At war with the freaking county......again.

[femurphy77]

Um, maybe just take one of the offers to sell it?

 

[Joe Williams]

Paint political statements on it, sit it in your front yard, then tell them it's not a car it's political art and you will sue them for violating your first amendment rights if they continue to harass you

 

[djl02]

I'm in need of legal help. I've got an old car in my back yard. Other than it's sat for a long time it is in working order. It's far from a looker. I've gotten at least 10 people trying to buy it off me, including the most recent whom then prank called me and proclaimed he had sex with my wife - I told him I hope he enjoyed. Anyways, now it's a few months later and I've got a letter stating that I have to tag it or move it. I've read through the code, and all I need to do is charge the battery, check the gas and get it tagged. But I don't want to pay the city to punish me. Here is the loop hole I see. By loop hole I mean the means to malicious compliance. If they want to nit pick then I get to as well.

I propose to make the car "not outdoors". This is tricky as I have no garage. Can somebody point me to a legal definition (that applied to Marion County) of the word "outside". Basiclly if I can put a mini barn around it I think I would be good. I need to verify that minibarns don't require a permit though as I bet that fine is worse than the 60 buck it would take the tag the car. I know that is cheaper than the mini barn, but I could use one for storage anyways - and the point here is I do NOT want to give the piece of <explitive> city/county anything. I will gladly throw money away to keep from paying them a penny. I've gone to war with the MCHD before on this same issue, but then the tag was current so it was a sweeping and decisive victory for me. I need to repeat that but I don't want to tag the car every year to avoid these hassle. I'm not going to be freaking strong armed into selling my property!!!


Also, any other maliciously compliant ideas would be greatly welcomed. This isn't about the easy way out so any answers of just get it tagged will be pointless.

I've got 10 days to work with on this. I've already called the Gestapo agent whos issued the order to confirm all I have to do is keep the tag current to keep from being harassed any further on this issue, so waiting for him to call or email me back to confirm exactly what I need to do. I've found reading the code to these people helps as they seem to rarely know it.

If you plan on keeping it,why not tag it. If you ever get ready to,you'll have to pay for the previous years that it wasnt tagged and a penalty to boot. Sucks but its the law.
I bought a 69 dart and did a total restoration that took 2 years,and when I went to BMV I had to pay for 3 years worth of tags and a penalty for late fees. Get you coming and going.

 

[Blue Tile Spook]

It might cost more than you think to plate the car now. I had a friend who had a car in storage for a few years and when he decided to drive the car again, they charge him the taxes on the car for the years that it was stored.
This was a few years ago so it might be different now.
My guess would be that one of the people who tried to buy it complained about an unlicensed car in the hope that you put it up for sale.

As another person mentioned, if it hasn't been plated in many years you might have a nasty surprise when you get around to plating it again. I am not suggesting that anyone should attempt to work around the county and states due revenue, but could this issue be alleviated by selling the vehicle to a trusted friend or relative for $1 this year, and then buying it back for $1 next year?

If you plan on keeping it,why not tag it. If you ever get ready to,you'll have to pay for the previous years that it wasnt tagged and a penalty to boot. Sucks but its the law.
I bought a 69 dart and did a total restoration that took 2 years,and when I went to BMV I had to pay for 3 years worth of tags and a penalty for late fees. Get you coming and going.

You have to be careful when someone tells you that the BMV charged a person for a car not plated for 10 years. If the person never titled it in their own name, they will owe the sales tax on what they paid at purchase, even if it was 10 years prior to the current date.

For the excise tax, it only goes back two years - the current year and the prior year. So, if you bought a "project car", titled it but never plated it, you'll pay this year's excise tax and last years excise tax. A person can, in some circumstances, have to pay for last year, this year and can pay for next year's tags all at the same time, making it look like the BMV charged for three years excise tax when "next year's" excise was a voluntary payment.

Late fees for not titling and/or registering a vehicle after 30 days of ownership are $5-$15 for each item (I can't remember what each fee is exactly).