Nope, never parked anywhere that required a permit or pass. And never stayed in the same spot for more than a day or two, either.

Thank you! Definitely would not have happened without everyone on r/boston and sending me to the news stations...

Thanks!

Exactly! If they had just sent me a ticket for $100 for being in the state for 30 days, I would have been confused but definitely just paid it without appealing or anything.

I'm really not bullshitting! I visited and stayed with friends from mid-October to mid-November, then drove home to VA and that was it. I know it seems like I must have done something obnoxious to get caught up in this, like staying for several months or abandoning my car. But I just honestly didn't.

Didn't mean to misquote, just cut off at the part that is being applied to my situation, at least according to the RMV supervisor I spoke with. I agree that the way I read it, having MA-compliant liability insurance, like I do, should exempt me from the registration requirement, but they're saying it doesn't...

🙏🙏

Just to clarify, I definitely didn't leave my car sitting in the same spot for a month. I agree that would be extremely obnoxious! I was coming and going, not always parked on the same side of the street, sometimes parked on a nearby street, went on a little NH trip, etc.

This would all make a lot more sense if I'd done something obviously offensive with my car, but I just honestly didn't.

Also, if I had received a ticket for "excessive non-resident parking" or something, I would have been frustrated but understood. And if someone had said something to me about it or left a note, I would have happily parked on different side streets on different days, I definitely had no intention of causing issues for anyone.

It's the registering my vehicle in 2 states with 2 license plates that's the issue, especially since my insurance company says that they literally can't give me MA insurance since I don't live there.

Fair question, the street I was mainly parked on was definitely not that busy or tight on parking! And I wasn't parked in one spot the whole time at all, not even always on the same street.

Just to clarify, I definitely didn't leave my car sitting in the same spot for a month. I agree that would be extremely obnoxious! I was coming and going, not always parked on the same side of the street, sometimes parked on a nearby street, went on a little NH trip, etc.

This would all make a lot more sense if I'd done something obviously offensive with my car, but I just honestly didn't.

Also, if I had received a ticket for "excessive non-resident parking" or something, I would have been frustrated but understood. And if someone had said something to me about it or left a note, I would have happily parked on different side streets on different days, I definitely had no intention of causing issues for anyone.

It's the registering my vehicle in 2 states with 2 license plates that's the issue, especially since my insurance company says that they literally can't give me MA insurance since I don't live there.

Just to clarify, I definitely didn't leave my car sitting in the same spot for a month. I agree that would be extremely obnoxious! I was coming and going, not always parked on the same side of the street, sometimes parked on a nearby street, went on a little NH trip, etc.

This would all make a lot more sense if I'd done something obviously offensive with my car, but I just honestly didn't.

Also, if I had received a ticket for "excessive non-resident parking" or something, I would have been frustrated but understood. And if someone had said something to me about it or left a note, I would have happily parked on different side streets on different days, I definitely had no intention of causing issues for anyone.

It's the registering my vehicle in 2 states with 2 license plates that's the issue, especially since my insurance company says that they literally can't give me MA insurance since I don't live there.

Not sure where summer is coming from. It was mid-October to mid-November, and I didn't abandon my car or anything - I came and went throughout that time. I got one parking ticket near downtown crossing which I successfully appealed due to confusing signage, and a street cleaning ticket which was paid on time (I moved my car 20 minutes late, obviously that's on me).

It would make a lot more sense if I'd done something obnoxious with my car, but I just honestly didn't.

Also, if I had received a ticket for "excessive non-resident parking" or something, I would have been frustrated but understood. And if someone had said something to me about it or left a note, I would have happily parked on different side streets on different days, I definitely had no intention of causing issues for anyone.

It's the registering my vehicle in 2 states with 2 license plates that's the issue, especially since my insurance company says that they literally can't give me MA insurance since I don't live there.

Really great question. So, the RMV supervisor I've dealt with, as well as a lawyer I emailed with, both indicated that simply operating a vehicle 30+ days in a year could be enough to trigger the registration requirement, regardless of having liability insurance. Which, I agree, makes zero sense. So maybe it's still a communications error? But I very clearly don't fall under any of the other provisions, didn't do any Uber or lending my car or anything.

I'm going off what an RMV supervisor told me, and I believe he was talking about this paragraph from chapter 90 section 3:

"A motor vehicle or trailer owned by a non-resident who has complied with the laws relative to motor vehicles and trailers, and the registration and operation thereof, of the state or country of registration, may be operated on the ways of this commonwealth without registration under this chapter, to the extent, as to length of time of operation and otherwise, that, as finally determined by the registrar, the state or country of registration grants substantially similar privileges in the case of motor vehicles and trailers duly registered under the laws and owned by residents of this commonwealth; provided, that no motor vehicle or trailer shall be so operated on more than thirty days in the aggregate in any one year."

There's actually two separate parts of the law! One is about after you become a resident, but another part is about non-residents who operate a vehicle in MA for any 30 days in a calendar year.

Seems like this will be my last post, and they'll just quietly drop the suspension in a week or two. Obviously if that turns out to not be the case, I'll definitely give that as an update!

Thanks so much to all of you who PM'd ideas, or gave me an email address of someone who could maybe help, or just said "damn that sucks."

I will definitely be much more careful with what I write and say to bureaucracies in the future. I do think this particular bizarre situation was hard to see coming, but volunteering the information that I was visiting the area for a specific amount of time turned out to be a big mistake.

And naively, I do hope the pressure from the news coverage ends up improving things for people interacting with the RMV in general. To just give one example, u/isenfire literally had to sell their car to resolve an issue they had with the RMV, that shouldn't happen to anyone. Whatever oversight or funding or reform the RMV needs to do its job in a more fair and humane way, and if there's a part of the state law that could be fixed, would be great if at least some of that could end up happening.