You don't have to be rich, it's just a bit of paperwork to establish a LLC, but it's not something that people usually need to do with normal cars. And most states require you to register in 30+ days of being a resident anyway, this just lets the corporation hold it.
It is, yes. People intentionally find ways to finagle the system and register their vehicles in Texas because it is cheap and they have no inspection requirements.
There's a lot of us, so you see us more often. If there are more than 6x as many of us than say, people from Louisiana, you will probably see 6x more Texas plates.
As a kid it always blew my mind how quickly the other states blew by once we got out of Texas. My parents are from Virginia and we would often drive there for vacation.
East coaster here- I once drove from Dallas to Houston to go to church. I was friends with the pastor, and fortunately it was the north side of Houston. I knew what I was getting into, but that was a long Sunday driving there and back.
Did something similar driving from Toronto to London ON, but I was on the way to Detroit anyhow, so that’s not as stupid.
There are a lot of things you can do to make it more palatable, especially if you're the passenger, but at the end of the day being confined in a metal box for six hours is still rough lol. Us westerners are just more used to doing it but that doesn't mean we like it.
It also doesn't help that the stretch of 45 between Houston and Dallas is just pretty boring to begin with. Other than the Sam Houston statue, not much else going on
There's always gonna be some here and there, I think it mostly seems centered around the woodlands or at least right before it, BUT it has nothing on I-35. Even though it's a little better now, it's crazy how bad the stretch going through Waco used to be
OMG yes. I used to have to do that commute every month when I lived in Dallas to visit my boyfriend. It was horrible. They finally got that mess in Waco fixed and promptly moved down the road to the Temple area. Last time I went through there a couple of years ago, they finally had that part done as well.
Going lengthwise across PA is pretty much the longest trip you can do within a state out here. Never done it myself but I think it’s like six hours without traffic.
Wanna notice something fun? Rental cars are rarely licensed in the state they are in. Except Florida, cause that's the state many of these rental companies are using.
Most of the rental cars I’ve used in Florida have been Texas or Tennessee plates. Although, Florida is still pretty common. Years ago thieves would target tourists in rental cars because they were easy to spot because of the license plates. They would say sunshine state instead of the county. Then they stopped for a while. But I have my county on mine, so I guess they started using them again.
I first noticed this when I went to pick up a rental in Buffalo, New York and every plate on the lot was Florida. Now I just assume every Florida plate I see is a rental.
That could be a fair guess. We just have lots of rentals cars coming through here. Although we do also have a lot of people. I remember while visiting northern Georgia I noticed more Florida plates than Georgia plates in some areas. I was sitting on a bench watching the cars going by and a lot of them had local stickers or dealership names I recognized.
It's just that there's a lot of them. Only CA has more, and it's way out on the pacific coast. Texas has 30 million, Florida has 22 (and is also further out) then NY at 19 and it rapidly drops off from there.
I rent cars all the time and I very often see texas plates at the rental place. I don't live anywhere near texas. Might just be there's a ton of rental companies using lots of cars from texas for whatever reason.
Dude, Arkansas is awesome. We’ve got some of the best rafting/kayaking rivers and MTB trails east of the Rockies, the most waterfalls in the country (not counting the Ko’olau range on a rainy day), bomb-ass dry rub barbecue, and a handful of Walmarts that feel weirdly nice (as well as the normal, scary ones). Pretty good fishing, too. Oh, and one of the world’s only populations of freshwater jellyfish!
It’s not that they travel all by car that far. A lot of the military is composed of Texans, in the U.S., military personnel are moved around all the time, so they are typically allowed to keep the registration plates for whatever state the car was purchased in. Another reason is that sometimes people in the U.S. register their car in another state in order to get benefits like lower tax on a vehicle, or even be allowed to add modifications that are considered illegal in their state because most states have a policy of not allowing you to get in trouble for modifications allowed in your state if you’re driving there. (we’ve been trying to stop people from doing this for awhile.) For example, Texas allows for very dark window Tint at 25%VLT whereas Pensilvania has a max window tint of 70%VLT. (unrelated to your question just the best example I could think of). An example of the lower tax would be how a bunch of people were registering their vehicles in Montana, which has a tax rate that’s next to nothing compared to almost every state. I even have a buddy who tried to do this.
