WA H.B. 1933 Redefining Collector Plates from 30 year to 40 year old cars

Ridiculous. I have sent my objection to my rep.

 

I can check with my sources to find out how Washington sheriffs and police departments feel about the prospect of enforcing the proposed law. I'll let you know.

 

Here is the document.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1933.pdf

 

Here's what I've heard. Most observers are surprised it was put in the hopper on the last possible day. Since Finn is the House Democratic Majority Whip, the bill probably has a pretty good chance. In general, law enforcement doesn't concern itself with bills like this and they certainly didn't ask for it.

 

Went by to update my tags today, half the people working at the DOL had not heard of this. They said they don't want it either because of the increase in work load, and that they were usually the last to hear about these things.

 

On some of the other boards that I frequent the general feeling is that cars under 40 years old are too new to be considered as a special interest or collectible car. Yes a 1980 Ferriari or Lambo is a highly collectible car but a 1980 Ford Fairmont is just an old beater work car is just a 31 year old car and although that one in one hundred thousand might restore one having it be a "classic" or "collector" car just due to it's age is a bit nuts.

I can't count the number of people who have told me that "next year my car will be a classic" when asked what "classic" they have they name a mundane 29 year old four door sedan.

Personally I'd like to see the cutoff limit set at 1970 and left there.

 

Washington's 30 year requirement for collector/classic/antique plates is already above the majority of other states requirements (most require only 25 years). Each state has varying restrictions on how the vehicle can be used when it has collector plates.

Breakdown of vehicle age for similar collector/classic plates:

Age # States
15 1
20 3
25 32
30 8
35 5
40 1

And the per-state requirements:

Alabama 30
Alaska 30
Arizona 25
Arkansas 25
California 25
Colorado 25
Connecticut 25
Delaware 25
Florida 30
Georgia 25
Hawaii 35
Idaho 30
Illinois 25
Indiana 25
Iowa 25
Kansas 35
Kentucky 25
Louisiana 25
Maine 25
Maryland 20
Massachusetts 25
Michigan 25
Minnesota 20
Mississippi 25
Missouri 25
Montana 30
Nebraska 30
Nevada 25
New Hampshire 25
New Jersey 25
New Mexico 35
New York 25
North Carolina 35
North Dakota 40
Ohio 25
Oklahoma 25
Oregon 25
Pennsylvania 15
Rhode Island 25
South Carolina 25
South Dakota 30
Tennessee 25
Texas 25
Utah 35
Vermont 25
Virginia 25
Washington 30
West Virginia 25
Wisconsin 20
Wyoming 25

 

Anyone going to Olympia for the hearing on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 1:30PM? I'd go, but I will be in court in Tacoma at the same time on behalf of a client.

Any idea as to what the chances are that it will pass both the WA House and Senate?

I haven't had time to look at the bills, but do they have retroactive effect, since I have original year correct plates on our 1959 Austin Healey and our 1972 Dino.

Mark

 

A response from Rep. Billig:

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Here’s what the bill’s sponsor has to say about the bill:

This bill addresses a problem with counterfeit or unidentifiable collector plates and law enforcement. Right now there is no way of identifying who owns a collector vehicle by just the license plate. It is necessary for an officer to stop the vehicle and examine the registration. This presents a public safety issue.

HB 1933 does not penalize anyone who is currently driving with a legal, proper collector plate. All of those are grandfathered in.

There are no increased fees or registrations for anyone who is currently registered legally.

It directs DOL to create a database of collector plates so that the State Patrol can identify who is legally registered to the car.

For new registrants it changes the definition of “collector car” to include only those that are 40 years old or older. This definition is not retroactive. This last change is designed to conform the definition to those cars which are in fact collector vehicles while avoiding most of the fraud in license plates and vehicle usage which the state is experiencing.
---

 

So we need a Bill to approve the IT guys creation of a database that will allow law enforcement to cross reference the issued plate with the current plate with the VIN... Which for most of you who have personalized plates know, you must first purchase a State tag before you can get a personalized. My understanding also is that if you vehicle is reported stolen, the APB uses the State issued tag number to track it down.

Is there really that big of a problem with fraudulent collector vehicle license plates and vehicle usage?

 

A Report on the bill.
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I am not sure that the state in fact DOES know whether a car is actually registered to the correct car if the car is being run on period issued VINTAGE plates, as opposed to the currently issued COLLECTOR plates.

This is true for a couple of reasons -

1. For a car that you can register as a collector car, a period issued VINTAGE plate is only required on the rear (I can't vouch for currently issued COLLECTOR plates). When I bought period issued VINTAGE plates, I was given a choice of buying a complete F/R set, or a single plate. I could also have split a set and bought only 1 of the plates. If I had done so, that meant that someone else could have bought the other plate from the set and put it on a different car of the correct year.

2. My experience has been that the state has not kept records of period VINTAGE plates in the database used by law enforcement. I have been pulled over twice by Seattle PD - once in our Austin-Healey, and then in our 246gts. In each case, the officers were very polite and asked to see the registration because they had run the rear plates because they liked the cars and simply wanted to know what models they were and the years. In each case they came up with no information, so they pulled me over out of interest AND out of concern that they might have been stolen since they were not in the database. The officers looked at the registrations and called their supervisors. Both officers told me that their supervisors told them that VINTAGE plated cars were not listed in the database, which makes it hard (and usually impossible) for the police to quickly track and locate a particular car that might have been stolen.

3. Two and a half years ago I received a parking ticket on the windshield for a car on VINTAGE plates that I had parked near the Seattle Center during the Italian festival. I never received a notice advising that I had failed to pay the ticket. I checked with the City of Seattle a few weeks ago about the missing ticket. I told the city that I was concerned and was not sure whether I had recieved or paid off an old ticket for the particular car. The City of Seattle checked this out and told me that they could find nothing about my car or any record of its plate.

4. This is an advantage for owning an older Ferrari (or any car for that matter) on VINTAGE plates (as opposed to "collector" plates currently issued by the State of Washington), but it is only an advantage as long as the car is not stolen. If stolen, I would expect that it would take more effort to find my car.

5. The other problem is that I know people who will MAKE ANY "VINTAGE" PLATE YOU WANT, and they will also make (or have) the correct year labels or tags for your new "VINTAGE" plate.

Although it pains me to admit it, it also pains me to know that if one of my vintage cars gets stolen, it may be a long period of time before I get it back.

Mark

Mark

 

+1

 

There are lots of collector cars that were manufactured and imported into the US in and after 1971 that are worthy of collector status. Here are a few that would not qualify under the new rule:
Exotics/Limited production or low import numbers:
Ferrari 365GTB/GTS
Lamborghini Countach
Alfa Montreal
Abarth Scorpione/OTAS 820 GranPrix
TVR Tuscan
Morgan +8

High Import numbers but still collectible:
Alfa Rome 1750 and 2000 GTV and spyder
Austin Healy MK IV Sprite
MGB and Midget
Triumph Spitfire and TR6
Fiat 850 and 124 coupes and spyders
Lotus Europa Twincam & JPS Special; Lotus Elite II (awful car; I owned one) and Esprit

 

I had an early 70's TVR 2500m and I'm pretty confident it came in legally.

 

Guess I better register my 1980 with vintage tags next week before this bill passes....