Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 2

29 WINTER 2019 T he “Plate to Owner” law, effective in 2008, requires dealers to remove general issue license plates at the time of sale and gives the customer the option to transfer, keep, or dispose of their general issue license plates. Vehicles eligible for “Plate to Owner” transfer are passenger vehicles (6,000 lbs. or less) and light trucks (10,000 lbs. or less) only; mo- torcycles and trailers are not eligible. The customer also may transfer, keep, or dis- pose of an existing specialty license plate. Transfer If the customer chooses to transfer their license plates to their newly purchased vehicle, you should notify the county tax assessor-collector office of the license plate number to be transferred. When you have been notified that the county has processed the title application and a newregistration sticker has beenprovided, the customer’s license plates and sticker may be attached to their newly purchased vehicle. You can also use the Texas De- partment of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) webDEALER system to transfer the ex- isting license plates; however, you should not collect the registration transfer fee when transferring existing license plates to a newly purchased vehicle. Keep If the customer chooses to keep their li- cense plates for future use on another ve- hicle, you should return the license plates to the customer. The TxDMV eTAG systemprovides an easy and quickway for you to report that the license plates have been retained by the customer. Dispose If the customer does not choose to transfer or keep their license plates, you should deface and dispose of the license plates so they may not be used in a fraudulent manner. One way to deface the license plates is by drawing a large “X” on the face of each plate with indelible marker. After defacing the license plates, you dispose of the license plates by delivering the defaced plates to an aluminum recycling center. ReportingLicense Plates Removed The TxDMV eTAG system should be used to report whether the general issue license plates were transferred, kept, or disposed of. Using the Report Plates RemovedorVehicleTransferNotification functions in eTAG, you should report when the vehicle owner transferred or kept the general issue license plates. If the general issue license plateswere not trans- ferred or kept, you should report that the license plates were disposed of properly. If you have additional questions or would likemore information, please contact your local TxDMV Regional Service Center. Thank you for all you do in Helping Texans Go!  “Plate to Owner” Made Easy! 5 065Westheimer Road , Suite 1100 , Houston, TX 77056 www.cdi-douglass-pye.com William S. Pye, AIA, NCARB bsp@cdi-douglass-pye.com DOUGLASS  PYE, INC. Architecture  Interiors  Planning All your Automotive Architectural and Interior Needs