Registering a gray-market car?

[M42Technik]

Okay so I'm looking at what used to be a diplomat's car from 1983 that's for sale, and while I am under the impression you can register it as a Historic vehicle, this would be my daily driver.

People in MD say you can roll Historic tags and daily it, but in what scenario would someone be fined for this? I don't want to get in trouble here.

I'd rather get regular tags on it, but as a gray-market its also my understanding that you simply can't register the car.

Anyone out there know? Just run Historic tags? Take my chances and try and register it as a regular car?

[TexasTerp]

A lot of people who run historics get a license plate cover that hides the :historic" text on the plate.

I'm getting historics on my e30 and it's my daily, yes you technically can be fined and it happens every now and then, but most people haven't had any real issues.

[mitchlevy7]

a lot of people who run historics get a license plate cover that hides the :historic" text on the plate.

I'm getting historics on my e30 and it's my daily, yes you technically can be fined and it happens every now and then, but most people haven't had any real issues.

+1

[Leon T. Trout]

+2 The historic registration forms say that the car will only be driven 5000 miles per year, but if your odometer's broken, how will they know?

Edit: Scratch that, I just looked at the form again and there isn't anything about mileage. http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Resources/VR-096.pdf

[M42Technik]

Whats the fine usually? Good to know though, I think it's not worth the trouble though, wouldn't want to get into an accident and have insurance ride my ass.

Anyone know what the total mileage is allowed on a historic tag? Can't seem to find a definitive answer for that either.

EDIT: Just saw your post, I only drive 300-350 miles a month so that works out okay.

[TexasTerp]

Historic tags don't make any difference for insurance. The only time your insurance company would ride you about mileage is if you have special "antique" insurance that has a mileage limit.

My insurance is no different with historic tags than it would be with regular tags.

[M42Technik]

I called Geico about this. They said they don't have a mileage limit. They put me through to a collector car insurance company, and they say they have 2,500 or 5,000 mile limits available.

And now you're saying there's no difference in insurance rate between regular/historic plates? How can that be? If that's the case they would cover the car in an accident fully like they would a regular car...?

I just don't want something to happen and I'm screwed. Is classic car insurance way high? I'll have to find out.

[JasonC]

My classic insurance is $45 every 6mo with State Farm. And yes, they did look to see what tags it had. But PA is a little different then MD. I know there is a lot of guys on here with "Historic" tags in MD as their dailys. But i still wonder if they ever made a claim with their insurance? And what the outcome was of it...

[M42Technik]

I'm also looking to see if there is a final say in if that bill that was proposed or not to limit Historic plates to parade use only (or something to that effect).

I JUST WANT THIS COOL EUROCAR OKAY GOSH


EDIT: Looks like HB 550 did not pass and may be looked at in the near future again for updating, but seems okay to me:

http://www.historicvehicle.org/News/Articles/All-Articles/2012/03/16/Legislative-Watch-MD

From what I'm gathering, it actually makes sense to go through a collector car insurer, so long as they know the car will be used for daily use, and it seems it will still be cheaper, and I can register my metric-loving diplomat car...we shall see!

[Kershaw]

i daily historic tags.

[M42Technik]

i daily historic tags.

Have you ever had to file a claim? Did your insurance give you any info as to mile limitation? Coverage differences of any sort?

I just need to convince this guy his car isn't worth as much as he's asking...

[TexasTerp]

I don't use classic or collector car insurance, I just have the standard run-of the mill liability and comprehensive coverage from Progressive. Progressive covers my car just as it always would, historics or not.

Historic tags in MD don't require classic/collector insurance (yet) which is why we daily them without any limits.

[swingard]

I have ran histpric tags on both of my e30's and my e23 euro graymarket for the last three years. I have ran all three daily and never had a problem. When a stupid 16 year old crossed the double lines and hit me head on totaling my 89 my insurance had no issues with how I had it tagged. When I registered my old '85 745i I could not go to a ten minute tag center, I ended up having to go to a real MVA with my fingers crossed... seems the vin on my greymarket car is not recognized by the MVA's system. I am not sure if I got lucky, or if this is the way the MVA handles these things, but a supervisor had to be called and overroad the system and manually entered the VIN (something about the seventh digit being a 0 or so and in America you cant have a 0 on the seventh digit or something). I was really nervous when all this was going on, but it went smoothly and with no problems. Hope this helps.

[swingard]

Also-- forgot to add... been thinking about putting the 745i up for sale... hit me up if interested :)

[M42Technik]

That is most appreciated. It answers my questions on how the MVA handles this, as well as how insurance would handle a claim with Historic tags.

Thanks for the info everyone! Now I just have to get this guy to sell me his car at a price that makes sense. It may be an interesting car because of its diplomat status, european specs, and unique color combination, but he's asking double what its worth and its got some rust issues. I'll keep everyone posted, but he's not getting back to me so I'll play the waiting game...