GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Living in the wonderful state of North Carolina has multiple advantages over other states.... however car laws are not one of them. My plates have been taken (and yes, they physically take the plates, like when a parent takes a toy from a kid) for a month, and will give them back.....But why would they do this you ask, good question. I lived in Michigan my whole life until I joined the army, where I ended up here. About 6 months ago, I started working in Washington DC, and money was tight with all the travelling, so I had to switch insurance companies to save money. Well, since my last policy I paid for the 6 months I just waited until it expired. a few days later I started my new insurance. Well, that lapse of 3 days (which I didn't even drive the Vibe in that time), N Carolina send a notice to my old adrress saying I had to pay a fine for having no insurance. I never got that letter (I had 10 days to pay it anyway). After that they cancelled my license.... and I had NO CLUE. So for the last 6 months I have been driving my Vibe illigally. I learned all this the other day when I went to renew my registration.... where they went out and TOOK MY LICENSE PLATE!!!!!.... in 30 days I can go back in and reregister my car and pay the $250 in fines.So I am sorry all you Florida meet people.... I will have to wait until next time to meet you all.....EDIT: read new posts

That sucksMaryland has laws like that too.

holy crap! I can't believe they can do stupid stuff like that Why don't you just bring your dad's Firebird?

that sucks, vibeless for a whole month

I've been vibeless for a week and a half... I can't imagine going a whole month

Yeah, I can see where as it's a good law that if you don't have insurance, they won't let you drive..... but I only went 3 days, and I wasn't driving, I just didn't get it in time.... Like I said, I like Michigan, they don't care about insurance.... unless you get pulled over or in an wreck without it. And I could even live paying a fine.... but I have proof I had insurance, but they still won't let me register a car for 30days. The only way around it is if the wife registers it in her name, but I have to have the insurance switched to her name too.... it's a pain.I am calling and setting up a court date today to plead the case, and show I had insurance I just didn't know the laws, and see what they say..... Worste case scenario, they say no, and I pay my fines and wait anyway.....And I am still trying to find a way down.... but cause of the fines, I don't have the money now. $250 in fines, gas money to drive to Raleigh for court, and any other fees that will probably pop up during the "re-regestering" of the vibe.

yea being without the vibe sucks hard. trust me i know first hand when mine went swimming in a puddle. i was with my car for 3 and a half weeks.

i totally thought this thread was going to be related to this one, which was immediately below it when i logged in...

LOL, I admit, I am not the smartest person sometimes.... but the vibe is still mechanically perfect. And it really upsets me cause I just finished redoing the brakes, and now I can't drive it.... oh well, this gives me a month to work on it, right? Time to get working.

that really does suck man. as someone who moves every year or every other year, i can definitely sympathize with mail not showing up when it should.

And that's all it boils down too, if I would have gotten that letter, I would have sent in my fine, and life would have moved on without this pain.... but cause I went so long is the reason they are holding the plate.I think over all, I know I was wrong to let my insurance lapse, and understand being punished, and that they are only trying to protect people from uninsured mototrist.... but I feel like I am 16 again and my parents are holding my car keys over my head saying "You didn't finish your chores.... no car for you"

What a bummer! Hope all works out well for you. We will miss you at the FL Meet.

What happens in NC if you are military, get deployed, and you are gone for a year so you dont pay for insurance on a car you cant drive? Do you get fined when you get back? The law that got you is stupid to say the least. If you get caught driving without insurance, then you get what you deserve. But if you choose to stop driving for a period of time because you are short of cash you have to jump through hoops to keep your car registered.....that's just wrong.

Yeah, I agree. Like I said, I wouldn't complain at all if I did wrong and was caught, but I never feel that I did wrong. I wasn't friving, and it wasn't a long period of time, it was a few days, basically just the time it took for the paperwork to go through.I don't know about the millitary thing. I will have to check. I have enough friend in the millitary I can ask. But I think 90% of them just register thier car from where they came from, not in N Carolina.

OK, It was a long hard month, but after paying my fines, being told I was bad, and going to bed without dinner (not really, but I maight as well ahve with how much NC treats me like a kid), I got the Vibe back. I took a day off work, and drove around town all day. Got it's oil Changed, full tank of gas, bath, and let it strech it's legs.... Man it feels good to not be driving the Lancer any more, and the wife is glad to have her car back too, lol.Thanks to all you Vibers for the moral support in my time of need. I couldn't have made it through this tough time in my life without you all.~Vibr8tr and the Alien Bug (long story)

Just don't do anything else to tick of the D.O.T.

Im glad you got your vibe back.... no you will definitely make it to the vb meet with the vibe

[QUOTE=Vibr8tr].... Man it feels good to not be driving the Lancer any more, and the wife is glad to have her car back too, lol.QUOTE]I heard that!! (My username isn't from a car, though. It's more from my old rank in the USMC. )

Yeah, there wasn't any problem with the insurance, it was my lack of undersanding the laws of NC. The insurance did what they were suppost to, the one I cancelled sent me a refund, and sent a letter to the DOT stating I had cancelled, and the new one sent a letter stating I got insurance. It was that few days laps. And I have since then updated my adrress, but I guess it wasn't forwardable, cuase I put in one of those "Change of Adrress" things to both the post office, AND to the apartment people.... I guess they just never forwarded it.What I don't get, is how NC canceled my registration in like SEPT or soemthing, and I still drove for almost 5 months, got pulled over twice (once gettign a ticket for speeding), changed my adrress, and got the state inspection.... and no one bothered to tell me along the way "Hey, you have no registration on this car, it's been cancelled".... Do cops, and DMV guys just not look this stuff up when they do anything? Oh well, it's all in the past, and the lesson was learned.

good to hear Vibr8tr

Vibr8tr. Now that you have your Vibe back, are you coming to the Virginia Beach meet?

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »Vibr8tr. Now that you have your Vibe back, are you coming to the Virginia Beach meet?No, he's gotta come to the Florida meet first

Children, children, there is enough of me to go around... lolI am not 100% on the VB one, but I am 99.99999999% sure on the FL one (I was 100% sure on the last one and we see how that turned out, lol)

Oh sure, go hang out with the Florida chick. I see how it is. Looks like I'm going to have to make a phone call to N.C. DMV

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »Oh sure, go hang out with the Florida chick. I see how it is. Looks like I'm going to have to make a phone call to N.C. DMV See how evil he is, we Florida Vibers are nothing like that, ...............Watch it K-Nine, I'll come up there and put sugar in your tires and slash your gas tank