What California Law Says A Car Has To Be Registered

4000a1 VC – What to do if you get a vehicle registration ticket in California

Vehicle Code 4000a1 VC is the California statute that makes it illegal for a person to drive a vehicle without proof of valid registration. A violation of this code section is an infraction that tin can pb to a fine. Officers will sometimes write this section equally CVC 4000a.

4000a1 VC states that "a person shall non drive, move, or get out continuing upon a highway, or in an off-street public parking facility, whatever motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer…unless it is registered and the advisable fees have been paid…".

A violation of this statute is charged every bit an infraction. This is opposed to a California misdemeanor or a felony. An offender is punished with a ticket and must pay a fine in the amount of $280 plus court costs.

Note, however, that these tickets are usually correctable "fix-it tickets." This ways that an offender will exist excused of an criminal offense if he/she properly registers his/her car after a ticket is issued.

The police can charge a person with this law-breaking even if he or she was not driving the auto. Even parked cars in an "off-street public parking facility" are subject to these laws.

Our California criminal defense attorneys will explicate the following in this article:

California license plate with no vehicle registration stickers - a violation of 4000a1 VC

A California License Plate missing registration tags

1. When are registration tags required?

Vehicle Code 4000a1 VC says that a person must register his/her vehicle with the DMV if he or she:

drives it,
moves it, or
parks information technology in an off-street public parking facility.^ane

An "off-street public parking facility" ways either of the following:

any publicly owned parking facility, or
any privately endemic parking facility that charges no fee for cars to park.²

"Registration" means that a person provides evidence that he/she has paid the registration taxation and fees on a motor vehicle. This evidence consists of:

a metallic license plate,
a validation decal, and
a registration certificate.

Annotation that in the case of a parked vehicle that does not testify proper registration:

the government cannot tow and impound it,
unless they try to contact the owner and inform that information technology is not registered.³

2. What are the consequences of a VC 4000a1 ticket?

A violation of this statute is charged as an infraction. The offender receives a ticket and must pay a fine in the amount of $280. But courts can add penalty assessments that brand the net toll of the fine several times greater.

Note, however, that police usually do not accuse a person of this offense on its own. This means that regime volition charge a driver with a VC 4000a1 violation typically only afterwards a traffic stop for some other violation.

Case: Jose drives a Hyundai Elantra. The registration tags on the vehicle are outdated. A police officer, parked and monitoring motorists for speeding, sees the tags as Jose drives past but does not cease him for it. Jose was driving under the speed limit.

But the same officer observes Kelly driving l-mph in a 30-mph speeding zone. He stops her, and upon walking to the driver'southward door, notices that her registration tags have expired. He charges Kelly with both:

a speeding violation, and

a violation of VC 4000a1.

officer issuing fix it ticket for expired registration tags

A violation of Vehicle Code 4000a1 is nearly oftentimes a "fix-it ticket."

iii. Is it just a set-it ticket?

A violation of Vehicle Lawmaking 4000a1 is well-nigh often a correctable "gear up-information technology ticket."

This ways that if the police force ticket a person for driving an unregistered vehicle, then:

the court volition probable dismiss the charge, provided that,
the driver fixes the consequence and shows proof that he/she registered the automobile after the ticket.

Note, though, that the court will probable still accuse the driver a $25 dismissal fee.

4. What if a person wasn't driving or using the vehicle?

The police tin accuse a person with a VC 4000a1 law-breaking even if he/she was not driving the car.

Parked cars in an off-street public parking facility are nonetheless subject to these laws.

Note further that a person can receive a ticket under this statute if:

he/she drives a car with outdated registration tags, and
is non the true owner of the vehicle.

5. Are in that location related offenses?

In that location are 3 offenses related to driving an unregistered vehicle. These are:

vehicle registration fraud – VC 4463,
failure to announced for a traffic ticket – VC 40508, and
proof of financial responsibleness – VC 16028.

5.one. Vehicle registration fraud – VC 4463

Vehicle Code 4463 VC imposes criminal penalties for fraud or forgery involving:

vehicle registration certificates,
vehicle registration stickers,
vehicle license plates, and
vehicle smog test certificates.

Specifically, 4462 VC prohibits all of the post-obit:

altering, forging, counterfeiting or falsifying vehicle registration materials,
displaying or possessing canceled or forged vehicle registration materials, and
passing whatever fake, altered or apocryphal vehicle registration materials.

five.ii. Failure to appear for a traffic ticket – VC 40508

Vehicle Code 40508 VC is the California statute on the failure to appear for a traffic ticket.

After receiving a traffic ticket in California, a commuter is obligated to sign a written hope to appear in court. The driver promises to appear in court at a certain time and place.

If the driver willfully fails to appear as promised, he violates VC 40508.

The driver willfully fails to appear when he is willingly a no-show. It is not a defense if the driver did not intend to intermission the law.

It also does not matter whether the offending driver is guilty or innocent of the underlying traffic citation. He violates the law just by breaking a promise to: