A person cannot drive a car without a license. In the same way, a car should not be driven if it is not registered. And proof that a car has been registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the owner of the car receives a registration plate, also known as a license plate.
After purchasing a car, the owner will apply to register their vehicle with the DMV and be issued a license plate marked with a series of numbers and letters. The license plate markings will depend on the state where the car is registered.
Simply put, a car registration is material proof that the owner has met all the requirements to register a car, such as paying all necessary fees and taxes. After that, he will have no problem driving a car on highways.
According to a federal law, a car must be registered before it can be driven. An unregistered vehicle, especially if it is driven, is clearly a violation of said law. If upon inspection the arresting officer finds that a car does not have a license plate, it will end up being impounded. The driver will also suffer, since he will be penalized for driving an unregistered car.
The most obvious way to determine if a car has not been registered is if it does not have a license plate on the front and rear bumpers of the vehicle. Also, if your registration has expired and has not been renewed, it will show the most recent year you registered on the license plate. In other words, there is no way you can get out of it.
Any law-abiding citizen is well aware of the most basic fact that driving a car without a license is a violation. A driver will also put himself in a dangerous position if he drives a vehicle without a license plate while not holding a driver’s license. Penalties and possible jail time will await that driver.
But there are people who risk doing just that. These are the people who intend to carry out criminal activities. The DMV’s automobile registration system can never track a vehicle with no or false license plates. For a good citizen, this is equivalent to committing a crime. So if he’s driving down the road and you happen to see a vehicle without a license plate, you’d better report it to the authorities.
