From: whs70@dancer.uucp (22501-sohl)
Subject: Antique plates & Insurance, was...Re: Get rid of old cars...
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 92 14:31:29 GMT

In article <1992Oct8.130951.18967@Princeton.EDU> farber@triumph.Princeton.EDU (Henry S. Farber) writes:
> damong@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Damon Francis Gentile) writes:
>
>        I have a 74 Fiat and I'm eagerly awaiting the day that
>        I can register it with the state of Massachusetts as
>        an antique.
>        .... but I will drive
>        it every damn day if I like and will pay absolutely no
>        attention to such weinie things as mileage limitations
>        on my antique car that I went through the agony of
>        restoring myself........

>This is all well and good, but, having had an antique registered in
>Massachusetts for a number of years (1960 Triumph TR3A), I can tell you
>that there are serious restrictions on driving a car with antique
>plates.  You essentially are only allowed to drive the car to and from
>parades and car events. 

In the strictest sense, that's true, but in practice things (at least
here in New Jersey) are much looser.  I've driven my TR-3A with
antique plates at all hours of the day and on every different day of
the week and never even encountered a second glance from a cop.  What
I definetly do NOT do is drive the car EVERY day and almost never
to work.  Bottom line is if you are reasonable, you shouldn't incurr any
more than a curious look from a cop admiring the car.  There are any number
of reasonable reasons you might be driving a car with antique plates on
it other than to a parade or club event:  test driving the car after making
repairs, taking it somewhere to have repairs made, estimated, etc.
taking it to another club member's home for a club gathering, etc.

Having said all this, if the Fial owner goes ahead and registers
the car as an antique AND then "drive(s) it every damn day" then I too
would hope that he is somehow taken to task for that, as the real
purpose and intent of the antique plates is then being abused.  That
would only hurt all antique car owners.

> This is why the insurance is low.  Now, I am
>not going to tell you that I never just went for a spin, but if you do
>have an accident commuting to work, I suspect that your insurance
>company may refuse to pay.

That's also true, which is why I never routinely commute to work with the car,
BUT I have driven it to work once or twice.  As above, that could be because
I was taking it to another club member's home after work, etc.

>  In addition, I think you may also be exposed
>to a ticket if you are stopped without having a "valid" destination. 
>This never happened to me, but you should be aware of the chance you
>will be taking.

The cops would have a tough time making such a ticket stick (unless they
have observed the car repeatedly over many days).  When I drive my
TR-3 I don't carry any "proof of a valid destination" so anything I
tell the cop would have to either be accepted as valid or, if the
cop was a hard ass and gave me a ticket anyway, that would give me
plenty of time to establish a valid destination that should satisfy
any judge, again assuming th car has not been observed being truly
used on a daily basis.

As to the mileage restrictions.  As far as I know, the state has no such
restriction.  The mileage restrictions are usually a part of the insurance
coverage stipulations and are generally in the area of 2500 miles per
year.  I've had my TR-3A for 6 years and have only added a total
of 9000 miles in that time (that includes a 2000 mile round trip in 1992
to the national Vintage Triumph Register convention).  That nets out
to only about 1500 miles per year on average.  Additionally, the
specialty antique insurers will almost always waive the 2500 mile
limit in a year when you might exceed that because of a trip like
going to the VTR convention.  They do, however, require prior 
notification as far as I can recall.

Hope this all helps bring some perspective to the subject.

Standard Disclaimer- Any opinions, etc. are mine and NOT my employer's.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note - If email replying to me with an automatic addressing process
bounces, manually address the resend using one of the addresses below.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Sohl (K2UNK) BELLCORE (Bell Communications Research, Inc.)
Morristown, NJ             email via UUCP      bcr!dancer!whs70
201-829-2879 Weekdays      email via Internet  whs70@dancer.cc.bellcore.com