What's happening
This bill changes the registration fee for historical motor vehicles to a $100 one-time fee valid until the vehicle is sold or transferred.
Why it matters
Eliminates annual registration fees for historical motor vehicles, making it more affordable for collectors and enthusiasts to maintain legal status for their vehicles. This could encourage preservation and use of older vehicles for exhibitions and parades.
The new one-time $100 registration fee remains valid as long as the vehicle is owned by the registrant, reducing paperwork and administrative burden both for owners and the DMV. This change streamlines the process and provides cost certainty for historical vehicle owners.
Registration plates for qualifying vehicles remain distinctive, and owners can still use period-correct plates if they meet the DMV’s requirements. This maintains the authenticity and historical value for collectors who value original details.
By defining historical vehicles as those over 25 years old or deemed unique by the commissioner, the bill ensures that only truly significant or collectible vehicles benefit from this registration system. This helps prevent misuse of the program for regular-use cars.
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Who cares
Historical vehicle owners and collectors
The bill would replace the $28.75 annual registration fee with a $100 initial fee and keep the vehicle registered without further fees until it is sold or otherwise transferred.
Buyers of historical vehicles
A sale or other transfer would trigger a new registration and fee, rather than allowing the existing registration to continue.
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles
The bill would require the agency to administer historical vehicle registrations that remain valid without additional fees until ownership changes.
Headline styles
One-Time Fee for Classic Cars
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
4 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to transportation
- Referred to transportation
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3121
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT, McDONOUGH, LUPARDO, DiPIETRO, KOLB -- read once and referred to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to permanent registration of historical motor vehicles
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Schedule G of subdivision 7 of section 401 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by section 25 of part G of chapter 59 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
G. Schedule for historical motor vehicles. For each motor vehicle which is owned and operated as an exhibition piece or collectors item, and is used for participation in club activities, exhibit, tours, parades, occasional transportation and similar uses, but not used for general daily transportation, [an annual] a fee of [twenty-eight] one hundred dollars [and seventy-five cents] upon initial registration of such vehicle. Such historical motor vehicle shall remain registered without the imposition of any other fee until such time as the vehicle is sold or otherwise transferred, at which time a new registration and fee shall be required. For purposes of this paragraph, a historical motor vehicle shall mean any vehicle manufactured more than twenty-five years prior to the current calendar year, and any other model, year and type vehicle which has unique characteristics and which is determined by the commissioner to be of historical, classic or exhibition value. Registration plates for such vehicles shall be of a type and design approved by the commissioner, but shall be of a distinctive nature. Except that, with the approval of the commissioner, an owner of any such vehicle may utilize registration plates issued in the year corresponding to the model year date in which the vehicle was manufactured, if the registration plate is legible, durable, and serviceable, of this state, and accurate in color, as determined by the department. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to prohibit the use of previously issued
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06911-01-9
A. 3121 2
registration plates that have been restored, without deviation from their original alphanumeric or pictorial content, to such condition as otherwise satisfies all applicable requirements. Such plates shall be used only for the operation of the motor vehicle listed on the registration application and on other motor vehicles which would qualify for registration under this schedule owned by persons other than the registrant for the purpose of test driving by the registrant or his or her agent in anticipation of possible purchase. No such registration will be issued unless evidence of financial security, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, is submitted which provides coverage for the motor vehicle listed on the registration application and for non-owned motor vehicles being operated with such plates.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.