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License Plate Stickers

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ReSTored

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My 2022 stickers on car + bike will be expiring soon. As I understand the renewal process I have to update info re insurance + mileage for car + just insurance for bike. No cost for this and no new sticker will be issued to me. No issue re "expired" stickers in Ontario, but I have a concern about being pulled over for this in Quebec and in the U.S. I read that the ON government has informed various jurisdictions about the change in process but I have little faith that a trooper in Podunkville Alabama is going to be current on Ontario license plate sticker info.

So, once expired, I plan to remove the sticker and use some solvent or goo be gone to clean up the glue residue. As far as I can see through a bit of internet research there is no law or regulation preventing me from doing this and it should eliminate the appearance of an "expired" sticker.

Also, for those people who have purchased a car or bike in the past couple of months I assume no sticker was placed on the new plate, is this a valid assumption?
 
ReSTored said:
My 2022 stickers on car + bike will be expiring soon. As I understand the renewal process I have to update info re insurance + mileage for car + just insurance for bike. No cost for this and no new sticker will be issued to me. No issue re "expired" stickers in Ontario, but I have a concern about being pulled over for this in Quebec and in the U.S. I read that the ON government has informed various jurisdictions about the change in process but I have little faith that a trooper in Podunkville Alabama is going to be current on Ontario license plate sticker info.

So, once expired, I plan to remove the sticker and use some solvent or goo be gone to clean up the glue residue. As far as I can see through a bit of internet research there is no law or regulation preventing me from doing this and it should eliminate the appearance of an "expired" sticker.

Also, for those people who have purchased a car or bike in the past couple of months I assume no sticker was placed on the new plate, is this a valid assumption?
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Re: being pulled over in US or Quebec for expired or no sticker.
I have the same worry. I’ll be driving to the east coast in a couple of weeks and I don’t have a sticker on my truck plate as it was purchased recently and didn’t need it. I’m a bit worried about being pulled over in Quebec for this, as Ontario plates already seem to be a target over there.
 
Katatonic said:
Re: being pulled over in US or Quebec for expired or no sticker.
I have the same worry. I’ll be driving to the east coast in a couple of weeks and I don’t have a sticker on my truck plate as it was purchased recently and didn’t need it. I’m a bit worried about being pulled over in Quebec for this, as Ontario plates already seem to be a target over there.
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2023 sticker for sale, PST…

 
Peel 'em off. As long as you're legit, if you got pulled over, the gendarmes can check.
 
ReSTored said:
My 2022 stickers on car + bike will be expiring soon. As I understand the renewal process I have to update info re insurance + mileage for car + just insurance for bike. No cost for this and no new sticker will be issued to me. No issue re "expired" stickers in Ontario, but I have a concern about being pulled over for this in Quebec and in the U.S. I read that the ON government has informed various jurisdictions about the change in process but I have little faith that a trooper in Podunkville Alabama is going to be current on Ontario license plate sticker info.

So, once expired, I plan to remove the sticker and use some solvent or goo be gone to clean up the glue residue. As far as I can see through a bit of internet research there is no law or regulation preventing me from doing this and it should eliminate the appearance of an "expired" sticker.

Also, for those people who have purchased a car or bike in the past couple of months I assume no sticker was placed on the new plate, is this a valid assumption?
Click to expand...

The only place that sees revenue from a sticker is the country that issues it. The US/ROW sees no benefit to you having an up-to-date sticker. They only want to make sure the vehicle has proper registration and that you have paid the import fees/insurance if you are not a tourist and the vehicle is in the country for longer than xx months (varies by country).

That said, I would peel off the expired sticker. In some countries where the police is corrupt, they will find any excuse to force a bribe out of you. I've ridden all around the world with a non-stickered license plate, crossed many borders, stopped by police many times, and never had any questions about the sticker that I didn't have on my plate.
 
Just don't use a heat gun to remove them, you may pull off bits of the plate itself

Yes I learned this the hard way
 
What gets you a ticket is not the sticker, it is the registration. The people that are getting tickets didn't register.
The police and government share that registration data... even the "trooper in Podunkville Alabama" has access to the Ontario registration data, when the cop runs the plate and it comes back as unregistered... you get a ticket.
If you have gone through the registration process you're good to go.

