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Anyone have them yet?

We bought a new car a few weeks ago and are waiting for the plates to come in. So I may be getting them.

The plates are good for seven years, and then you are required to obtain a new set of plates from your local county tax office. Mandatory replacement is necessary because at seven years the reflectivity of the license plate sheeting begins to diminish.

Great......now we will have to physically go to the County Tax Office every 7 years to get new plates........another great idea for the Govt to get more money from us and waste more of our time.

I'm thinking about buying a horse and eliminating all this gasoline, insurance, plates, registration, inspections, etc...... Would of course only work for peeps like me who live in the Country.

My travels would even be shorter as I would not be limited to roads!

SQLGeek wrote:We bought a new car a few weeks ago and are waiting for the plates to come in. So I may be getting them.

I got mine two weeks after buying a new car. I even got one for the front. They're nothing special IMO.

AEA wrote:I'm thinking about buying a horse and eliminating all this gasoline, insurance, plates, registration, inspections, etc...... Would of course only work for peeps like me who live in the Country.

My travels would even be shorter as I would not be limited to roads!

Unfortunately they don't make a model with A/C.

Speaking of License plates, do y'all know rhat Montana residents can pay an additional $6 when they buy their license plates and that gives them unlimited Day Use at all Montana State Parks? Such a deal, eh?

AEA wrote:Great......now we will have to physically go to the County Tax Office every 7 years to get new plates........another great idea for the Govt to get more money from us and waste more of our time.

It's been that way for a while now. Last year I was required to get new plates for my 2004 pickup. The stated reason is that the reflective properties wear out over time.

I decided to just go ahead and get the USAF plates.

If you do the registration online, I'm pretty sure they will still mail you the new plates. Even though I went into the tax office, they still had to mail me my new USAF plates.

Oldgringo wrote:Speaking of License plates, do y'all know rhat Montana residents can pay an additional $6 when they buy their license plates and that gives them unlimited Day Use at all Montana State Parks? Such a deal, eh?

Great Deal.

AEA wrote:

The plates are good for seven years, and then you are required to obtain a new set of plates from your local county tax office. Mandatory replacement is necessary because at seven years the reflectivity of the license plate sheeting begins to diminish.

Great......now we will have to physically go to the County Tax Office every 7 years to get new plates........another great idea for the Govt to get more money from us and waste more of our time.

I'm thinking about buying a horse and eliminating all this gasoline, insurance, plates, registration, inspections, etc...... Would of course only work for peeps like me who live in the Country.

My travels would even be shorter as I would not be limited to roads!

Initial cost for the car would be more, but ... you also must have the land where you can have a horse and some kind of shelter for it.

gasoline = hay and oats (might be less than gas, but you still gotta feed the horse even if you don't ride it)
insurance = saddle and reigns
registration = payments/taxes on land where horse lives (greater than vehicle registration)
plates = tattoo or microchip (definitely cheaper than plates that are included with registration)
inspection = veterinary (more than a vehicle inspection)

Ya got me.....kinda.....
The only thing in your list that does not go directly to the Horse is the property taxes which I have to pay regardless.

The other items are directly related to the horse's well being/use and are not yearly (possibly more frequent). But I would rather pay those directly for the horse's well being/use than to pay to some tax authority to be wasted.

C-dub wrote:

AEA wrote:

The plates are good for seven years, and then you are required to obtain a new set of plates from your local county tax office. Mandatory replacement is necessary because at seven years the reflectivity of the license plate sheeting begins to diminish.

Great......now we will have to physically go to the County Tax Office every 7 years to get new plates........another great idea for the Govt to get more money from us and waste more of our time.

I'm thinking about buying a horse and eliminating all this gasoline, insurance, plates, registration, inspections, etc...... Would of course only work for peeps like me who live in the Country.

My travels would even be shorter as I would not be limited to roads!

Initial cost for the car would be more, but ... you also must have the land where you can have a horse and some kind of shelter for it.

gasoline = hay and oats (might be less than gas, but you still gotta feed the horse even if you don't ride it)
insurance = saddle and reigns
registration = payments/taxes on land where horse lives (greater than vehicle registration)
plates = tattoo or microchip (definitely cheaper than plates that are included with registration)
inspection = veterinary (more than a vehicle inspection)

Many people own horses for fun. Most people own cars out of neccesity.

But back to Alan's premise. Why don't you need a THL (Texas Horse License] to own and drive a horse? Do you have to register your horse? What about insurance? Do you get a multi-horse discount? Does the insurance rate depend on the "horse power" of your vehicle?

Do you need a safety check? Inspection for enough tread on the horseshoes? How would you check the emission standards? The rear license plate on the horse, would need frequent cleaning.

AEA wrote:Ya got me.....kinda.....
The only thing in your list that does not go directly to the Horse is the property taxes which I have to pay regardless.

The other items are directly related to the horse's well being/use and are not yearly (possibly more frequent). But I would rather pay those directly for the horse's well being/use than to pay to some tax authority to be wasted.

The list was all in jest, but to point out that even though something might seem cheaper when you dig deeper it might not. Yes, you must still pay property tax, but it might not be as much where you currently live (if in a smaller place) than if you had to buy a larger place that you could keep a horse on.

This is all similar to the cost of owning a motorcycle. I haven't really done the numbers to know for sure, but most people think you save a lot of money riding a motorcycle because of the gas mileage. Cars are approaching the average MPG of many bikes and some are as good. I bought protective clothing to ride safely and had to replace it every few years from wear. No special clothing requirements for a car or truck. Tires were more expensive and had to be replaced more frequently. Replacing the rear tire on my bike cost about $350 out the door. Front tire was about $100 less, but both needed replacing after only about 10k-12k miles as opposed to 40k-50k. Plus, you almost have to have a garage for a bike. I did not when I was younger and it was stolen. Now, I would not own a motorcycle if I couldn't put it inside a garage.

WildBill wrote: How would you check the emission standards?

The dems have already proposed taxing that I think.

I have the new plates, well ... plate, on my truck and don't care one way or the other.

WildBill wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Speaking of License plates, do y'all know rhat Montana residents can pay an additional $6 when they buy their license plates and that gives them unlimited Day Use at all Montana State Parks? Such a deal, eh?

Great Deal.

We, and probably many others, would make geater use of our TEXAS parks if the daily entrance fees weren't so high. Oh, did I mention exorbitant Texas fees?

Oldgringo wrote:

WildBill wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Speaking of License plates, do y'all know rhat Montana residents can pay an additional $6 when they buy their license plates and that gives them unlimited Day Use at all Montana State Parks? Such a deal, eh?

Great Deal.

We, and probably many others, would make geater use of out TEXAS parks if the daily entrance fees weren't so high. Oh, did I mention exorbitant Texas fees?

Or if we could carry in more of them since many are COE.