Here in the province of British Columbia, Canada, collector plates can be
obtained for vehicles over 25 years old, with exceptions for including later
limited production models. To qualify, the car has to be in a condition that
might be described as being "worthy" of being in someone's collection. A
good original car will make it, if it is cosmetically sound and rust free. A
restored car has to be essentially original and again, look good. Rust
patches, bad paint, torn interior, etc. will disqualify the car. Also,
modifications are frowned upon, so don't expect to get collector plates if
you have a perfect Sprite that you dropped a V6 into. The people who review
the applications have huge resources to research what your car should look
like, including "experts" from local car clubs. They do, however, base the
decision on a specified series of photos, which might or might not be
accurate.
Once you qualify, it's a great deal. For my Mk I, I pay $193 Canadian for a
year, that's about $125 US. This is for license and insurance of $2 million
liability, $200 deductible collision and $100 deductible comprehensive. I
have to have another non-collector vehicle, and I can drive it as much and
whenever I want, as long as it's not driven to work or school. Cost is well
under 1/2 of regular license and insurance.
I'll add that I and some of my LBC friends watch for people abusing
collector plates by driving their car to work. That's right - we're
righteous and we squeal on them. It's such a good deal, it doesn't make
sense for some morons to jeopardize the availability of collector status to
others.
Doug Ingram
Victoria BC
1958 Frogeye
AN5L/636
1963 Sprite Mk II
HAN7L/30003 project car
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