I don't know if they still do, but every time I tried to pull that sticker off, the vinyl splits and both parts say VOID VOID VOID and the sticky part tears the paint off the plate ... and I am going to suggest VOID VOID VOID or no paint on the upper right corner of your plate is more of a heat score that an expired sticker (Cops aren't looking at a 16mm x 22mm sticker with TEENY TINY writing while driving, they're reading the plate number)

Lightcycle said:
The only place that sees revenue from a sticker is the country that issues it.
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... or the jurisdiction that writes you a ticket for being unregistered. If you get a ticket for being unregistered by a "trooper in Podunkville Alabama", Podunkville gets the revenue from the ticket... and last I heard Podunkville gets 30% of it's revenue from traffic tickets
 
bitzz said:
What gets you a ticket is not the sticker, it is the registration. The people that are getting tickets didn't register.
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True.

bitzz said:
The police and government share that registration data... even the "trooper in Podunkville Alabama" has access to the Ontario registration data, when the cop runs the plate and it comes back as unregistered... you get a ticket.
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This I believe to be untrue. I can't find any indication that DMV/MTO vehicle registration records are shared at the provincial/state level. As part of the Driver License Compact, the only thing that is shared are demerit points for out-of-province traffic convictions and failure to pay tickets. Nothing about vehicle registration. The only states that have reciprocity agreements with Ontario are Michigan and and New York State, basically the neighbouring states.

Alabama is not part of the Driver License Compact with Ontario.

Source:

Driver License Compact - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

While a "podunk" State Trooper may fine you for not having a sticker, that is ignorance of the law on the part of local law enforcement. Same as when an Ontario motorist got fined in California for driving without an International Driving Permit (IDP). You don't need one as part of the agreement between the US and Canada. But because one person got fined, doesn't mean it's suggested that all Canadians now need to get an IDP when they cross over into the US.

www.narcity.com

Another Canadian Was Punished For Driving In The U.S. With A Canadian License

Ignorance is not a valid excuse for abusing authority.
www.narcity.com www.narcity.com
 
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More clarity on the license plate sticker within Canada:

www.thestar.com

When Ontario got rid of licence plate stickers, it left a lot of questions. Here are some answers

When the Ford government axed licence plate renewal fees, it caused confusion for some vehicle owners, who didn’t realize they still need to renew their plates online, and can face fines of up to $1,000 for not doing so.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

Do police in other provinces have access to licence plate renewal information?

The government says it has “notified law enforcement and provincial partners of the changes to Ontario’s licence plate sticker program. It is the responsibility of police services to communicate any and all relevant information to their front-line officers.”

Elliott Silverstein, director of government relations at CAA Insurance Company, recommends that drivers “check to see if their licence plate is up to date before beginning on their out-of-province travels. Having proof of renewal could be a good reference tool if they are travelling outside of Ontario.”
Click to expand...
 
Oh, BTW - recently registered a bike with a temporary permit. They still issued a sticker... I was just gonna toss it, but the clerk helpfully applied it themselves. Thankfully that came off fairly easily (once it was fully registered)
 
Yes, it is exactly the ignorant / abusive / authoritative / chip on their shoulder LEO I'd be most concerned about. The expired sticker is used as a pretext to pull you over and then you're at a significant disadvantage trying to persuade someone who bristles when their authority is questioned that the sticker system has been discontinued.

I suspect we'll be hearing more about these types of issues in late 2022 / early 2023 when a large number of snowbirds are traveling south to warmer climes.
 
My car plate letters were peeling, so I replaced it. Bought a new bike before selling the old one, so I got a new plate. I'm clean.
 
And now we have the other shoe. ALPR is coming to every OPP vehicle shortly. In a 22 minute test drive, one car flagged 32 violations.

If you want to get nervous about big brother, they could easily keep track of where and when they have seen every plate. Not a great dataset as there aren't that many OPP vehicles but if they started to combine with data from stationary alpr and/or municipal forces, it would quickly provide a ridiculously powerful dataset (easy to do average speed ticket, easy to predict where and when you can find a specific car, etc).

www.cp24.com

What Ontario drivers need to know about major rollout of licence plate scanning technology

The Ontario Provincial Police will easily be able to catch drivers for even minor infractions with the major expansion of licence plate scanning technology in the province.
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com
 
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GreyGhost said:
And now we have the other shoe. ALPR is coming to every OPP vehicle shortly. In a 22 minute test drive, one car flagged 32 violations. If you want to get nervous about big brother, they could easily keep track of where and when they have seen every plate. Not a great dataset as there aren't that many OPP vehicles but if they started to combine with data from stationary alpr and/or municipal forces, it would quickly provide a ridiculously powerful dataset (easy to do average speed ticket, easy to predict where and when you can find a specific car, etc).

www.cp24.com

What Ontario drivers need to know about major rollout of licence plate scanning technology

The Ontario Provincial Police will easily be able to catch drivers for even minor infractions with the major expansion of licence plate scanning technology in the province.
www.cp24.com www.cp24.com
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I would expect next is going to be a crackdown on license plate covers I see so many dark tinted ones daily that you can't read the plate through

Sent from the future
 
Scuba Steve said:
I would expect next is going to be a crackdown on license plate covers I see so many dark tinted ones daily that you can't read the plate through

Sent from the future
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Good. They are stupid and clearly designed to obscure the plate. Hopefully they are reasonable and ignore the frames that leave the important numbers clearly visible.
 
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