What's the deal with dealer tags?

Ever since I moved back to Ohio from Germany a few years ago I've noticed lots of cars with dealer tags that are clearly being used as personal vehicles. The plates are bolted on rather than stuck on with magnets or those strips that they close in the trunk lid, and the cars are generally dirty and have trash and whatnot inside.

I know this is illegal, but my question is, why is this a phenomenon? Are dealer tags free or something? Registration renewal in Ohio is only like $60, hardly worth committing a 3rd degree misdemeanor... Is this a tax-dodge? Do cops just never enforce the law? We have no inspections of any kind in my county so it's not like a temporary thing to get a car legal. Why is this such a common behavior?

Loaner cars? I'm in one right now and have been for a week, dealer tags and auction stickers still in the window.

In michigan alot of dealers give sales people a car as a perk then sell it as a demo and they all have dealer plates on them. the ones you are refeering to are probably small dealers using them for personal vehicle and not registering them. Here anyway if you have a dealers license you can drive it as a business vehicle.

chandlerGTi:

That could be it, I always think of loaner cars being newer cars so this thought didn't occur to me. This fits with the tags being bolted-on too, since the car is a permanent loaner it would keep the dealer tags indefinitely.

In reply to ShadowSix:

Most dealers around me actually bolt/screw on the dealer plates when you go for a test drive. The magnet things are known to fall off.

And its very legal to do what you're talking about, so long as A.) The car belongs to the dealer whose plate it is, B.) The vehicle is being operated by an individual who is authorized by said dealer, C.) Dealer carries required insurance.

Business rules may be very different than private individual rules.

Well I just double checked and it is legal for the dealer to do whatever the berkeley he wants with dealer tags, except put them on commercial vehicles. AND one dealer plate is still like $50 some odd dollars, but each additional one is like $10. So... I guess I need to open a car dealership...

My dad had a dealer car for a little while. He was given it for being a manager. Any (dealer owned) car on the lot could be driven with the plates on, regardless of it being done as a test drive or a take-home.

Anyone else read the topic title in the voice of:

In reply to T.J.:

LOL, I wrote the title in that voice!

BTW, Colorado has several levels of dealer tags. Some are in-transit tags, intended for transporting or testing a vehicle. There's also a test-drive-only tag. It may be the same in other states, I don't know.

When we got SWMBO's infiniti, the dealer had been using it as his personal vehicle for months. It was for sale that whole time, so I guess it's kinda legit. It just got better mileage than all the SUV's and stuff he had on the lot, so he used it. He was able to drive it for a few months without an inspection sticker that way, too.

Was it strictly legal? I have no idea, but it has been a decent car except for the rust.

I've always noticed that any time I see A DL tag, its usually being driven like a dick.

Appleseed wrote: I've always noticed that any time I see A DL tag, its usually being driven like a dick.

QFE

I know a lot of the smaller dealers in FL did this, I recall one specific one where the owner drove an older benz and his wife a nice new lexus, he'd pull the tag off the car and slap it on another if someone wanted to test drive

In reply to Rufledt:

Yep, when mom bought her Fusion last year, It had 700mi on it from being the owners take home vehicle. The owner joked that he needed to quit selling the cars he was taking home all the time.....lol