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MOA NY license plates

dovfrankel

New member
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Did you read the part about the minimum number of plates to be considered before NYS will issue a special interest plate? Not sure the MOA would qualify. Given the "frugal" nature of many BMW riders, not just MOA riders, you may be one of the few with the plate. :dunno

Friedle
 
Yeah, I did see that. Is 200 members really that many? Not sure how many other New Yorkers there are in MOA. I figured if the Harley guys could do it, then we could :)
 
I used to run custom plates until New York decided that instead of paying once, you could pay extra every year to retain the plate.
They gouge me in too many other ways to bother with that.
 
I used to run custom plates until New York decided that instead of paying once, you could pay extra every year to retain the plate.
They gouge me in too many other ways to bother with that.

I agree, that is annoying, but they also switched everyone onto the ugly gold colored plates, leaving the custom ones as the only reasonable-looking options.
 
What would be the best way to poll NY members to gauge interest? If we could safely say there would be 200 members who would switch to them in the next two years, then would it be doable (if, say more than 250 people commit)? What about a quick post in the monthly ON magazine?
 
What would be the best way to poll NY members to gauge interest? If we could safely say there would be 200 members who would switch to them in the next two years, then would it be doable (if, say more than 250 people commit)? What about a quick post in the monthly ON magazine?

The MOA won't release a membership list, but at a cost they will (or at least used to be willing to) send a mailing on behalf of a legitimate request. When we were trying to start a club we had the MOA send letters to a handful of zipcodes. Probably the costs will outweigh the benefit but at least you could email or telephone Bob Aldrich and inquire.
 
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What would be the best way to poll NY members to gauge interest? If we could safely say there would be 200 members who would switch to them in the next two years, then would it be doable (if, say more than 250 people commit)? What about a quick post in the monthly ON magazine?

A number of years ago I surveyed the NY Airheads when these vanity plates were first available. Less than 20 people said they were willing to incur the extra cost each year to the already expensive annual registration fee. BTW, are you a member of the Airheads Beemer Club? www.airheads.org

Friedle
ABC Board of Directors
Poughkeepsie, NY
 
Several years ago, I coordinated this effort for the MD folks in BMWBMW (Bikers of Metro Washington (DC)). Minimum for MD was 25, and it took forever to get 25 signed up for the initial batch. I think we may now be up to about 45 issued plates.
Whoever leads the effort needs to be prepared for a possible long process for the initial work. You need an ongoing 'ambassador' willing to coordinate new signups as well. Not a ton of effort, but ongoing.
 
Sure, but you were surveying Airheads. :wave

Yep, I admitted that up front. What are you saying Paul, that Airheads are cheaper than the other BMW riders???? :) I would suggest that they were a good test case for the feasibility of pursuing the idea. Look at the experience in MD where they only needed 25 respondents, not a minimum of 200 like in NY.

Just curious, do they have vanity MOA (or any organization ) plates in TX? Okay, let's cast a wider net. Do ANY other states have a MOA vanity plate?

Friedle
 
Yep, I admitted that up front. What are you saying Paul, that Airheads are cheaper than the other BMW riders???? :) I would suggest that they were a good test case for the feasibility of pursuing the idea. Look at the experience in MD where they only needed 25 respondents, not a minimum of 200 like in NY.

Just curious, do they have vanity MOA (or any organization ) plates in TX? Okay, let's cast a wider net. Do ANY other states have a MOA vanity plate?

Friedle

Not in Texas that I know of. Texas Longhorns, Clemson Tigers, Dallas Cowboys, etc. I have seen. Not BMW MOA.
 
Airheads

Yep, I admitted that up front. What are you saying Paul, that Airheads are cheaper than the other BMW riders???? :) I would suggest that they were a good test case for the feasibility of pursuing the idea. Look at the experience in MD where they only needed 25 respondents, not a minimum of 200 like in NY.

Just curious, do they have vanity MOA (or any organization ) plates in TX? Okay, let's cast a wider net. Do ANY other states have a MOA vanity plate?

Friedle

Airheads cheap I will poll some of the ones I know after they stop crying about the $5 membership increase and ask them if they are frugal spenders
 
A thought on costs: My RTW annual NY registration is $17.50 which is cheap - slightly more than a decent lunch out during my work day. AFAIK NY DMV charges a $45.00 additional annual fee for a vanity plate. I think that is where the reluctance will come in. If there is some better information on the DMV charges please post it up. Also, an additional thought, will the MOA give a license to use the logo on a vanity plate? Are plates restricted to members? (I would think not as the vanity plate is really a paid advertisement of the MOA funded by the plate purchaser) If it is limited to members what happens if someone lets their membership lapse? Just a few thoughts. Interested personally.
 
Montana has near 100 specialty plates available, but not for motorcycles. On the upside, motorcycle registraions are permanent. Do it once for around $60, most of which is a county fee, and you are registered for as long as you own the bike.
 
Montana has near 100 specialty plates available, but not for motorcycles. On the upside, motorcycle registraions are permanent. Do it once for around $60, most of which is a county fee, and you are registered for as long as you own the bike.

Boy, that would help our yearly budget on license renewals:violin
 
Boy, that would help our yearly budget on license renewals:violin

The same rule applies to RVs and trailers. There are companies that facilitate out of state people registering their RVs here. Cars and pick-ups have an annual fee that is fairly stiff.
 
I pay about $70 a year per bike. But I pay no state income tax. And property taxes are comparable per $100K to other states I have lived. Ditto the sales tax.

You have to take the whole picture: income tax, sales tax, property tax, vehicle tax (registration), etc to decide the economics of your choice where to live. One measure is not sufficient. Kids in college getting their Doctorate degrees based their dissertations on this topic. I am not persuaded by a tweet or forum post on these issues. YMMV
 
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Kansas is recalling 371 car licenses because the six digit numbers include three numbers and the the three letters JAP. This is considered a pejorative racial slur by a San Francisco resident who saw such a Kansas license plate and complained.
 
Kansas is recalling 371 car licenses because the six digit numbers include three numbers and the the three letters JAP. This is considered a pejorative racial slur by a San Francisco resident who saw such a Kansas license plate and complained.

I read about this. There are many other letter combinations that fall into this category. I see it as a failure of Kansas to just say “it’s just a random number- nothing personal” and move along. :wave

It reminds me of a magazine cartoon from long ago. A woman had called the police because she saw a man showering without closing the blind. When the police arrived they asked “where this naked man was”. She responded “over there in that apartment” and pointed.
The police responded “that apartment is a quarter mile away”. The woman responded “here, you have to uses these”........and handed the police a pair of binoculars.
OM
 
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