Is it just another one of those California things or is this now a common elsewhere? Never heard of it before but saw that a car that I was thinking about for a minute on Ebay had it listed in the information type block. I looked it up but it didn't make any sense, wondering what the straight scoop is on it?
It means the car isn't on the road, so it doesn't need emissions or a safety check. In some states, it also means that you don't have to pay any other fees - the car is just kinda on hold.
Curious. You can't just let the registration and insurance end, park the car in the garage or cover it with a tarp in the driveway and ignore it and have it be on hold that way? Out of sight out of mind, just sitting there hidden away, nobody's business but my own? It has to be actually "registered" in one way or another in certain states?
I've never run into this sort of thing before, thanks for the explanation.
In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent:
No. When the insurance drops most states pull the registration. Then there's back fees and taxes and a whole mess of crap to do to get the car back on the road.
With PNO, planned non operation, you pay $19/year, plate stays on the car, no(I'm fairly certain) insurance requirements, but definitely not allowed to drive it.
Great if you're storing the car, or its getting ready for major surgery and know it will be down a while.
California is partial to making the buyer pay back registration fees, so making it non opp saves the future buyer some headache.
Trying to find a car out there under 3 grand that DIDN'T have almost a grand in back registration fees tacked on was frustrating beyond belief.
My MG had been taken off the road but not put on non-op status in California before I bought it. I had to get affidavits that it had been stored on private property transported out of the state on a full trailer (not a dolly) and had not touched a tire to precious California asphalt before I could get the massive back registration fees waived. It was not a simple process.
...and then I got a parking ticket for it a few months later, the seller had parked it on the street overnight the day after they'd sold it to me 
Paid that one happily, because if anyone had connected the parking ticket to the lack of non-op status I would have had to pay alllllll those fees.
Colorado limits the back registration fees to $100 if you let registration lapse. But you have to pay the taxes, so having a car off the road for 10 years can be a very pricey thing when it comes time to renew registration. I think it's waived if the ownership is being transferred though. There's no way to avoid the taxes, no non-op status.
Basically the car isnt operational so the car is registered as such. While it's in no-op status it doesnt gain fee's like an expired registered car does. Some cars are simply put in that status because they're in storage or because current owner cant fix it yet and doesnt want to sell it.
Thanks for the whole scoop !
Around here, you just cancel the registration, drop the insurance and save the title. If you sell the car, over and done. If you decide that you want to put the car back on the road at some later date, you just do it. Pay for a new registration , plates, and insurance, the old title proves that the car is yours, and done. Put the new plates on it and drive away. No past fines for anything, no penalty for it sitting on the ground at your house, no problem if you flat tow it around.
Never heard of a non-op, would REALLY kinda feel taken advantage of if it were the law around here for sure.
Good to know though should I ever end up in California with car money. Gotta check around and see how many other states have this going on. Just curious now.
California gets a bit greedy with it. That's how I ended up with my Opel GT. Dad bought it from friend of the family to teach my sister engines. He never registered it or changed to title to his name. Stayed parked for years. Then he found out about non-op registration. I think it was $10 a year back then if you kept it current. In dads case, 10 years of back non-op at $100 a year plus cost of having to put smog equipment on it. Car came new without smog, was originally sold new in 1969 before the smog laws kicked in. All this was back in the late 80's early 90's so the 1970 Opel GT was just a used car then. Roughly $4000-5000 of fees & smog. Car wasn't worth the cost to register back then. He gave it to me when I was living in Tennessee. Sent me the paperwork and went out to Cali with current TN plates and title and towed it back. I just paid title & registration of about $35 if I remember right. Tennessee doesn't have non-op. Neither does Alabama where I live now.
As far as I know, NJ does not have it either.
California does whatever it can you squeeze money out of you for owning things in this state. I cannot wait to move out of here next month! I will miss it though.
I see a lot of cars on the Vegas Craigslist advertised from California. Because a Cali buyer would be buried up to their butt in non-op fees, they advertise them out-of-state.
Also, if a car registered as operational does not pass smog after being sold, it's the seller's legal responsibility to make repairs in order for the car to pass. IIRC, selling a car with a non-op registration excludes the seller from this responsibility.
Indiana has you pay 2 years taxes.
That whole concept is foreign to me. And stupid. I need to look into Texas and see if they have fines for not keeping a car registered. If so that might be the push I need to make me move back home. That's just stupid.
As mentioned it depends on the state. Like NJ, PA doesn't really care if you let current registration, insurance and inspection lapse as long as you don't drive it on the road. Especially insurance.
They don't Nick. The only thing they have is if you don't title the car within I think 60 days of the sale of the car then they fine you. They want their sales taxes.
Ian F wrote: As mentioned it depends on the state. Like NJ, PA doesn't really care if you let current registration, insurance and inspection lapse as long as you don't drive it on the road. Especially insurance.
in NJ, if you let the insurance lapse, they will yank the registration. That is as far as I know
Ian F wrote: As mentioned it depends on the state. Like NJ, PA doesn't really care if you let current registration, insurance and inspection lapse as long as you don't drive it on the road. Especially insurance.
