Probably already been said, but I sold my Scion to someone in KY. He said the person he was going to have do the notary said the title would be enough to get him home, but I let him use my old plates and gave him an envelope with my address to return them. Maybe it would have been fine, but a black man driving a sporty looking car with no plates thru KY didn't sound like a fun afternoon. 
Do banks want to see cars before giving a loan? I've never heard of that before. Thinking back, I've had two used cars with a loan, the bank didn't need to see either of them for that. One of them I bought while I was out of the country. I looked at the car one weekend then went back to Mexico where I was working. I bought the car and got the loan over the phone and fax (remember them!) My girlfriend picked the car up for me and met me at the airport two weekends later after only having spun it once! No issues, no problems.
I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but why would a seller want the old plate back? I've bought and sold several used cars and never returned a plate or asked for one back. When I sell the car, I immediately call my insurance agent and cancel the policy. The buyer is covered by his own policy on another car as long as he is driving the new one with permission, which he is. Both sides should insist on a Bill of Sale, seller keeping a copy. When buyer gets a title in his own name, he gets a new plate and the one on the car can go in the trash.
Agreed that using a plate registered to another car is a very bad idea.
In some states the plate is registered to the person, not the car, and in some states if there is a plate out there with current decals than the state needs to have proof of insurance. Cancelling your insurance without turning the plate back in first in those states gets you the same fine as driving without insurance as soon as the insurance company passes on to the state that the policy has lapsed or been cancelled.
When I lived in KY I had a Talon I sold & the state kept sending me the registration and tax bill. If I had kept the plate I could have returned it & skipped the hassle. OH might be different, KY is screwy with their plates (not a fixed $50 or 60, but based on car value. That's why you see so many OH plates in NKY, they register it to their parent's house in OH.)
oldopelguy wrote: In some states the plate is registered to the person, not the car, and in some states if there is a plate out there with current decals than the state needs to have proof of insurance. Cancelling your insurance without turning the plate back in first in those states gets you the same fine as driving without insurance as soon as the insurance company passes on to the state that the policy has lapsed or been cancelled.
In MD canceling the insurance without turning in the plates can get very expensive. A friend of the wife's wrecked her old clunker so she sold it to the junkyard without removing the plates and dropped the insurance. She then proceeded to ignore several notices from the MVA to turn in the plates since she didn't have them.
Long story short: It ended up costing her $2K in fines to get out of the mess.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: Do banks want to see cars before giving a loan? I've never heard of that before. Thinking back, I've had two used cars with a loan, the bank didn't need to see either of them for that. One of them I bought while I was out of the country. I looked at the car one weekend then went back to Mexico where I was working. I bought the car and got the loan over the phone and fax (remember them!) My girlfriend picked the car up for me and met me at the airport two weekends later after only having spun it once! No issues, no problems.
The bank wouldnt want to see the car, they just require a purchase and sales agreement filled out by buyer/seller, then returned to the bank and exchanged for the check. I'll get with the bank as to weather that can be done digitally. Hadnt occurred to me that I could cancel the check if the car wasnt as advertised, good call.
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