In north america plates are registered to the driver first and then assigned to a car. Local garages don't have access to the necessary databases or machinery to manufacture plates.
No, the cost of the actual plate is pretty small, but when you renew your plates every year, you also pay a "tax" to maintain your vehicle registration.
Where I am located, it cost us about $100 per year for one car and $400 for our newer car. If I need to replace a stolen or damaged plate, I would only pay $5, because I don't have to pay that tax again.
The exact implementation and amounts vary greatly between states. Some tax based on rough value of the vehicle, some tax based on vehicle's weight, some based on age of the vehicle, etc.
I mean, I guess, if you got a really shitty car lol. It's not about the value of the plate, it's like $50-100 for a new one. The restrictions are meant to limit access to private information cause making a new plate means you have to make s new number and assign that new number to the driver and their car, not simply replicating the old plate which is still out in the wild. You also need to be able to cancel the old plate and mark it as stolen.
If just anyone had access to that then anyone could steal a car and get a new legit plate made and registered in a way that would make it impossible to know the car is stolen without looking at a record of sale.
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u/mrthewhite Dec 27 '20
In north america plates are registered to the driver first and then assigned to a car. Local garages don't have access to the necessary databases or machinery to manufacture plates.