I always thought that license plates just had to be renewed by the end of the month on the tags -- October of 2016 if the tags shows 10-16, for example -- but I recently was told the renewal is on a specific day. Which is it?
We're all agreed that if you wait until November, you're likely to see flashing blue lights in your rear-view mirror.
But vehicle registrations do indeed expire on a certain day of the month shown on the plate's tags.
To find out when, you need to take a look at the vehicle registration card you keep in your glove box rather than your plates. My car's registration card, for example, says it expires on Sept. 27 (uh oh) of 2017 (phew).
The Oregon DMV will also send a notice to vehicle owners 45 to 75 days before tags expire with instructions on how to renew.
Police, by the way, also have access to the date your plates expire from their patrol cars, said David House, a spokesman for the Oregon DMV.
So if your plate tags how your registration is up in October of 2016, you have somewhere in between two and 32 days to get to the DMV or renew online.
New this year, the DMV will let you renew license plate registration online up to 75 days after it expires. While your new tags are in the mail, you can use your digital or printed receipt as proof of registration.
And if you're in the Portland area or the Rogue Valley and also need a DEQ emissions test, you can finish your renewal and get new plate tags at the inspection station.
Update: Dave Eagy writes:
A bit of trivia: I have a '62 Ford pickup with original Oregon plates. The license starts with an E on it. In those days, your tags expired on the month corresponding with the first letter on the plate. In my case it would be May.
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The DMV confirms. That lettering scheme continued until the 1970s, House said, when the state ran out of three-letter, three-number configurations starting with A through L.
Have a commuting question? Contact Elliot Njus at enjus@oregonian.com or on Twitter @enjus
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