Unplated Vehicles
Henry takes the plates off his old car to transfer to his new car, but he wants to hang on to the older vehicle to give to a friend. He decides to park the now unplated car on the street in front of his home, until his friend returns from a trip abroad.
A couple of weeks later, Henry gets a call from his municipal bylaw officer; one of Henry’s neighbours has reported the unplated car parked out front. Turns out it’s illegal in Henry’s town to leave unplated vehicles on public streets; something about the “eyesore” factor.
Henry only has one parking spot in his townhouse complex, and he’s already using that for his new car. OK, thinks Henry, I’ll just drive the old car to my sister’s house across town to park in her driveway. He tells the bylaw officer his solution - and finds out that he can’t drive the unplated vehicle either! He’ll either have to take the plates off his new car and put them back on his older car, or buy new plates from the Ministry of Transportation. And he’ll need his old car re-insured in order to obtain plates.
Henry ends up paying for a tow truck to haul his unplated car across town to be stored in his sister’s driveway. But it turns out to be even tougher in that neighbourhood; there the bylaw states that unregistered vehicles cannot be left on your driveway or in your back yard, and her neighbours like to see that law enforced.
Henry is out of options; with no place to store the unplated car, and no desire to buy new plates for it, he decides to sell off the vehicle and if no takers, to call the scrap yard. Henry’s out-of-town friend is out of luck.
This scenario is an extreme example of the hassles involved in having a unplated vehicle; speak to your
insurance broker to find out exactly what are the
insurance implications of having an unplated vehicle.