Historic designation

[floatinghat]

Was looking to register my 71 as a historic vehicle here in Washington State.  I am curious are there any disadvantages to going with that designation?  I know the driving restrictions and that will not be an issue.

thanks

ajl

[mdsalemi]

The driving restrictions on any state's historic/collector plates are the disadvantages--to some. To others not so much. If you can live with them, you should be fine--and will be able to most definitely get collector car insurance which might be a savings, too.

[alfagta]

Main benefit in I see in WA is that you only have to register once and don't pay for yearly updates.  For some of my cars I've gotten the historic plate right off the bat.  Other times I've had to buy a regular license plate, then come in before it expires to exchange it at no cost for historic plate.  I've also been told at the bureau that you can get historic plate only for 4 or 5 level cars (0-5 scale) and not for rats.  This comes into play with respect to the sale price.  They'll look at the NADA price guide for reference.  If the car's weight isn't listed on your title you'll need to have car weighed officially (truck stop) or bring some factory brochure with the information in it (I've done both).  Lastly, I've found a fair degree of variability in all of these factors depending on who's at the counter and where the office is located.

[floatinghat]

Thanks GTA, yes  the main reason is to avoid the annual reg.   It just ticks me off if I decide to drive it maybe once a year I need to pay because the reg has expired.  Happened last year, wife says lets go to dinner, can we take the little car? nope reg expired the previous September.  It will also let me get collector insurance if I decide to go that route.

My understanding is I need a single period correct plate and can go that route and be legal, the weight is a new one on me but sounds simple enough to address.  I didn't do the historic plate when I moved to WA because they couldn't figure out how not to charge me sales tax.

[alfagta]

Regarding the plate, if you have a correct year vintage plate you can register with that, otherwise DOL will issue a new "collector"-designated plate.  If you get the WA collector plate and find a nice vintage plate later you can go back and switch them on the registration.

[jackhughes81]

I have historical plates and it was easy.  Only restriction I have is limited mileage with insurance..  jack