LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We've all seen them on valley roads — vehicles that have no license plates or that have expired registration stickers.
Concerned viewer Jeffrey Bloom sent me the following email, in part, asking What's The Deal?
"Is it just me or has anyone else noticed the number of vehicles on Las Vegas city streets and highways with expired registration stickers or no plates at all on vehicles. I was driving down Decatur around 6 p.m. It seemed 3-4 out of every 10 vehicles had expired or no plates on their vehicle. I feel this is a public safety hazard."
This issue isn't new and the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles tells me that they've been battling it for years.
Back in January, we spoke with JD Decker, the Chief of the DMV's Compliance Enforcement Division, who says the pandemic made things worse.
“We do know that there are a lot of people that are not complying with the registration laws and we think that probably originated during the grace period during the shutdown,” Decker said at the time. "You can mask the fact that it’s not registered and drive with no plate or put a fake tag on it. You can drive the car around and nobody knows it until you have an accident or get pulled over."
I checked in with Decker today to see if things have improved since January.
"We've seen improvement in the sense that we see fewer fake paper tags. We've been enforcing that pretty aggressively," Decker said. "We see less of those but see more of people driving without anything. It's still a huge problem."
Decker says the Compliance Enforcement Division has 29 officers who conduct a few thousand traffic stops every year, which sometimes result in citations that can cost you a lot of money.
"It depends on the jurisdiction. For no registration, it could be a couple hundred dollars. A fake tag or plate, which we see a lot of, that can be $1,000. A ticket for not having insurance can be upwards of $2,000. It can be very expensive," Decker explained. "An at-fault crash with no insurance can result in the victims going after your personal assets. It opens up a huge liability for people."
Watch: Cars with no plates are becoming a common fixture on the streets of Las Vegas— find out why.
He added that people who aren't compliant are actually making those who do follow the rules pay more.
"For all of us that are paying for registration and insurance, our rates go up because these people aren't paying premiums and they aren't getting in fewer accidents," Decker said. "Having uninsured motorist insurance is important. We see so many accidents where the at-fault party doesn't have insurance."
According to Decker, no license plates or current registration also creates safety concerns.
"If they don't have a plate, they're anonymous, so they can break traffic laws," Decker said. "If they don't have current registration, we have no way of maintaining if they have their insurance other than a traffic stop."
One issue that Decker says they've seen is people saying they can't afford to pay for registration, license plates, or insurance.
"We know it's expensive. But if you aren't maintaining it, you're contributing to the problem," Decker said. "It costs money to operate a vehicle legally on the road. We see people buy cars, but they don't factor in the registration and insurance cost. If you can afford a car, it's on you to budget the cost for operating a car legally."
So, how can you make sure that you are in compliance?
The DMV offers many of its services online, including Rapid Registration.
Rapid Registration first launched in August. The online service is available to new residents who have not yet registered their vehicle in Nevada and customers who have purchased a vehicle from an out-of-state dealership, private party with a title in their name, or vehicles that are gifted to someone else.
With this first phase, customers still must come into an office to pay and pick up their license plate and registration. Future phases will eliminate the requirement to visit an office.
To date, there have been over 4,000 successful registration transactions.
There are also DMV Now Kiosks across the valley, where you can also renew your registration.
If your transactions can't be completed online, you can also book appointments at their local officers in Las Vegas and Henderson.
You can find all of that information here.
In January, the DMV will launch another service, which will be for online vehicle titles.