Yes. PA has gotten on top of this one. They'll also suspend the registration for 90 days if the insurance drops so you can't even reregister it in a timely manner.
Then there's the different townships and their rules regarding vehicles without plates or with expired plates.
Apparently, there are some township employees whose main job is driving around looking for vehicles that don't move or have expired or no license plate. Then out comes the fine booklet and threats of impound of the vehicles.
California is the only place ive seen nonop, but honestly I'd kind of like the option. It wouldn't affect me where I live, but it would help a lot of people I know.
My Ghia was non-op (in CA) for over 15 years. There were no additional fees when re-registering it. There are NO year to year fees, they will just send you a note each year giving you an option to renew it. I don't know if it will eventually stop / drop off, but from my personal experience, it will take quite a long time.
If you lapse the registration, you will get fees when you re-register it or the car will eventually drop out of the system (in the past, I don't know if they still do) and you will get re-registration fees and paperwork.
Yes, it is a very useful (and very advisable) way to store a car.
Here in MA car insurance is required per state law. If it is not insured they want the plates back (registration). If your insurance lapses your plates are canceled and you get all kinds of nasty mail and fines if you dont respond. Plate attachment and uninsured vehicles is a big deal here in Ma and this is one way they use to help enforce that So you either keep it insured (state minimum) and pay the yearly registration fees or take it off the road cancel the insurance and return the plates. I guess you could return the plates and keep the insurance on it. I have never done that before.
We also have excise tax's collected by the town every year. I am not sure on how that works if it is not registered or insured as it is not being used on he roads and he excise tax's were originally supposed to be for road repair.
Wish that I didn't know what I know now, wish that I never stumbled over "non-op" and posted the question. The answer is just aggravating and really does seem like a simple punitive money grab on the part of California. I mean, if it wasn't, why would the state even care what's going on with cars sitting on private property, garaged, covered, or whatever.
As weird as can be that the state has any interest whatsoever in what's in my garage or driveway, for as long as I want to keep it there.
In simplest terms, around here, you just let the insurance and registration lapse, hand back the plates and done. Twenty years later you re-register the car, buy insurance, get sone plates and you're on your way or you sell it/give it to some kid to play with and he/she is on their way. No back fines, no nothing, no stinky little state fingers in anyone's pocket. Nobody driving around with a book or tickets, nobody in your life, nobody convincing you that handing over any money at all each year is the best way of storing a non-op vehicle, no nothing.
Your car, your land, your life, your business. Stick it out front and fill it with flowers and fruit trees. Don't like it, don't look at it.
Is this just regional or state wide? There are so many low income areas in that state, it seems unconscionable that someone keeping a car in their yard saving up the cash to have it fixed it or cover the cost of registration and insurance would be charged for the privilege of keeping the derelict there until they save up enough money to take care of things.
In reply to RevRico:
Why in the hell are the back fees though? That's the part I can't wrap my head around. Car sits behind or in a garage for ten years, why in the world would there be any kind of back fees associated with that? Is it a law in the land of the stupid that if you own a vehicle it has to be registered the entire time you own it? If so what the berkeley for and why hasn't the citizenry revolted? Because that's what they should do.
In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:
I honestly don't know. I just know from my looking for a vehicle, most of them came with back fees.
Like people just don't pay their registration renewal and that's it. Somehow the parking enforcement and CHP plate readers don't bust them for expired registration.
It got to the point I made a wanted ad saying "I have cash. I want any vehicle that had passed smog and owes no back fees" and still was getting "it only owes $200 in fees" before I got the call about the miata I bought.
I only had 2 vehicles in California, the miata someone responded to my wanted ad, and the Tahoe that was given to me as payment for a job, so my understanding of it is slim. I just know it's a thing and it's frustrating as a buyer with little money.
There's a lot of things that don't make sense in regards to vehicles in California. Like how there's smog but no safety inspection, and multiple kinds of smog testing at that. I've seen and done some sketchy repairs before, but there's a lot of downright dangerous vehicles driving around.
Some states charge property taxes every year on the value of the car just like they do for houses. I know SC does, CT used to, and I think CA does. In those states even if you don't drive it, owning it costs you $ every year.
But if you don't drive it, don't have it registered or insured, just HAVE it, how on earth is the state aware of this and why would they charge you anything at all just for simply owning it? Do they come bust into your garage and bag you for having a car in there? Sneak around back and check under the tarp for an automobile or motorcycle? I'm mystified by this.
Figure that a sales tax was paid at purchase, an excise tax paid each year that it was registered and insured, a gas tax to run it, a tax on the insurance, a tax on the registration and title, and now a "sitting around the yard" fee in California and elsewhere. I think that I'm wondering the same thing as Nick as far as a citizen revolt. Of course, California actually allows you to drive around in an uninsured vehicle, don't they, or has that madness finally stopped?
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