?? Hoops to jump through? Maryland just has a very firm and verifiable requirement for insurance coverage. No insurance...no tags/registration. It is true that other states are more lax....I didn't have to worry about returning the Virginia tags or registration off the Cherokee I recently acquired from family member in Virginia. In fact, they are keeping the tags and putting on the garage wall because they were personalized... Can't do that here in MD unfortunately.
Semi untrue. While MD would like to have you believe that, in reality you only have to write a company and policy # down on your application in order to get tags. You could make it up out of thin air if you wanted to. Maryland has no verification of insurance in order to initially acquire tags and registration. It is only when you cancel said insurance that the respective company informs MVA, who cross checks it to see if you still have valid tags. So if you still have tags and your insurance company says you've cancelled, MVA assumes you are driving uninsured and fines you. The system is plagued with so many glaring errors its astonishing. For example, no FR-19 or verification is required to initially get tags, so Jose Rodriguez buys a 1989 Toyota and just writes down that he has State Farm insurance, policy ABC123 that he just made up. MVA gladly takes his money and gives him tags. He is now driving uninsured because he never had a real policy to start with. And of course State Farm never notifies MVA of any cancellation, because Jose never existed with them in the first place. Such a joke.
And you don't have to turn in tags that are expired. No need. Only tags with active stickers. If you have a personalized tag and want to mount on your wall, turn in the back one with the stickers and keep the front one. The rear stickered tag is sufficient to kill the registration in the MVA system.