How Much Is the Penalty for Late Registration of Vehicles in PA?
Pennsylvania or officially as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is the fifth most populous state in the US. It is the seventh-largest state in the United States by the number of registered vehicles, behind California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, New York, and Illinois. In 2020 Pennsylvania had 4,043,715 registered automobiles within its borders.
Pennsylvania offers vehicle registration with a one or two-year validity period. The license and registration are controlled by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). In Pennsylvania, driving vehicles with expired registration is a punishable offense, and the penalty differs depending on the peculiarities involved.
Offenders of the late registration law who have other traffic-related cases face higher penalties. They may be required to pay fines worth thousands of dollars, have their license suspended or revoked. In extreme cases, they may also face jail time with or without bail.
The state of Pennsylvania does not give any grace period for expired registrations; instead, they send you a reminder to renew your registration before the expiration of your current registration. You may also face lesser penalties if you were pulled over within 60 days of your registration expiring.
What Happens When Your Registration Expires?
Vehicle registration in the state of Pennsylvania usually lasts for one or two years, after which you will need to renew your registration. Driving your vehicle after the expiry of the registration is an offense. Your car will need to pass the emissions test and safety inspections before you can renew your registration. This ensures you and other road users are kept safe, as well as the occupants in your vehicle.
To renew your license, you would need to provide your valid car insurance, odometer readings, plate number, and eight digits of the title number. Renewing your license can be done by mail, online, or in a physical service center.
When renewing your registration online in Pennsylvania, you can carry it out through the Swift-tags' online platform. Using the Swift-tags online platform makes the process easy. Swift-tags will also send you a reminder when your registration is about to expire to prevent late registration.
Penalty for Late Registration
Driving with an expired car registration is punishable, and you may face varying degrees of sanctions if you are pulled over. If your cars' registration has expired more than 60 days, the penalty you will face can be significantly increased. For example, car registration in PA costs about $39; however, when you are pulled over, you will be required to pay a fine of $75 or double the cost of renewal of license - whichever value is higher. If your registration expired in less than 60 days, then your fine will be reduced to $25. For other types of carrier vehicles that do not include trailers, the fine is $50.
Suppose the car owner has been involved in other traffic violations like excessive speeding, driving under the influence (DUI), or reckless endangerment. In that case, the police may take your driver's license from you. You also stand the risk of facing thousands of dollars in fines and a possible jail time.
Conclusively, the state of Pennsylvania issues you a reminder notice when your registration is about to run out to renew your registration. Driving a car with expired registration in Pennsylvania is against the law and is punishable by the law to varying degrees, depending on the circumstances surrounding it. To save yourself all of the stress involved, renew it as fast as possible once your registration expires.
