What's the deal w/ so many cars in front of houses on NY 22A having VT plates?

Submitted by twowheels t3_10fuqu9 in vermont

I was driving home late after a long day of driving and saw a VT plate in front of a house -- confused for a moment thinking "I'm not in VT yet"... but I wasn't certain exactly where I was, so I started looking at the plates on all of the cars parked at every house and every single one that I was able to spot was green... here I was confused, wondering when I crossed the river w/o noticing when suddenly I entered Vermont.

So, I just looked at Google Maps street view and confirmed that I wasn't just hallucinating... a ton of the cars parked in front of houses on the NY side have VT plates.

Is there some tax benefit or something for them? Are they taking advantage of the fact that VT DMV allows non-residents to register to avoid some cost in NY?

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richstowe t1_j501n81 wrote

"The Vermont registration process, also known as the Vermont title loophole, has been used to get a title for a vehicle even if the owner resides out of state. No other state offers this type of title method, especially not for out-of-state residents."

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TheScandinavianFlick t1_j5094zu wrote

I think this is it. Cheaper to register the cars in VT, and they live close enough that the Vermont DMV isn't a days' worth of driving away.

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QuasiJambo t1_j50g05g wrote

I have a window cleaning business here, mostly 2nd home owners and almost everyone of them has a car in the garage with VT plates that they keep here year round. Our neighbors also come up from NYC on weekends and holidays and they registered their new truck in VT because it’s cheaper.

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Ernst_ t1_j51nlpu wrote

>uses clearly defined legal process to acquire vehicle registration

LOOPHOLELOOPHOLE

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random_vermonter t1_j50ejyt wrote

Time to close that loophole.

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AnyRound5042 t1_j51kkyc wrote

Nah, you don't understand the staggering number of mopeds and such that get plates this way. I'm sure it brings in okay money to the state

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whaletacochamp t1_j509vng wrote

COL in that area of upstate NY seems to be considerably lower than much of Vermont. And that's a relatively easy drive to multiple large job areas in VT. Add onto that the title loophole and you've got NY residents with VT jobs and VT vehicles.

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Twombls t1_j4zzsl0 wrote

You can register any car to vt

Even if you dont have a vt address

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RobertJoseph802 t1_j509n82 wrote

Could be VTers moving over for cheaper housing and just not changing registration. I know plenty that have done it

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Atv821 t1_j50watg wrote

I’m one of those people. Moved from VT to NY and have 3 vehicles, chose to keep them registered in VT because of multiple reasons. Cheaper registrations, cheaper insurance, I can take insurance of the cars I’m not driving for the winter without having to surrender the plates, I like the look of the VT plates more, don’t want to pay new registration fees on 3 vehicles. Some day I’ll probably move it over but for now there’s not incentive to change it over yet.

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snuffy_tentpeg t1_j506cc3 wrote

I live in Southeast Pennsylvania and regularly see a guy with a motorcycle registered in VT.

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suzi-r t1_j51lp8y wrote

I’d been wondering why so many green-plated vehicles are driven as if by NYrs…now I know.

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DubReavBTV t1_j55gfv9 wrote

We have the single best looking plate so why wouldn’t a NYer want that green beauty? :)

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Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_j4zxx0y wrote

Perhaps their property extends beyond the VT-NY border and they have a choice? Many of the properties there are large and deep.

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twowheels OP t1_j5026sx wrote

Interesting idea, but it was both sides of the road.

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Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_j50338e wrote

And you're 100% sure you hadn't crossed the state line? ;-)

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twowheels OP t1_j5038e5 wrote

Yep. My GPS announced “Welcome to Vermont” when I did. :)

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Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_j52y8kc wrote

Yeah, that explains it.

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twowheels OP t1_j52ybjj wrote

Explains all of the VT plates before the announcement?

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Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_j530r81 wrote

What in the freaking world makes you think a gps 'announcement' is accurate? Are you that friggin' reliant on technology?

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twowheels OP t1_j534co5 wrote

Because I was crossing the river, as expected, at around the same time, combined with a history of it being extremely actuate.

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802grrl t1_j53b95m wrote

Umm. Could it be extended families visiting each other? Kid gets apartment in Bennington, family gets together for Sunday dinner at parents house? There's a lot of that "border blind" living in these parts. Drove me crazy during C19 with travel bans that had no idea how we "border collies" love, work, and live around here. Though I love the shagging thread herein...there is that too!

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twowheels OP t1_j53c0zt wrote

Possibly, but it was literally every car that I could make out the plate on for about 10 minutes before I reached the VT border.

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ResponsibleExcuse727 t1_j51ceee wrote

Cheaper property taxes since new York has the city taking care of a good portion of the tax burden. Basically like living in Vermont just a lot cheaper.

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daynewolf036 t1_j51ywnp wrote

NY state sends more tax money to NYC than NYC contributes to NY state.

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