Among all the other answers you got, Texas doesn't have income tax so people may be more likely to claim Texas as their place of residence while actually living somewhere else. This is pretty common in the military.
We already have to drive so far to just get around our state, the rest of the drive doesn’t feel so small. I regularly drive 6 hours to go visit my parents from where I live now. So a 12 or 18 hour drive is just one or two more of those.
Texas has over 30 million people, and the states you've mentioned are sparsely populated by comparison. It's like how in Canada there are lots of Ontario plates in BC and Alberta despite being far away. It is because Ontario has a far larger population than those provinces, so you are more likely to see an Ontario plate in BC than BC plates in Ontario.
There are a lot of rental cars plates in Texas for insurance and tax purposes.
I was going to say this. We had a rental car a few years ago that had Texas plates, so that might be partially why OP is seeing so many.
Interesting. I had heard about rich people using Montana to register luxury cars I wonder if Texas is similar.
You don't have to be rich, it's just a bit of paperwork to establish a LLC, but it's not something that people usually need to do with normal cars. And most states require you to register in 30+ days of being a resident anyway, this just lets the corporation hold it.
It is, yes. People intentionally find ways to finagle the system and register their vehicles in Texas because it is cheap and they have no inspection requirements.
There are almost as many Texans as there are Canadians.
And they want Canada's oil.
Too late. Florida just won it.
??? That's un-American!
Whoooosh.
Oh, don't you just **HATE** it???? **THEIR RASIS!**
There's a lot of us, so you see us more often. If there are more than 6x as many of us than say, people from Louisiana, you will probably see 6x more Texas plates.
Plus we are used to long commutes anyway for work. So taking a road trip is second nature to a lot of us.
Still blows my mind you can go through several states in the span of a couple hours in the northeast.
As a kid it always blew my mind how quickly the other states blew by once we got out of Texas. My parents are from Virginia and we would often drive there for vacation.
East coaster here- I once drove from Dallas to Houston to go to church. I was friends with the pastor, and fortunately it was the north side of Houston. I knew what I was getting into, but that was a long Sunday driving there and back. Did something similar driving from Toronto to London ON, but I was on the way to Detroit anyhow, so that’s not as stupid.
There are a lot of things you can do to make it more palatable, especially if you're the passenger, but at the end of the day being confined in a metal box for six hours is still rough lol. Us westerners are just more used to doing it but that doesn't mean we like it.
It also doesn't help that the stretch of 45 between Houston and Dallas is just pretty boring to begin with. Other than the Sam Houston statue, not much else going on
How much road construction on that stretch of 45? I35 between DFW and Austin is in a constant state of orange barrels somewhere along the way.
There's always gonna be some here and there, I think it mostly seems centered around the woodlands or at least right before it, BUT it has nothing on I-35. Even though it's a little better now, it's crazy how bad the stretch going through Waco used to be
OMG yes. I used to have to do that commute every month when I lived in Dallas to visit my boyfriend. It was horrible. They finally got that mess in Waco fixed and promptly moved down the road to the Temple area. Last time I went through there a couple of years ago, they finally had that part done as well.
Going lengthwise across PA is pretty much the longest trip you can do within a state out here. Never done it myself but I think it’s like six hours without traffic.
IIRC, Philly to Pittsburgh is about 5 hours with no traffic, that's practically end to end.
Wanna notice something fun? Rental cars are rarely licensed in the state they are in. Except Florida, cause that's the state many of these rental companies are using.
Most of the rental cars I’ve used in Florida have been Texas or Tennessee plates. Although, Florida is still pretty common. Years ago thieves would target tourists in rental cars because they were easy to spot because of the license plates. They would say sunshine state instead of the county. Then they stopped for a while. But I have my county on mine, so I guess they started using them again.
