I have a few cars over 25 years old. I don’t drive them at all often - one doesn’t run. I would possibly drive them to car meets and to get them fixed. They wouldn’t do anything else.
So rather than classic registration, it looks like I can say that they’re “interesting” (they are to me!) and get antique registration.
If I’m reading the rules right, I don’t need to provide insurance to register them as antiques - I just fill in an SR-2 (?) to say that they’re antique.
The only practical reason to register them at all is to stop my HOA throwing citations at me.
Does anyone have an antique registered? Am I right that they don’t need liability insurance if they’re mostly sat on the street, and occasionally taken to car shows?
i have 2 with antique plates(one has a vintage set of black & white Texas plates from the same year of the truck’s manufacture 1966). both are insured via Hagerty - not through my traditional insurance company. plates expire every 5 years, no inspection needed.
Really I just want any plate on the car so I can park on the street or my driveway (which is full, hence street)
I think the issue I had with Haggerty is that they wanted to think the car was special to insure it. It didn’t matter about my opinion on its uniqueness.
Section 601 of the Texas Transportation Code makes for some captivating light reading.
601.051 states that…
A person may not operate a motor vehicle in this state unless financial responsibility is established
… and provides 5 forms of acceptable financial responsibility.
601.052 establishes exceptions to the prior … (1)(B) and (C) might provide an avenue for avoiding said requirements:
(B) is used only for exhibitions, club activities, parades, and other functions of public interest and not for regular transportation; and
(C) for which the owner files with the department an affidavit, signed by the owner, stating that the vehicle is a collector’s item and used only as described by Paragraph (B);
If you want to go through that effort, you may avoid the need for insurance to operate the vehicle, but item #1 on a DPS document states that you must insure the vehicle to register it.
Ultimately seems simpler to just get minimum liability insurance as self-insurance is a $55k deposit.
If it’s not the HOA enforcing rules, the local municipality may opt to enforce laws prohibiting unregistered vehicles on public streets and … to a degree … within their boundaries.
do like so many uninsured do in Texas - buy ‘Frank LLoya’ type liability insurance by the month, get your tags and park your car in the street and take your chances if you let the insurance lapse…
Or rent space somewhere to put your excess inventory.
HOA’s suck. I don’t mind playing by the rules, and I’ll insure a car I use on the road.
Given the types of car I own, the economics of renting space don’t add up. I could just leave them at the wreckers yard until I’m ready for them. Kind of like using the grocery store as your freezer for excess frozen food.
I shall hide the sticker - I just need a plate on the back.
I like the sound of this Fred Lloya chap. I presume I don’t need to be financially responsible / insured to park on my drive, but probably do to park on the public street outside?
I just registered a couple classic cars too. It was easy, went online and got an appointment slot at the local tax assessors office. Took my title etc and paid the fees in person and they gave me the license plates and stickers. No need for an inspection since the cars are over 25 years old.
There isn’t a sticker for an antique plate…well not for my 1966 Texas plates. so Unless your HOA has a way of reading a vintage Texas plate they are SOL. (I wouldn’t risk losing a car over it though - but that is me).
And before the “VIN” folks get their panties in a wad, my 1966 VW Doppelkabine has no visible VIN number to read, so you folks can go pound sand as well.
Have you considered putting covers over your cars on your driveway?
I have a car fast approaching 25 years old. And even once I get it running again, it will only really get driven in the spring and fall. But it likely will get driven close to what the 1.8T will do more than occasionally. So I don’t want to find myself trying to justify what car show or parade I was on my way to in a borderline irresponsible way while nowhere near the path from home to whatever show or parade is happening that day.
I actually need to see if the door sticker has a build date, and confirm exactly how you document the age for the 25 year old emissions inspection exemption. I actually still have it insured, and even though it is an 01, I think I have now owned it 25 years and about 14 days.
I have antique plates on my VR6 Corrado and drive it fairly often. You are not limited to shows and parades. Anyone that says that is clearly mistaken or is NOT a car person. The car is 32 years old and I’ve owned it 27 years.
i have two antiques… i am registered with no stickers/inspections. one insured with hagerty, the other with american national. both were same price as my progressive/safeco rates (when i had them) with more coverage.
“Routine maintenance, other functions, exhibitions” huge gray area open there …
Every time I drive my 66 pickup it is an exhibition. I drove it up to the Ford dealer to get a few parts for my F150 and parked it out front and left the wiff in it reading her book and when I returned there were three sales people asking questions about it and two others curious about it.
Yes i was exercising it after routine maintenance. Opinions are like assholes - everyone has one.