Maryland Residents on Out-of-State Plates Face $7 a Day Fines After 60 Days

• Maryland residents who keep Virginia or other out-of-state plates on a car get a written warning from the state’s Motor Vehicle Administration, then 60 days to register before a $7-a-day civil fine starts, capped at $420.
• A warning dated Oct. 1 runs out Nov. 30, the daily fine starts Dec. 1, and the 120-day mark that lets a county seek a boot or tow falls on Jan. 29.
• Book the safety inspection and an MVA appointment now, pay any old camera tickets first, and register by Dec. 31 if the car was once Maryland-registered and qualifies for the titling tax exemption.

Your 60 Days Start on the Date Printed on the MVA Letter

Senate Bill 111, Chapter 487 of 2026, took effect Oct. 1 and gives the Motor Vehicle Administration a three-step process for any Maryland resident driving on another state’s tags. Step one is a written warning. The date on that warning starts a 60-day limit for the owner to register the car in Maryland and display Maryland plates, or to prove to the MVA that the car does not need Maryland registration. Step two is money: the MVA assesses a civil fine against the vehicle of $7 a day for up to 60 days, a ceiling of $420. The Department of Legislative Services fiscal note on the bill describes the charge as “$7.00 per day of continued noncompliance for up to 60 days,” and the fine stops on the day the car is properly registered.

Step three is the one that can cost an owner the car for a spell. Owners who have not complied by day 120 after the warning trigger a notice from the MVA to the local jurisdiction, and the county State’s Attorney can then sue the car itself, an action in rem, to seek immobilization by towing, removal and impoundment, or by booting. The fiscal note assumes the owner pays for any boot or tow. Only a limited number of counties responded to the department, and the note expects the number of such cases to be nominal.

Chrissy Nizer, the MVA administrator, gave the safety and insurance reason for the push. “We want to make sure that when [a vehicle] goes on a Maryland road, it’s passed the safety inspection, that it has the same standards and requirements for insurance,” Nizer said.

The calendar runs from each owner’s own letter, not from a statewide date. Nizer said the MVA would begin sending the enforcement letters systematically on Thursday, Oct. 1. The rules behind Maryland’s out-of-state plate fines took effect that day, and the letters are separate from the notices the agency mailed in July, which led 3,400 drivers to switch their registration but started no clock. Counting forward from a letter dated Oct. 1, the 60 days end on Monday, Nov. 30. The first $7 charge lands Tuesday, Dec. 1. The 60th and last day of fines is Friday, Jan. 29, which is also the end of the 120-day window that opens the county route. A letter dated two weeks later moves every one of those dates forward by two weeks.

What Each Day of Delay Costs, and What the Fine Does Not Cover

The fine adds up fast and buys nothing. An owner who registers 10 days into the fine period pays $70. At 30 days the bill is $210, and at the full 60 days it reaches $420. The registration still has to be completed afterward, with every fee that goes with it.

The $7 charge sits on top of penalties already on the books. The bill applies it “in addition to any other penalty” in the Maryland Vehicle Law, and under current law an unregistered vehicle is a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $500 and a District Court prepayment penalty of $290.

The state’s revenue model shows where the money is expected to come from. The Department of Legislative Services built it on the first group of targets, about 77,550 owners with Maryland addresses and a Virginia-registered vehicle in October 2025, and assumed half of them, 38,775, register in fiscal 2027. It assumed 7,755 vehicles, 10 percent of the group, would pay civil fines averaging 15 days at $7 a day, or $105 each. Those fines come to $814,275 of the roughly $15.4 million in quantified revenue the note projects for the first year, about 5 percent. The largest line is the $200 one-time titling fee, which adds up to $7,755,000 across the 38,775 vehicles. Registration is where the money sits, and the fine works as the push.

Why Maryland Is Chasing These Cars

Marylanders have registered cars in Virginia for decades. Virginia once let owners register without auto insurance by paying a one-time fee, and closed that loophole in 2024. Maryland officials say the Virginia plates seen on Baltimore streets have cost the state millions of dollars, and the MVA has said many of those vehicles are not properly insured or inspected and that owners often do not pay traffic fines.

The inspection record backs the safety argument. Of the out-of-state plates the MVA flagged as illegal, over 98 percent also fell short on the state’s safety inspection standard. Maryland law has long required residents to register within 60 days of moving, and a new resident’s vehicle is exempt only for the first 60 days, provided it shows valid registration from the former home state.

The fiscal note looks past Virginia too. The MVA advises that owners in other states are also likely to be out of compliance, and the note says the agency is likely to target their registrations in the out-years.

