When a vehicle is purchased, a temporary tag is issued until the permanent – and legal – tags arrive. This is meant to be a stopgap measure. Instead, people are continuing to use the tags as their registration. For some, this has gone on for over a year.
Think you have a lemon, click here to fill out a 60 second form.
The problem lies in how easy the tags are to forge. Police have found the same temporary tag used on three separate vehicles, with only a few details changed – like the date and a number or two in the sequence.
There are also small dealerships that rely on the fact temp tags are not regularly checked. They hand out fake temporary tags to unsuspecting buyers, and those buyers are the ones caught driving with a tag that was never legal from the start.
One Maryland resident had trouble getting a title for the vehicle he purchased from one such dealership. However, he had no trouble getting temporary tags from the dealership. He stated he had been driving for a year and just kept receiving different temporary tags – with various VIN numbers and dates on them.
The police believe that various crimes, including speeding, car theft and unlawful weapons possession to name a few, can be addressed if there is an effort to crack down on people using temporary tags that are expired or otherwise illegal.
A high-speed pursuit in Maryland Heights recently involved a car with a temporary tag. In such an instance, it would be simple to avoid because the car would be targeted for the temporary tag, rather than used until it was involved in other notable illegal activity.
Police have run into tags that were being used 67 days past the expiration date, some that were being used 129 days past expiration and one impressive incident where the illegal temporary tag was still on the vehicle 358 days past the expiration date. In an even more jaw-dropping instance, a temporary tag was found in use that was 550 days past its expiration date.
The situation is far more common than anyone expects. Drivers continue to use the tags to avoid the cost to legally register the vehicle and the various issues involved with having a stolen vehicle or not having a valid driver’s license. All of this can be addressed if police focus on checking temporary tags and issue citations to those who are abusing the privilege.
Lemon law attorneys help their clients by dealing directly with the manufacturer on the clients’ behalf, working to promptly resolve the issue and get their clients back on the road. Thanks to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, attorneys can seek their fees directly from the manufacturer, meaning a client can obtain legal counsel without having to pay attorneys’ fees directly out of pocket.