[TR] (Fwd) Re: Government at its worst - 3 queries

[Jim Muller]

On 2 Dec 2008 at 17:10, John Macartney wrote:

> I believe ... that the title will be in my
> name...  Am I likely to get 'stuffed' by some frontier
> official who doesn't know the rule book

One doesn't normally carry a car's title, only its registration card 
which must match the car's plates.  You need the title only when you 
try to register it for the first time.  Otherwise the title stays 
home, locked in a drawer were it gets lost.  Some states have only
a rear plate, some have front and rear, and in some states the 
requirement depends on the year it was registered.  In some states, 
the vehicle's entry in the registry's database must list the common 
drivers.  For what its worth, I've been back and forth to Canada many 
times (married a Canadian), and I've never been asked for vehicle 
registration.  They check the plate number with a video cam, 
presumably against a stolen-vehicle database, but ask only 
for ID, passport, etc.


> One of my friends entered one State in a loaned car and...
> he had to re-licence the car on the plates of that
> State before going any further.

A registration from any state is valid in others regardless 
of who is driving it.  Technically, possession of the registration 
card (along with your driver's license) is required while you are 
driving, and perhaps your friend didn't have it for that borrowed 
car.  Another question might be whether you have permission to
drive it even though you are carrying its regsitration.  I can 
understand an officer wondering if a car had been stolen, and being 
unable to contact the person named on the registration perhaps
he wanted to check ownership.  Usually carrying the registration
is proof that the car is yours or that you have permission from its 
owner.  However many people leave their registration cards in the 
vehicle so that's not a guarantee.  Still, in this computerized and 
connected world an officer should be able to verify a car's 
legitimacy in minutes.

There are no checkpoints at most state borders.  However some state 
lines may have agriculture inspection checkpoints.   They may require 
all vehicles to stop or maybe just trucks.  Don't try to enter 
California (or the US from Canada) with a bag of oranges from the 
Mediterranean.


> he got stopped in a police spot-check and because the
> police chappie didn't recognise his licence...
> he was required to take a California state driving test

Wow.  I haven't been through a spot check since, oh, maybe 1972.  I'd 
think that the probability of you getting stopped has many zeroes 
between the decimal point and the rightmost digit.  It might depend 
on the whim of the officer.  Just don't give anyone reason to stop 
you.

You might want to take along some publicity material about the trip, 
something to show to any officer that you are actually up to good 
instead of no good.

Jim Muller
jimmuller at rcn.com