Holding an out-of-state plate is legal in itself. The rule targets Maryland residents who ignore the registration law. One driver questioned the whole idea. “There’s no reason for that. As far as your tag is valid, whether you’re from D.C., you’re from Virginia, I don’t think that makes any difference,” the driver said.

The Real Cost of Switching

To register, owners make an appointment and visit an MVA branch in person. The car needs a Maryland safety inspection from a station licensed by Maryland State Police, and the owner brings the inspection certificate, a driver’s license, the previous title and Maryland insurance information. Re-registration costs between $120.50 and $191.50 depending on how heavy the car is, and trucks and motorcycles carry their own fees. Insurance is part of the switch, and Maryland insurance rates lead the nation in one 2026 comparison, so price a policy before the appointment.

The fiscal note builds its estimate from other figures: a one-time titling fee of $200, an average annual registration fee of $105.83 for Class A and Class M vehicles, a $40 surcharge on every registration and a $30 emissions test fee every two years. A vehicle with unpaid fees or fines also carries a $30 administrative flag fee that has to be cleared first. The $120.50 to $191.50 range and the note’s inputs are broken out differently, so check the MVA fee list before booking. Owners of older cars can read how Maryland’s emissions test rules changed this summer.

Some students are already counting the cost. “I think because we’re students and we don’t make our own money. A lot of our parents would probably consider whether or not they’re going to let us have a car here in the city, like next to the school where we need to use it to get to other places,” one student said. Another student put the worry more bluntly. “I mean, I think it’s going to suck if, you know, we’re just going to keep getting charges and charges taking away from, you know our money that we could spend on food or other things.”

Camera Tickets, Seized Plates and the Dec. 31 Tax Deadline

An unpaid camera ticket can stall the whole process. Past-due local camera citations have to be cleared before Maryland will register the vehicle. Baltimore City advised the Department of Legislative Services that 63 percent of automated citations issued to vehicles with Virginia tags in 2025 are still outstanding, and the share for 2024 is 82 percent. The administrator can also strike reciprocal deals with other jurisdictions so that red light and speed camera violations are enforced across borders, and an agreement can authorize the MVA to turn down a registration or renewal.

Plates can be taken. The MVA can seize another state’s registration card or plate when a person has been a Maryland resident for more than 60 days and one of three things is true: two or more traffic citations, camera tickets included, are unresolved; the person’s license is suspended, which the fiscal note ties to unpaid child support; or the vehicle’s registration has at any point been suspended for six months or more over an insurance lapse. State agencies and local governments can adopt rules that let employees take those plates from a parked vehicle. The bill also closes the mail-order route: a title service agent cannot sell, advertise or facilitate the sale of another state’s registration to a Maryland resident, and the MVA must suspend the license of any agent who does.

The Dec. 31 deadline is a money point for owners of cars that used to carry Maryland plates. The bill waives the vehicle excise tax, known as the titling tax, for a car that held Maryland registration, moved to another state’s registration while its owner still lived in Maryland, and is now being registered here to meet the law. The waiver applies “only on or before December 31, 2026,” the fiscal note states. The note does not give the tax rate, so owners should ask the MVA what the tax would be on their car. The MVA advises that roughly 28,000 cars now registered in Virginia once carried Maryland plates, and the Department of Legislative Services expects the three-month window to speed up compliance.

Who Can Keep Out-of-State Plates, and What to Do This Week

Some owners can skip registration. Students, temporary workers and long-term visitors can qualify for a nonresident permit, which costs $27 a year and can be requested at an MVA office or through the mail. Under the fiscal note’s summary of current law, a student at an accredited school in Maryland or a bordering state must get the permit within 30 days of moving into a dwelling in Maryland, and it lasts up to a year and renews annually. Other nonresidents who occupy a dwelling in Maryland for longer than 30 days and up to a year must get one within 10 days after that 30-day period. Active-duty military personnel in the state qualify for a free permit but are not required to get one. The permit goes on the windshield.

For everyone else, the steps are plain. Watch the mail for the MVA letter, as the date printed on it starts the 60 days. Book the Maryland safety inspection and an MVA appointment as soon as it arrives, as each day past day 60 adds $7. Pay any camera tickets first, as an unpaid ticket can block the registration. If the car ever carried Maryland plates, aim to finish by Dec. 31 to keep the titling tax waiver. Keeping the old plates and waiting costs $7 a day, and past 120 days the county can sue the car.

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Sources

• Maryland General Assembly: Senate Bill 111 (2026), Enrolled
• Maryland General Assembly: Fiscal and Policy Note for Senate Bill 111
• The Banner: Still have Virginia tags? Here’s what to know about Maryland’s new rules on out-of-state plates
• FOX45: Maryland enforces new penalties for out-of-state plates

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar