The number of passenger vehicles registered in Maine but owned by out-of-state residents has more than doubled in five years.

The sharp increase – from 7,483 in 2014 to 16,589 this twelvemonth – has contributed an extra $250,000 to the land of Maine.

The reason this is happening is simple: Maine'southward vehicle registration fee of $35 is among the cheapest in the country. And information technology's amongst the few states that allow nonresidents to obtain plates, no questions asked.

Merely the situation has acquired headaches for another states, which are losing revenue to Maine. Some out-of-staters are violating their ain state laws by registering their vehicles in Maine, which has no residency requirements for registrations.

Maine Secretary of Land Matthew Dunlap said he periodically hears from officials in other states about this only said it'south non Maine's problem.

"Information technology's not up to the state to cull people from out of state and keep them from giving u.s. their money," he said.

Paul Grimaldi, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles, sees it a fiddling differently. He said Maine is all simply encouraging out-of-state residents to break the laws of their dwelling house states, something that he's seeing more frequently in Rhode Island.

"I do think the state could do more to prevent this," Grimaldi said.

Maine'south registration law, created two decades agone, was lax by blueprint, intended to accommodate both seasonal residents and businesses. It has turned into a lucrative source of revenue for Maine, peculiarly for commercial trailer registrations. Trucks that travel across interstate lines can register anywhere, and many choose Maine. Revenue from long-term trailer registrations has nigh doubled in the past decade, from $7.5 one thousand thousand in 2009 to $xiii.ii million final year.

Simply the aforementioned law that permits trucking companies to annals vehicles hither likewise allows others to annals their vehicle with Maine plates, whether they actually accept a legitimate tie to Maine or not.

States have various ways of setting registration fees. Some accept flat fees. Others calculate the fee based on a vehicle'due south value, age or weight. No matter how you calculate information technology, it'due south hard to beat Maine's $35 flat fee.

In Connecticut, which has the fourth-highest number of Maine license plates, 1,457, the registration fee is $80. Ernie Bertothy, spokesman for Connecticut'southward Department of Motor Vehicles, said he believes the low fee is a reason Connecticut residents register cars in Maine, but he also said the DMV there volition non issue registrations to anyone who owes holding taxes. Rather than pay dorsum taxes, some but register in Maine.

In some states, emissions are tested equally part of an almanac inspection, and so car owners may try to avoid the inspections past getting plates from Maine, which doesn't test. The same may go for personal trailers, which aren't inspected here and don't need titles.

The registration fee in Rhode Island ranges from $thirty to $48, depending on vehicle weight, so the savings appear to be negligible. That suggests Ocean State residents are registering cars here for dissimilar reasons. But Grimaldi, the acquirement department spokesman, said public safety officials are increasingly dealing with a high number of cars, 446, driven by locals with Maine plates. That's a violation of Rhode Isle law, which requires residents to register their vehicles locally, inside 30 days of moving at that place.

Nearly every state has the same requirement, although the length of time to comply varies. The problem surfaces mostly when public safety officials want to send a parking ticket or toll violation and the plate isn't registered to a local address.

The country with the highest number of nonresident vehicles registered in Maine is an unexpected one: Oklahoma. According to state data for all agile registrations, in that location are 4,658 Maine plates in Oklahoma, more than twice the adjacent-closest country, Massachusetts.

The high total is driven almost entirely past ane company, EAN Holdings, which operates the Enterprise, Alamo and National motorcar rental brands and puts Maine license plates on its rental fleets. A company spokeswoman said the number of Maine plates issued to Oklahoma vehicles more or less matches the number of rental vehicles that originate in Maine.

Laura Bryant as well said the visitor tries to annals vehicles in the land where they are likely to be driven nigh but in the instance of Maine, in that location are savings. Standard vehicle registration in Oklahoma is $85 for a automobile that is four years old or newer. In Maine, it's $35. For a armada of 500 cars, it costs $25,000 less to register in Maine. Added to which, a visitor tin do business with Maine's motor vehicle department in bulk, all without having to go out the office.

"Nosotros're a inexpensive date," said Dunlap, the Maine secretarial assistant of state.

The out-of-state registrations are done by third-party agents, or companies that specialize in the service. Near of them market to trucking companies and other businesses that deal in interstate commerce, merely they also offer rider vehicle registration.

13 of these agents do concern in Maine. Calls to several of the agents were not returned over a menses of 3 weeks.

One of the biggest agencies, according to the country, is the Staab Bureau, located in a sparsely populated surface area of midcoast Maine near Damariscotta Lake State Park. Multiple attempts to speak with its owner, Shirley St. Pierre, including an in-person visit, were unsuccessful. (St. Pierre was convicted a decade ago of tax evasion and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service for not paying taxes on income from the company and and so for falsifying documents to muffle her failure to pay taxes.)

1 agent, the Maine Motor Transport Association, which too lobbies for the trucking industry, but does trailer registrations.

"Information technology'southward a great business for the states and for the state, and our customers certainly like the ease of doing business organization here," said Brian Parke, MMTA's president and CEO.

The idea that a country might create a police force to encourage niche business concern is non unusual. Delaware has become the corporation capital of the world because of the ease and low cost of setting upwardly a corporation there. Rhode Island is well known for enticing boat owners to register their vessels in that location.

In Maine, the trucking industry has taken advantage of trailer registrations. Motorists traveling upward and down the East Coast, or even beyond, may notice a disproportionate number of long-haul trailers with Maine license plates.

Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap acknowledges that many out-of-staters are registering their vehicles hither to relieve coin, but that, he says, isn't Maine'southward problem. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Periodical file photo

Each 3rd-political party registration agent warns that although Maine law allows out-of-state registration, consumers demand to follow the laws of their own state. Only the agents don't law that, nor does the Maine Secretary of Land's Office.

Dunlap said he understands the frustration of other states, but Maine simply can't monitor whether people from elsewhere are properly registering their vehicles.

Similarly, officials in other states say they can't track down every improperly registered vehicle. Watching license plates is non a priority for police force. And if a driver'southward insurance policy or license address doesn't match the plates, owners aren't ticketed.

In 2013, the News Journal of Wilmington in Delaware reported that drivers who owed the most in unpaid tolls and penalties were from Maine. But only the license plates were from Maine – the drivers overwhelmingly lived in Delaware.

Some would argue that Maine is looking the other way while people use the state to violate their own state's laws.

Dunlap doesn't view it that way. He said Maine loses out in other ways. For years, the state has dealt with Maine residents who live almost the New Hampshire border registering their vehicles in New Hampshire to avoid excise taxes. Excise taxes are split from registration fees and are paid to the municipality where the vehicle is garaged. New Hampshire'southward excise tax rate is as much every bit 33 percentage lower than Maine'due south, so residents claim a New Hampshire address, sometimes even going so far every bit to go a post part box.

Dunlap said Maine doesn't have the resources to go after potential violators who might be registering in New Hampshire.

"It'southward a thorn in our side the same manner Maine registrations are a thorn in other states' sides," he said.

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