[MI2600]

I got my policy renewal yesterday for my '67. The annual premium is $119. Pretty good.

HOWEVER, Michigan has what they call the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA), which (I think) pays people who have major physical damage. The "surcharge" is $127.24!! The fee is charged all vehicles.

The only relief would be for me to get Antique car plates, in which case my "surcharge" would only be $25.45.

I think we've touched this subject before, but my question is if anyone has been hassled by cops for test driving and general "recharging the battery" type runs with the antique plates?

 

[arch]

heh, thats less than my monthly premium...
Around here, its rare for a cop to hassle an 'antique' plated car, as goes for 'street rod', 'hot rod' and similar plates.
Now that I think of it, I cant remember a time I've ever seen an antique plated car pulled over.... And nobody I talk to with antique plates has really ever told me a story i can remember about being pulled over... cops love talking to them though.

 

[Ghetto Jet]

.I think we've touched this subject before, but my question is if anyone has been hassled by cops for test driving and general "recharging the battery" type runs with the antique plates?

No one that I know has ever been hassled. If you do though switch to Classic Car tags, thats what I have on the Caprice. I pay $250 a year for car insurance, and I'm 18. Full coverage and the car is insured for $5,000. 5,000 a year mileage limit is the only restriction, and there's obvious ways around that.

 

[Brian Morency]

classic car tags you say ghetto? i want to get some kind of plates for my car to make the insurance cheaper and so i dont have emmisions. can classic car tags suit my needs? right now i have regular plates and have to go for emmisions in nov. 04 i want to be able to skip this emmision testing but my car is an 84 without a full exhaust right now. where do you get those special plates from? the same place as you get the regular plates from or do you need to go to a special place for that?

 

[MI2600]

Well, I called our "local constabulary" to get some insight. I was told that they've never seen an antique plates ticket and that it's a discretionary thing by the on-scene officer. Also, it's apparently somewhat difficult to prove what you are/were doing is not legal.

The law reads that cars are to be used for car shows, parades, ETC. I'm hoping the ETC is very broad.

 

[Ghetto Jet]

classic car tags you say ghetto? i want to get some kind of plates for my car to make the insurance cheaper and so i dont have emmisions. can classic car tags suit my needs? right now i have regular plates and have to go for emmisions in nov. 04 i want to be able to skip this emmision testing but my car is an 84 without a full exhaust right now. where do you get those special plates from? the same place as you get the regular plates from or do you need to go to a special place for that?

In PA your car only needs to be 15 years old to get classic tags, and you have to send 4 pictures of your car to the motor vehicle department, front/back/sides, they only allow cars that are in good condition to get the tags. Talk to your local tag place, every state is different.

 

[coldknock]

Here in Ga. the mileage limit is 7000 per year and it's not limited to antique vehicles. If you don't drive more than that per year you can get this type "limited vehicle use" coverage on any vehicle. There are no inspections, they just send you a form to fill in the blanks and you mail it back. It usually cuts the ins. rates in half or more.

Larry

 

[Charles F. Smith]

After a big hassle I finally got antique plates for my '51 Mercury and haven't been hassled by the cops yet (knock on wood) but one setback I have had is getting license plate frames. The newer plates are longer and I can't find frames to fit the older plates.
Charlie Smith

 

[Brian Morency]

with those classic car tags do you still have to take emission testing? i know i could get the tags my car is is really good condition

 

[Ghetto Jet]

No emissions testing is needed.

 

[adtkart]

Brian.... You might want to check with your local DMV. The laws from state to state differ on the tag deals. In Virginia, I believe that the antique tags are allowed on vehicles 20 or 25 years old on up. There are so many different types of plates in VA that it is almost impossible to keep up with them.

 

[Charles F. Smith]

emissisons testing

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy nut I'm going to express my views on the emmissions testing and wait for the rocks to come flying my way.
Although I do believe that we do need to protect the environment I think we need to re-think the whole situation.
In Texas, in certain counties where the chemical companies have polluted the hell out of the atmosphere, cars and trucks have to pass the emmissions test if they're over 3 years old. Now what that tells me is that if you go down to your local dealership and give that Bastadr a large chunk of your money every three years, you've just bought your way out of the emissions headache. Quite frankly, I doubt if the cars would pass emmissions testing if you drove them straight off the showroom floor to the tester but you've antied up and the dealership is happy and his political campaign contribution has paid off.
And, quite by coincidence (an old law), You have to register your vehicle in the county in which you live.
My main bithc about this is that it really screws the folks that have other priorities (like eating, paying the house note/rent, paying utility bills and paying outragous taxes)
Anyhow, there it is.
Charlie Smith
This is really cleaver being to add to a previoulsy posted message. This is a heck of a great web site!
Anyway, I was discussing the above with some friends at the local Holiday Inn Bar last nite and one of them told me that they (some local t.v. station) did do a t.v. program on emmissions testing brand new cars and 2 out of 3 did indeed fail.
In all fairness, maybe the rings hadn't had a chance to "wear in" but I honestly think that even if they had driven the cars a couple of hundred miles to wear in the rings they still would have failed.
Charlie again

 

[arch]

In PA your car only needs to be 15 years old to get classic tags, and you have to send 4 pictures of your car to the motor vehicle department, front/back/sides, they only allow cars that are in good condition to get the tags. Talk to your local tag place, every state is different.

Damn... 20/25 years here... depending on the car... (I have 2 more years to go ) Nothing really states what the requirements are between the 20/25 year min. is though, just basicly says "to get 'classic/street/hotrod/antique' plates the car must be 20 or 25 years old or older."