I know its normal to get asked for license, registration, and proof of insurance. But why ask for the registration? When I register every year, the county sends me a sticker with the plate number and expiration date to stick on the lic plate. The cops van see the plate and date right? Plus I’m sure they run the plate when they pull you over anyway. Seems to me they already know the registration status.
So why do they still ask for the registration paper?
I don’t get pulled over often but I haven’t Ben asked for registration in a long time. They do ask for license and insurance though.
This is the correct answer. Last time I was pulled over the officer only asked for my license, actually.
“May I see your license, please?”
“Yes sir.”
“Thanks. Are you aware that your passenger brake light is out?”
“No sir.”
“Get that fixed as soon as you can. Here’s your license. Drive safe.”
In fairness, I’m a middle aged white man, so I’m aware that I run basically every police interaction in easy mode.
They like to have a reason to make you open your glovebox so that they can see inside and maybe catch you with a joint or some loose pills
It’s not to check if it’s registered. It’s to check if it’s registered to YOU. Does the name/signature on your license match the name/signature on the registration? If not, you’ll need to explain why you’re in possession of the car.
No, you can drive other people’s cars.
It’s pretext to catch you slippin.
Agreed but if they match, the cop saves the step of checking to see if the car has been reported stolen. If they don’t, it would honestly be stupid for them not to check that.
Absolutely right. No love from the peanut gallery, though…
Wat? That makes no sense?
“This car is registered to someone else.”
“Yes, I’m borrowing it”
“…”
“You must be a criminal?”
But that’s exactly how cops act?
Like in this situation this cop can now say “your story makes no sense”
And then proceed to escalate if they feel like it.
Literally had this experience with a cop when I bought a car that day and drove it with my old plates on it (not an uncommon thing to not use the temp tags). Got pulled over while stopped at a train track because the cop ran my plates and was upset that the vehicle models didn’t match the registration. Threatened to impound my vehicle and everything.
I got mad at the cop and straight up said “alright well my story does make sense, so I’m gonna tell you it again and you’re going to give me a ticket so I can leave” and then he got all pissy, wrote me a ticket and then I left. He pulled me over again about 2 minutes later because he forgot to give me my license back.
For clarification, I’m a white guy and at the time I was an active member of the military (which was noted on my license). All, I’m saying is police officers are power tripping fuckwads more often than not.
Fair enough… you guys have a pretty severe cop problem :/
This is why if you’re lending your car it’s a good idea to give them a signed note. Especially if they’re going out of your state/ province/whatever. It might not help much, but typically car thieves don’t have one.
“I’m going to head over to the store”
“One sec, let me just write you a note saying that I allowed you to borrow my car”
An interaction dreamed up by the utterly deranged.
Just to be clear, I’m not criticising your explanation here. I just think it’s kind of absurd how US cops seem to act. Just the idea that you could be suspected of stealing a car if you don’t own the car you’re driving just seems crazy to me.
The store is in another state? If you trust them enough to lend them your car frequently the note can sit in the glove box.
(Asking cold-weather people: does anyone keep any gloves in there?)
I don’t see how: you’d get all your paperwork wet.
Gloves are in jacket pockets. If I did leave any in the car, it would be in the door pocket, or left on the back seat to dry
But most of us have heat in our cars
Thank you! I went to Wikipedia, the glove compartment was originally for storing driving gloves back when automobiles were open to the air and you needed to keep your fingers from getting numb.
In the era and genre of Perry Mason it seems like everyone kept a loaded revolver in there in case it became essential as a plot point.
I’m not very familiar with the US, but I’ve driven borrowed cars through several countries over here in Europe without any other documentation that “Trust me bro, I’m borrowing this car” on plenty of occasions. In that regard it seems pretty strange that you would need more documentation to bring a car across state lines in the US.
Also, it’s pretty common here in Europe for people living near the border to shop on the other side (groceries or whatever). I can’t imagine it’s any less common in the US for people to have nearby shops in the next state.
I’m not saying it’s legally necessary. It’s not. But cops tend to assume everyone is committing crimes, not just borrowing from a friend. And registration and driver’s license are issued by each state, not nationally, so the database might not be as easily accessed by cops in a different state. So it would just be a thing you’d do to help your friend stay out of extra trouble if they get caught speeding or something.
I get it, I’m not saying this is something everyone does or should be doing, I think it’s just one of many things that underscores how messed up US cops are.
Do the cops not have access to the registration records on a digital system?
In California, proof of payment for a vehicle registration renewal is allowed as proof of registration, specifically to cover the period after the payment is sent but before the DMV has issued the registration and corresponding sticker. So even if the DMV hasn’t received the payment in the mail, if a motorist can show some sort of proof (eg a bill pay transaction on their phone), that is acceptable.
Also, the DMV here will issue one-day registrations, in order to allow a vehicle to be driven from one storage location to another. If a motorist has a proper one-day registration, that won’t necessarily show up on the police computer, but is nevertheless legit.
Both of those cases would only apply if the cop’s computer shows the vehicle as unregistered, hence why the cop would ask in those cases. It doesn’t explain why they ask for it every time, even when the vehicle is registered normally.
It’s also a chance for cops to look in the glove box, where most people keep their registration. Or to smoke out people who stole a car and thus don’t know precisely where the registration is.
But those are ancillary reasons for cops asking about registration. I figured OP only wanted the bona fide, entirely-defensible reasons.
Pulling people over for traffic violations is largely a money making scheme. Why remove the law from the books when computers are widely available when you can still add a fine for people who either don’t have theirs or have an old one?
I wonder how much of the shitty societal problems are just rich people passing fear and purity to try to avoid paying taxes
Most I imagine.
deleted by creator
Tangent
?
We get asked for license and insurance, no registration.
Do they? I haven’t gotten a paper registration in a couple of years. It’s a state by state thing though.
I know they sometimes ask if you’re from a different state, and if their system is down in some places, but as more states do away with paper copies that’s going to disappear. I suspect you’re just in a location that hasn’t gotten there yet.
I got pulled last month for some piddly shit, and all the cop asked for was licence
Hell, I caught a ticket for not carrying my registration on a canoe. They always fuck with me because they assume I’m running a trolling motor without registration, despite the perfectly legal numbers I put on the side.
“Your license. Where’s your license?” “It’s back there on the bumper, man!”
Upvote for the up in smoke reference.
In my state I’ve been asked for “registration” most of the times I have been pulled over but they have always meant my insurance verification. They have been able to pull up your plate registration in real time since the 80s at least and now it comes up automatically as they drive around because they have ALPRs on their dash.
Jurisdiction protocol?
Virginia still asks for a registration when you get pulled over. I’ve lived all over the US and been pulled over a lot and not one hasn’t asked for a registration.
In Georgia USA ive been pulled over 3 times in the last 10 years (forgot to turn my lights on, thought it was a turn lane when it wasnt, was a day late on renewing my tags). I’ve asked them if they wanted my registration and they always said no.
Never been asked for registration.
They don’t? The state removed the requirements to have your rego sticker on the left side of the windscreen because the police access to the registration database maintained by the department of main roads.
What’s to stop one from throwing an illicitly acquired sticker on my plate?
Half of people are saying they don’t get asked for it, but for me it’s been 100% of the time.
