Massachusetts Cracks Down On Illegal New Hampshire Car Registrations

By Jim on December 2nd, 2008

Uh oh, watch out for the license plate gestapo!

In New Hampshire, motorists do not have to pay sales tax to register their vehicles. The state doesn’t even require auto insurance.

But where Massachusetts motorists might see opportunity for financial gain by registering their vehicles across the border, officials in the Bay State see a violation of the Commonwealth’s vehicle registration laws. And they say the violation puts an unfair burden on legally registered motorists in Massachusetts and presents a potential disaster for anyone who gets into an accident with a New Hampshire-registered vehicle.

“It is technically a form of fraud,” said Methuen Police Officer Brian Hellman. “These people are avoiding the excise tax and moving to our cities and making our residents cover their costs.”

The Methuen Police Department has two officers assigned to tracking down illegally registered cars. Both work the midnight shift as it is easier to cruise through housing complexes and down residential streets searching for out-of-state plates settled in driveways and parking lots for the night, said Hellman, one of the two officers.

In 2007 – his first full year in this duty – Hellman tracked 225 out-of-state registrations, resulting in 95 people complying with the state law. Many turned out to be false warnings, as the out-of-state plates were either from people visiting Metheun or those who can legally keep an out-of-state registration in Massachusetts, like college students or military personnel. Hellman also wrote 22 citations for the $500 fine against people who would not comply with the Massachusetts law. The town also has a hot line for tipsters – 978-983-8785.

Illegal registrations are so widespread that Hellman estimated the department could easily cite 200 people per night, if it had an unlimited number of officers to do what he does.

While I would usually cheer at somebody screwing over state or local government in Taxachusetts, I’d really rather that these people didn’t sully the reputation of New Hampshire by coming up here to do their dirty work. So let the license plate nazis chase them down and make them comply with “the commonwealth’s” usual bullshit.