MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Some state lawmakers are trying regulate license plates given out temporarily.
Right now, temporary license plates in South Carolina don’t have a unique number, but those temporary tags may look and even feel different soon.
If you go to buy a new car in South Carolina, like at Hyatt Buick GMC in Myrtle Beach, you’ll get a temporary license tag that just has the dealer and expiration date on it.
“We give a temporary plate for 45 days and then you would get a sales tax bill to pay property tax on,” said Tom Raschiatore, general manager of Hyatt Buick GMC.
A bill in the state senate would further regulate the temporary plates. The bill says a unique number would be printed on a temporary license plate.
The plates would also be made of a material resistant to the weather. Right now, temporary plates are made of paper. The bill would also create an electronic system for giving out temporary tags.
Myrtle Beach installed license plate-capturing cameras in 2016.
“License plate readers have definitely helped us out,” said Capt. Joey Crosby with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
The city’s police department says those cameras can still help them track down a car with a temporary plate that’s wanted in connection with a crime.
“The license plate reader captures that temporary tag,” Capt. Crosby said. “If we’re able to identify the dealership or car place where the car was sold from, we’re able to go back to that dealership and obtain information of the vehicle owner.”
Raschiatore says regulating temporary license plates could be helpful for the state department of motor vehicles.
“It could be a very good possibility,” he said. “But however the state decides what they’re going to do, we, of course, will go along with whatever they do.”
The bill is in the state senate right now and would also have to go through the state house of representatives.
If it passes both chambers, the bill would go into effect a year after the governor signed it.
