Pulled over by police and bike hauled off to impound.

Don't look at me! I didn't write it! But the guys who did had to throw a bone to the newly forming states so that they would agree to become united. Some people then took it quite seriously and some people now still do. The argument over states rights has been a long one. That is why the DMV is not federal.
 
Agree! And can you imagine the FUBAR if the federal government was responsible for licensing vehicles!


No, I cannot. Federal agencies are no worse than state agencies.

I can imagine not having to change driver’s license and vehicle registration each and every time when I move from one state to another. In the first place driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations should not be used to generate revenue. Vehicle related revenue should come from vehicle use. Those who drive 60,000 miles a year should pay more than those who drive 6,000. All this can accurately and fairly be accomplished at the gas pump.
 
My experience has nothing to do with being unregistered for a period of time . Not that at all.

My experience is purely and exclusively the fault of the CA DMV. Every few years their system simply says “Hey! That serial number does not exist. And they refuse to issue the new tags. Do they refund my money? No. Instead I get a letter saying “No tags for you because there’s a problem with your serial number .” No one at DMV asks “Gee, why did we issue tags last year and the year before?” No one looks into their records and finds the same damn thing happened three or four years back and was resolved back then. No one bothers to fix their data base
 
No, I cannot. Federal agencies are no worse than state agencies.

I can imagine not having to change driver’s license and vehicle registration each and every time when I move from one state to another. In the first place driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations should not be used to generate revenue. Vehicle related revenue should come from vehicle use. Those who drive 60,000 miles a year should pay more than those who drive 6,000. All this can accurately and fairly be accomplished at the gas pump.

You are applying logic and accountability to a government bureaucracy, since when did those two ever combine in a sensical manner?o_O
 
When I got stopped they ran my bike serial # and it came back to a dump truck in Virginia, I had the registration in hand. After a hour of bs I was on my way. Some of the newbeys have no idea that old numbers were issued to more than one vehicle.
 
My experience has nothing to do with being unregistered for a period of time . Not that at all.

My experience is purely and exclusively the fault of the CA DMV. Every few years their system simply says “Hey! That serial number does not exist. And they refuse to issue the new tags. Do they refund my money? No. Instead I get a letter saying “No tags for you because there’s a problem with your serial number .” No one at DMV asks “Gee, why did we issue tags last year and the year before?” No one looks into their records and finds the same damn thing happened three or four years back and was resolved back then. No one bothers to fix their data base

Fortunately, I have been spared that nightmare with the California DMV. However, about five years ago, my 82 Bonneville registration was delinquent, so I went into the DMV office and paid everything current including penalties. The check cleared, but about four days later, my checking account showed a difference of about 200 dollars between the actual balance and the available balance. It was the DMV--they had gone into my account without authorization and taken the fees again plus more penalties!! I called them and asked them to look at the account so they could see the mistake that was made. Nothing doing; I had to fill out forms, send them in and wait. I did and waited...... and waited. A few months later, I called again and had to jump through some other hoop but have since forgotten what it was.

After nine months, I called back and got more run around, so I demanded to speak to a manager. They put me through to a woman who seemed genuinely concerned, so she looked up the timeline of the events. No forms, no attitude, no run around. She saw the error and processed the transfer back to my account then and there. I was shocked but pleased with the outcome.

~998cc
 
Why are there 48 different registrations and 48 different driver’s licenses in the same country that has 48 interconnected states?
Because The Constitution states that all matters not covered by the Feddle Gummit are left to the individual States to decide. Would you rather the Feds take over and dissolve the States and homogenize and standardize all laws?
 
In Illinois, a title is required and also license and registration for <50cc two-wheelers. A regular operators permit and proof of insurance is all that's required to operate on public roads.
In Missouri, <50cc two-wheelers are not titled or licensed and are treated as little more than bicycles, even being allowed on sidewalks.
Which way is better? More paperwork, requirements and $ in Illinois, more stolen tiddlers in Missouri, where one is never even stopped and/or checked by police. Pick your poison.
 
Always worth keeping any historic speeding fine paperwork for the vehicle in question.
 
Because The Constitution states that all matters not covered by the Feddle Gummit are left to the individual States to decide. Would you rather the Feds take over and dissolve the States and homogenize and standardize all laws?


Certainly Federal drivers license and vehicle registration would be a step forward. Also, abolishing the Electoral College is long overdue.
 
Fortunately, I have been spared that nightmare with the California DMV. However, about five years ago, my 82 Bonneville registration was delinquent, so I went into the DMV office and paid everything current including penalties. The check cleared, but about four days later, my checking account showed a difference of about 200 dollars between the actual balance and the available balance. It was the DMV--they had gone into my account without authorization and taken the fees again plus more penalties!! I called them and asked them to look at the account so they could see the mistake that was made. Nothing doing; I had to fill out forms, send them in and wait. I did and waited...... and waited. A few months later, I called again and had to jump through some other hoop but have since forgotten what it was.

After nine months, I called back and got more run around, so I demanded to speak to a manager. They put me through to a woman who seemed genuinely concerned, so she looked up the timeline of the events. No forms, no attitude, no run around. She saw the error and processed the transfer back to my account then and there. I was shocked but pleased with the outcome.

~998cc
it used to be called providing a service to the public, I believe...!
 
It turns out that the DMV just completely deleted my bike from the system for no reason. There was no record that it ever existed. I had to pay hundreds of dollars to get it out of impound and create a new title for it. It made no difference that it was entirely the DMVs fault.
Textbook case to file a claim against the state for a full refund. Not likely you'd get "damages" for wasted time and inconvenience, but you can still get your money back for the false impounding and re-registering.
 
On the brighter side. There was a time I was driving home, I just cleared the city and started to accelerate on a lonely country road when I get pulled over.

"Do you know how fast you were going?" The woman cop asks.

"Yes" I answer quietly. I didn't tell her I was doing approx 80 in a 55 zone (my guess as I had no speedometer).

Another cop shows up. I feel doomed.

"What kind of bike is that"? they ask.

So I start talking. I tell em its hard to find parts for these old bikes, I start describing the bike and the parts I made by hand etc, They start asking questions, 20 minutes later she tells me to get a speedometer and lets me go free of charge.

So I installed a tachometer and now I know what RPM=MPH in top gear.

If you keep your cool it all evens out in the end.
 
When in doubt, register the bike in Vermont. If it is old enough - I think 15 or 25 years - you can title and register with a police verification of the VIN ( I get this locally in MA) and mail everything in. So much easier than dealing with the local DMV here in MA. Add in a Hagerty multiple vehicle policy for old bikes and Robert is my mother’s brother. Probably illegal since the bikes are housed in MA but here on the Cape no one cares. Up near the NH border it is more of an issue.
 
In Australia, we even have a Standards Association and state governments which try to harmonise legislation. However our Conservatives want to be Americans and put such things on a 'user pays' basis instead of direct funding from the federal government. Our leaders have a job specification which prescribes their maximum intelligence levels. - Dumb and dumber. They cut red tape which was there to protect public safety.
 
What does the American National Standards Institute do for the American citizen, apart from making it easier for monopolies and cartels to make a profit ?
 
I passed an unmarked state police car with my 850 long ago. He pulled me over, and asked if I was new to the area and did not know that a grey Ford Crown Vic was a cop car (I should have known). I told him that he was doing 70 without lights or siren, so I didn't think of that. "Yeah, well, we do that sometimes". Then, "Is that one of those new superbikes?"

"Yes sir."

He let me off with a verbal warning.
 
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