The number of passenger vehicles registered in Maine but owned by out-of-country residents has more than doubled in five years.

The sharp increase – from 7,483 in 2014 to xvi,589 this year – has contributed an actress $250,000 to the land of Maine.

The reason this is happening is elementary: Maine'due south vehicle registration fee of $35 is among the cheapest in the country. And it's among the few states that permit nonresidents to obtain plates, no questions asked.

Merely the situation has caused headaches for some other states, which are losing revenue to Maine. Some out-of-staters are violating their own country laws by registering their vehicles in Maine, which has no residency requirements for registrations.

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said he periodically hears from officials in other states about this but said it'due south non Maine's trouble.

"It's not up to the land to choose people from out of land and keep them from giving united states their money," he said.

Paul Grimaldi, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles, sees it a trivial differently. He said Maine is all simply encouraging out-of-land residents to suspension the laws of their dwelling house states, something that he's seeing more often in Rhode Island.

"I do think the land could exercise more to prevent this," Grimaldi said.

Maine's registration police force, created two decades ago, was lax past design, intended to accommodate both seasonal residents and businesses. It has turned into a lucrative source of revenue for Maine, specially for commercial trailer registrations. Trucks that travel across interstate lines can register anywhere, and many choose Maine. Acquirement from long-term trailer registrations has most doubled in the past decade, from $7.5 million in 2009 to $13.2 million last year.

But the aforementioned law that permits trucking companies to register vehicles here also allows others to register their vehicle with Maine plates, whether they really take a legitimate necktie to Maine or not.

States have diverse means of setting registration fees. Some have flat fees. Others calculate the fee based on a vehicle's value, age or weight. No matter how you calculate it, it's hard to beat Maine's $35 flat fee.

In Connecticut, which has the fourth-highest number of Maine license plates, ane,457, the registration fee is $80. Ernie Bertothy, spokesman for Connecticut's Department of Motor Vehicles, said he believes the low fee is a reason Connecticut residents annals cars in Maine, merely he also said the DMV in that location volition not event registrations to anyone who owes property taxes. Rather than pay dorsum taxes, some just annals in Maine.

In some states, emissions are tested as part of an annual inspection, then car owners may endeavor to avoid the inspections by getting plates from Maine, which doesn't test. The same may become for personal trailers, which aren't inspected here and don't need titles.

The registration fee in Rhode Isle ranges from $30 to $48, depending on vehicle weight, then the savings appear to be negligible. That suggests Ocean Country residents are registering cars hither for unlike reasons. Merely Grimaldi, the acquirement department spokesman, said public rubber officials are increasingly dealing with a loftier number of cars, 446, driven by locals with Maine plates. That's a violation of Rhode Island law, which requires residents to register their vehicles locally, within xxx days of moving at that place.

Most every state has the aforementioned requirement, although the length of time to comply varies. The problem surfaces mostly when public rubber officials want to send a parking ticket or price violation and the plate isn't registered to a local address.

The state with the highest number of nonresident vehicles registered in Maine is an unexpected one: Oklahoma. Co-ordinate to state data for all agile registrations, in that location are 4,658 Maine plates in Oklahoma, more than twice the next-closest land, Massachusetts.

The high full is driven near entirely by one company, EAN Holdings, which operates the Enterprise, Alamo and National car rental brands and puts Maine license plates on its rental fleets. A company spokeswoman said the number of Maine plates issued to Oklahoma vehicles more or less matches the number of rental vehicles that originate in Maine.

Laura Bryant also said the company tries to register vehicles in the state where they are probable to be driven most just in the instance of Maine, there are savings. Standard vehicle registration in Oklahoma is $85 for a automobile that is four years old or newer. In Maine, it'southward $35. For a fleet of 500 cars, it costs $25,000 less to annals in Maine. Added to which, a company tin can do business with Maine's motor vehicle department in majority, all without having to go out the role.

"We're a cheap date," said Dunlap, the Maine secretary of state.

The out-of-state registrations are done by third-party agents, or companies that specialize in the service. Most of them marketplace to trucking companies and other businesses that deal in interstate commerce, but they besides offer passenger vehicle registration.

Thirteen of these agents do concern in Maine. Calls to several of the agents were not returned over a period of three weeks.

One of the biggest agencies, according to the state, is the Staab Agency, located in a sparsely populated area of midcoast Maine about Damariscotta Lake State Park. Multiple attempts to speak with its possessor, Shirley St. Pierre, including an in-person visit, were unsuccessful. (St. Pierre was convicted a decade agone of tax evasion and obstructing the Internal Acquirement Service for not paying taxes on income from the company and and so for falsifying documents to conceal her failure to pay taxes.)

Ane agent, the Maine Motor Transport Association, which also lobbies for the trucking industry, only does trailer registrations.

"Information technology's a keen business for us and for the state, and our customers certainly similar the ease of doing business here," said Brian Parke, MMTA'south president and CEO.

The thought that a country might create a police to encourage niche business is not unusual. Delaware has become the corporation capital of the world because of the ease and low cost of setting up a corporation there. Rhode Isle is well known for enticing boat owners to register their vessels in that location.

In Maine, the trucking industry has taken reward of trailer registrations. Motorists traveling upwards and down the East Coast, or even beyond, may notice a asymmetric number of long-haul trailers with Maine license plates.

Maine Secretarial assistant of State Matt Dunlap acknowledges that many out-of-staters are registering their vehicles here to save money, but that, he says, isn't Maine's problem. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file photograph

Each 3rd-political party registration amanuensis warns that although Maine law allows out-of-land registration, consumers demand to follow the laws of their ain state. Just the agents don't police that, nor does the Maine Secretary of Country'southward Office.

Dunlap said he understands the frustration of other states, merely Maine simply can't monitor whether people from elsewhere are properly registering their vehicles.

Similarly, officials in other states say they tin can't track down every improperly registered vehicle. Watching license plates is not a priority for police. And if a commuter's insurance policy or license accost doesn't match the plates, owners aren't ticketed.

In 2013, the News Journal of Wilmington in Delaware reported that drivers who owed the most in unpaid tolls and penalties were from Maine. But only the license plates were from Maine – the drivers overwhelmingly lived in Delaware.

Some would argue that Maine is looking the other manner while people use the state to violate their own state'south laws.

Dunlap doesn't view it that way. He said Maine loses out in other ways. For years, the state has dealt with Maine residents who live almost the New Hampshire border registering their vehicles in New Hampshire to avoid excise taxes. Excise taxes are separate from registration fees and are paid to the municipality where the vehicle is garaged. New Hampshire'south excise tax rate is as much equally 33 percent lower than Maine's, so residents claim a New Hampshire address, sometimes even going so far as to get a postal service office box.

Dunlap said Maine doesn't have the resources to go later on potential violators who might be registering in New Hampshire.

"Information technology's a thorn in our side the same way Maine registrations are a thorn in other states' sides," he said.

Use the class below to reset your countersign. When you've submitted your business relationship e-mail, we will send an e-mail with a reset code.

« Previous

Next »