A person cannot drive a car if he has no license. In the same manner, a car should not be driven if it’s not registered. And proof that a car has been registered with the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), the car’s owner is issued a registration plate, also known as license plate.

After buying a car, the owner will apply for a registration of his vehicle at the DMV and will be given a license plate marked with a series of numbers and letters. The license plate markings will depend on the state where the car is registered.

Simply put, a car registration is a material proof that the owner has complied with all the requirements in registering a car, such as paying all the necessary fees and taxes. After that, then you won’t be having any problems driving a car in highways.

Based on a federal law, a car must be registered before it can be driven. An unregistered vehicle, especially if it’s driven, is clearly a violation of such law. If upon inspection the arresting officer will find out that a car has no registration plate, it will end up being impounded. The driver will suffer too, as he will be penalized for driving an unregistered car.

The most obvious way to determine if a car has not been registered is if it has no license plate attached on the vehicle’s front and back bumper. Also, if its registration has expired and has not been renewed it will show on the license plate the most recent year it was registered. In other words, there’s no way you can get out of it.

Any law-abiding citizen is well aware of the most basic fact that driving a car without license is a violation. A driver will also put himself in a dangerous position if he drives a vehicle without registration plate while he has no driver’s license. Penalties and possible jail time will await that driver.

But there are people who take the risk of doing just that. These are the individuals who have intent on doing criminal activities. A vehicle with no or fake registration plate can never be traced by the DMV car registration system. To a good citizen, this is tantamount to committing a crime. So if you’re driving down the road and have by chance spotted a vehicle bearing no license plate, better report it to authorities.