So when I purchased my 1983 Bonneville wagon many years ago- the dead owner's son signed the title "power of attorney for" and that voided the title. Because of that it took me six months to get everything squared away with NY State DMV. They wanted me to dig him up so he could request a new title. Now, after years of normal use, I find I use the wagon only for towing a boat or transporting big stuff like air conditioners or plywood. When you have a wagon everyone needs you to haul something! So I decided to get collector car insurance on it and use vintage license plates. Hagerty issued the insurance and they even were cool about towing the boat a couple of times a year. I had some vintage plates on my '77 TA that I was parting out so I figured I would just swap them onto the wagon. I called up the Title Bureau in Albany to ask how to get the plates swapped over. The website said they needed to be put "in storage". I asked why turn them in when I just would swap them right onto the other car.They told me not to turn them in. Just wait for the paperwork to process and then use them. So I went ahead and cancelled the insurance after the TA body was gone and I sent off the paperwork to register the wagon with the vintage plates. After several weeks passed I got a letter saying my registration on those plates was suspended because I cancelled insurance without turning them in. HUH?!? I also got all my paperwork back- denied- because the plates were suspended. I ran to a DMV office the next day and asked what went wrong. The lady said I was supposed to put the plates "in storage" after cancelling insurance. I told her the Title Bureau said NOT to turn them in. She said, right, if I turned them in they would be destroyed. HUH?!? So I asked her to explain and she told me to hand over the plates, which I did. She took the plates- entered the plate number into the computer- and handed them back to me. Now they were in "storage". You could have knocked me over with a feather. They are "in storage" in the computer, but not physically in "storage". But if I had "turned them in"- they would have been destroyed. OK. So my punishment was 22 days suspension for the 22 days the plates were not put "in storage". When that passed I resubmitted all the paperwork to register the wagon with the vintage plates. That was three weeks ago. And I wait. Again.
