit]

We ordered a new Impreza for her.  Keeping the registration and insurance active on the old car will cost us about 225/year, so we're just going to surrender the plates.

[Bubba]

Your insurance agent should be able to provide you a document to send to the state showing suspension of use.  I put my Vette to bed every Dec--with a current/valid OH registration--and suspend the collision and liability over the winter, only keeping comprehensive active.  They will provide a letter for state insurance purposes in the event proof is asked for by the BMV.  Once your yearly sticker expires, there shouldn't be any question about insurance, and you should be able to simply apply for new plates and validation sticker when you plan on bringing it back to life.

[Scruit]

Had a bit of a "duh" moment on this.  Our cars have always been in both names, and her new one is no different, so when we go to register the Impreza we *should* be able to simply transfer the plates from the Outback.  Then the Outback will go into hibernation for a couple of years, uninsured.    As long as I have no hoops to jump through at the BMV when I re-register it later, that's probably the way I'll go.

 

[jporter12]

22 hours ago, Scruit said:

Had a bit of a "duh" moment on this.  Our cars have always been in both names, and her new one is no different, so when we go to register the Impreza we *should* be able to simply transfer the plates from the Outback.  Then the Outback will go into hibernation for a couple of years, uninsured.    As long as I have no hoops to jump through at the BMV when I re-register it later, that's probably the way I'll go.

 

Unless they have changed, you can't transfer the plates unless you sell the old vehicle, the exception would be personalized plates.  It was years ago that I tried this, so that may be different now.

 

[Bubba]

Yup.  This ^^^.  You could get around the issue by "selling" or gifting the car to your son--since you've indicated it'll be his anyway--and transferring the title to his name.  That would allow you to do a plate transfer to the new vehicle.

[Scruit]

Ah, fair enough.

And I just put a 2-year registration on the damn thing a few months ago.