We get asked for license and insurance, no registration.
this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2026
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Stickers can be forged. Checking your papers against a database is a lot more certain. The sticker is just there (or out of date) to justify pulling you over.
And it's common for vehicle thieves to swap plates on vehicles that they steal. They may want to check to match the registration and the plate.
Nah. The plate either matches the vehicle or it doesn't. Sure, you can steal one from a very similar car, but then that tag is in the db for being stolen. Not having that piece of paper is one more angle for getting probable cause to fuck with you, and deliver a ticket.
but then that tag is in the db for being stolen.
Not if you put the plates from the stolen car onto that car and that car's owner doesn't notice...
Most plates that are stolen are used right away, before they’re even called in.
Some cases they don't need your license either, they can see an image of your license by entering your name and birthdate into their cars computer.
Right. I would think all this was readily available from a police DB
In my state I’ve been asked for “registration” most of the times I have been pulled over but they have always meant my insurance verification. They have been able to pull up your plate registration in real time since the 80s at least and now it comes up automatically as they drive around because they have ALPRs on their dash.
In my state they can pull up your insurance too, they just don't.
Still possible to be asked where I am, but less so since the stickers have the plate number on them.
Jurisdiction protocol?
Do they? I haven't gotten a paper registration in a couple of years. It's a state by state thing though.
I know they sometimes ask if you're from a different state, and if their system is down in some places, but as more states do away with paper copies that's going to disappear. I suspect you're just in a location that hasn't gotten there yet.
I got pulled last month for some piddly shit, and all the cop asked for was licence
Hell, I caught a ticket for not carrying my registration on a canoe. They always fuck with me because they assume I'm running a trolling motor without registration, despite the perfectly legal numbers I put on the side.
"Your license. Where's your license?" "It's back there on the bumper, man!"
Upvote for the up in smoke reference.
why do they still ask for the registration paper?
In New Mexico you are required to sign the registration and keep it with the vehicle at all times.
in Texas i think it goes on the windshield? idk i never registered a car there
I should have said I'm in Florida. We get a sticker for the plate and a paper copy. I was pulled over for not giving a cop enough space on the side of a road while passing since I was merging over when I passed and got asked for All 3.
It is likely that the law requires you to show proof of registration, so he was just trying to catch you in a gatcha situation where you didn't have the paperwork that he knew existed. Like how you are required to carry your license with you even though they can just look it up to confirm you are licensed.
Sounds like cop is at fault.
Tell him to fuck off and stop endangering others.
In Georgia USA ive been pulled over 3 times in the last 10 years (forgot to turn my lights on, thought it was a turn lane when it wasnt, was a day late on renewing my tags). I've asked them if they wanted my registration and they always said no.
Half of people are saying they don't get asked for it, but for me it's been 100% of the time.
It depends on the state
They don't? The state removed the requirements to have your rego sticker on the left side of the windscreen because the police access to the registration database maintained by the department of main roads.
The state
Which state? It's different everywhere. Most still require you to put registration stickers (AKA tags) on your license plate.
I believe they were answering from the perspective of an Australian. The rest of the world gets the shits with the internet assuming an American perspective by default.
The one I live in, much like how op is talking about where they are.
Virginia still asks for a registration when you get pulled over. I've lived all over the US and been pulled over a lot and not one hasn't asked for a registration.
Never been asked for registration.
I watch bodycam vids. It still gets asked.
What's to stop one from throwing an illicitly acquired sticker on my plate?
In my state they put the license plate number on the sticker to discourage easily slapping a valid one on a different plate. If someone is forging that they can probably forge the registration paperwork.
the plate lookup they do anyways, where they get all the info digitally