VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions Antique registration?

My '41 came to me from my mom's garage out of state. It had sat idle for a number of years until I got it. It was planned to be temporary (rotating amongst brothers), but she decided I am the final home. It's time to register in my home state. I thought I saw a post recently about "antiquing" a vehicle title, but can't find it for the life of me.
My state's stipulations are similar to what I recall from that post...parades, shows, club activities, etc. That's a little restrictive for my uses....I'd add lunch, maybe to/from work once a month, pick the kids up from school every once in a while. But thinking about it...how bad of a day is a police officer having to give a guy in an antique car a ticket for misuse.
The benefits...as I see it are:
No ongoing inspection
No ongoing registration fees (looks to be just one-time)


Discuss :)

Hey Scott,
Register as an antique and have fun! Zero chance of the police giving you a hard time! They put in caveats for a few rule breakers on the bubble (ie. 1990's vehicles), but a 41 is not in that category. Take advantage (registration/insurance) of one of the few things that make sense now days! :)
--John

I would add, get insurance from on of the classic car insurance companies. Hagerty and Grundy are a couple of the ones I am aware of. There are more. They will insure it for agreed value.

sounds like our state, in order to register an antique vehicle you MUST own a daily driver. and they have stipulations. but i plan to do like you drive it to and from car shows, lunch once in a while, and then on a nice Sunday take it out for a stroll !! and since i am young and still work full time i MAY drive it to work one day here and there when it is BEAUTIFUL out and the sun is shining and i am working a half day !!

i know here in VA we pay a premium up front for the registration but after that, no more, one and done. we can get issued antique tags or register Year of make as long as the number is NOT currently in use, which is cool and what i plan to do.

like stated above it is mainly to ensure people are not abusing the system and driving them as a normal car everyday everywhere. i have seen guys here register their 90' pickup and use it for work/construction daily !!

X2. I have Grundy on my cars. Much cheaper than regular insurance and the one time I had a claim there was no hassle at all. Whatever company you go with be sure you get agreed value, not stated value.

I had zero issues getting my '31 registered as a 50 year historic here in the People's Republik. $50 for lifetime as I recall. Now I have 31 plates on it. That was another $20. I drive it whenever I want and have never been hassled.

Thanks everyone. I have the classic car insurance with agreed value already. I'll antique it when I get the paperwork (and get my wipers working well enough to pass inspection). Funny...that was just an interesting project for me, but now it turns into a requirement.

If a police officer saw you driving past the same corner at about the same time each morning for 3 or 4 mornings in a row, you'd probably get pulled over. Otherwise, the officer would more than likely be admiring the car. If an over-zealous one pulls you over and questions you about your driving with vintage plates, just say you had just completed some work on the …(brakes, steering, lights, valves - take your pick for with an old Chev that would probably be the truth)… and you were taking it for a road test. If your buddy is along for the ride, just say he is thinking of buying the car and you are giving him a road test drive.

The other thing to look at is your insurance. If you have an historic plate and get into an accident on the way to work your insurance company is walking and you're left holding the bill.

Good advice

CDP

Yep, always read the fine print as it's sometimes specified for parade, shows and club events. I looked into years ago and was too restrictive and had too many escape routes for the insurance company.

Bruce

I have my car under the provisions of the atates (NC, USA) laws governing old ca®ß license, registration and taxes.

I run a 1941 NC license plate. The Antique plate is on board but lying on the back seat.

You mean to tell me that if I get into an accident Hagerty is walking?

Mercy!

Best,

Charlie

Depends on the USE that is specified in your specific policy fine print. You need to read and be aware of the specifics of your policy.

If your policy says you are only covered for car shows, club events and your accident happens at 8:30am on a Monday with no car shows or events on anyone's calendar, the insurance might try to weasel out.

If you are driving it back and forth to work every day of the week then I could understand it. However if it's once a month or so during the Summer then I would be surprised if they failed to cover any problems. I suppose it all depends on the wording of your policy so being familiar with it is good advice for all.

My Grundy policy has unlimited mileage with the restrictions being it can't be my daily driver and it's got to be garaged when at home. Pleasure driving is allowed at all times. Stopping at the store for a loaf of bread while out for a drive is OK (I called and asked). If you're using it to drive to & from work on a daily basis it's your daily driver and you need to get regular insurance. I get a full year of full coverage on my '38 and '53 for less than six month's coverage on my daily driver.

this is a clause i found in mine:

exclusions

I could put an antique license on my cars but as an example, my '33 coupe is $5.00 for an antique license and $11.00 for a regular license. Antique is strictly for shows, parades, service, etc. Regular is good for anything. Not worth it to me. I can drive anywhere, any time legally for $6.00 more!

I posted last night but cant find it now. Down here in New South Wales we can register on vintage club registration or Conditional registration, both have a 60 day per year use limit with log book but the cost is less than $80au (daily driver registration costs around $700au) . You can have several cars registered this way and dont need a daily driver as well.
There is at least 1 insurance company that covers vintage and restoration cars.
Tony

Had a good laugh off of Bearsfan insurance clause... "Excludes discharge of a nuclear weapon... even if accidental".

So, we have a nuclear weapon discharged in the US that wipes out your classic car and when you go to file a claim, they say it is excluded... even if it was accidentally detonated!! What a crazy time we live in. :)

I am driving my 35 whenever I want to and when the cop pulls me over, I am going to say, "I am driving this car until they drop the bomb!" :)

--John

No, Charlie... Hagarty has a VERY good reputation in our hobby, and really does stand behind their product. I'm assuming that your state allows you to have the Historic plate onboard, while displaying an original? Here in Canada, that would be a No-no!! Hagarty would walk if you were using that car as a daily driver though. You can't drive it to work everyday if you're on vintage tags.

What the heck am I still doing in California? I have to pay $301.00 per year to have my car registered with my 1933 license plate.

I have no idea.

I moved out of that place back in the mid-1960's because California was starting to get bad then. At any rate, when I moved to Oregon and registered my 1951 Chevrolet with a 1951 Oregon plate it cost me $35, which was a one time fee for life. Today, to renew our modern car registration here in Oregon it is $112 per vehicle every two years.

Calif would charge you for the amount of air you breath if they could get away with it!

I live in Ohio and my 51 plates are registered to my 52 ( there was no plates issued in Ohio for 52 due to Korea). The cost was $5.00 for life.

My '53 is registered with a '51 plate also because of the Korean war steel shortage. The Kansas plates used a '53 corner overlay over the '51 plate.