Last week I bought a used car. I got a title. I moved to Missouri in January, and I’ll be moving back out of Missouri in a month. I have insurance on it. I’ve been looking at the papers I still need online, and at reviews of the different office I need to go to. Apparently, I need info from the assessors office to show that I’m exempt from property tax on the vehicle or to pay it.
It’s gonna be an hours drive to get to the office. They dont have accurate info online on hours open, they don’t answer the phone, and the voicemail says that they hope to open again on April 4th. It’s April 15th. I figure it’s gonna be another drive to get to DMV offices, and reviews on both offices show that there’s 2 hours waits, and extremely unpredictable closing times. So I’m looking at having to take at least a day off of work, maybe more.
I make like $300 on a good day. The max fines for late registration look like $200, and for the traffic violation it’s $50.50, if I understand right from my Google search. If I were able to even get a hold of somebody at either office during business hours, I’d go ahead and register. Honestly though, I’m struggling to justify the opportunity cost. I could get caught and fined twice in a traffic stop before it would be worth doing it.
Am I missing something? Is it financially worth registering my car? What if I just register when I move, in the new state?
If it’s really just a month I would definitely wait. I’m in an area with a low police presence and drive with privilege though so keep that in mind.
I feel like it depends on where you are for sure. Any time I’m in the STL area I always see tons of expired temp tags. They can start cracking down at any time but a month isn’t very long. Not telling you to break the law, but I would take the risk personally, but would always tell people to do what the rules say.
In the Kansas City area here. Recently bought a new car myself. Was getting close to the expiry on the temporary tags. When I pulled up behind the guy rocking some from 2021. This was 2 years out of date. The very next day I pulled up behind someone with 2019 temporary tags. I got mine taken care of before they expired but as you say your mileage may vary.
Lol yeah I have only a few weeks to gamble so sounds like I’ll be fine