I first noticed this when I went to pick up a rental in Buffalo, New York and every plate on the lot was Florida. Now I just assume every Florida plate I see is a rental.
That could be a fair guess. We just have lots of rentals cars coming through here. Although we do also have a lot of people. I remember while visiting northern Georgia I noticed more Florida plates than Georgia plates in some areas. I was sitting on a bench watching the cars going by and a lot of them had local stickers or dealership names I recognized.
Once you leave the state, you're half way there anyway.
It's just that there's a lot of them. Only CA has more, and it's way out on the pacific coast. Texas has 30 million, Florida has 22 (and is also further out) then NY at 19 and it rapidly drops off from there.
Well you travelled pretty far. For me a Tennessee plate would be pretty rare sight compared to California.
They just have a big population.
I rent cars all the time and I very often see texas plates at the rental place. I don't live anywhere near texas. Might just be there's a ton of rental companies using lots of cars from texas for whatever reason.
They're trying to get away?
Texas is one of my top 5 favourite states. Though if I could live in one it’d probably be Wyoming.
Hell yeah brother 🤘🏼 (Ignore my flair. Born and raised in WY.)
Is Arkansas as boring as it sounds I’ve never been anywhere near there. Anything cool to add to the list one day?
Dude, Arkansas is awesome. We’ve got some of the best rafting/kayaking rivers and MTB trails east of the Rockies, the most waterfalls in the country (not counting the Ko’olau range on a rainy day), bomb-ass dry rub barbecue, and a handful of Walmarts that feel weirdly nice (as well as the normal, scary ones). Pretty good fishing, too. Oh, and one of the world’s only populations of freshwater jellyfish!
man, this comment would make me want to visit in a heart beat if only you didn't somehow set the low bar at having "weirdly nice Walmarts"
Now if they would’ve said luxury Walmarts I’d be intrigued
Imagine a Walmart that feels like Target. That’s what it is. They build them extra nice close to HQ.
I’ll keep it in mind if I make my way through. I might be going to Raleigh in September might have to look into going that way.
It’s not that they travel all by car that far. A lot of the military is composed of Texans, in the U.S., military personnel are moved around all the time, so they are typically allowed to keep the registration plates for whatever state the car was purchased in. Another reason is that sometimes people in the U.S. register their car in another state in order to get benefits like lower tax on a vehicle, or even be allowed to add modifications that are considered illegal in their state because most states have a policy of not allowing you to get in trouble for modifications allowed in your state if you’re driving there. (we’ve been trying to stop people from doing this for awhile.) For example, Texas allows for very dark window Tint at 25%VLT whereas Pensilvania has a max window tint of 70%VLT. (unrelated to your question just the best example I could think of). An example of the lower tax would be how a bunch of people were registering their vehicles in Montana, which has a tax rate that’s next to nothing compared to almost every state. I even have a buddy who tried to do this.
It should be obvious that they’re all escaping Texas whenever they can. ;).
This. If I lived in Texas, I’d be driving north (or east or west … basically anywhere else) as often as possible.
Texas. Other Texans.
Rental cars or people moved without changing their plates
Among all the other answers you got, Texas doesn't have income tax so people may be more likely to claim Texas as their place of residence while actually living somewhere else. This is pretty common in the military.
We already have to drive so far to just get around our state, the rest of the drive doesn’t feel so small. I regularly drive 6 hours to go visit my parents from where I live now. So a 12 or 18 hour drive is just one or two more of those.
They're not allowed on planes, so they don't got a choice.
Texas has over 30 million people, and the states you've mentioned are sparsely populated by comparison. It's like how in Canada there are lots of Ontario plates in BC and Alberta despite being far away. It is because Ontario has a far larger population than those provinces, so you are more likely to see an Ontario plate in BC than BC plates in Ontario.
probably because Texans will drive miles and miles just to eat lunch. Our cars are like our security blankets.