Suspended Vehicle Registration In Georgia

To legally drive your car, you must have a license plate. Before getting a license plate, your state requires you to register your vehicle with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). To keep it current, you must update the registration every year by paying a fee and, in some states, getting a smog check. If your registration is current, you may drive or park your vehicle on public roads and highways. If the state suspends your registration, you will lose the ability to drive and park on public roads. You are not permitted to park your car on the street in front of your house until the registration is reinstated and valid.

Reasons For Suspended Vehicle Registration

Failure to pay annual registration fees is one of the primary reasons states may suspend your vehicle's registration. Your car registration is no longer valid once it expires at the end of the term, and driving the car is illegal. Similarly, if your state requires a smog check as part of the annual registration, failure to pass can result in a suspended registration. Every state has its own rules regarding when a car owner's registration is suspended. However, driving without insurance and driving without a valid driver's license are two other common reasons for suspending a car registration. If your insurance coverage lapses and you fail to pay the lapse fee, your registration will be suspended in Georgia.

The Georgia State Code For Suspended Registration (40-6-15)

Who Are Covered

Any person who drives a motor vehicle on any public road or highway in this state while the vehicle's registration is suspended, canceled, or revoked is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Conviction

On a first conviction or a plea of nolo contendere, such person shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than 12 months and, at the discretion of the court, a fine of not less than $500.00 nor more than $1,000.00. For a second or subsequent conviction within five years, as measured from the dates of previous arrests for which convictions were obtained or pleas of nolo contendere were accepted to the date of the current arrest for which a conviction is obtained or a plea of nolo contendere is accepted, such person is guilty of a high and aggravated misdemeanor and shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than ten days nor more than twelve months, and additional penalties may be imposed.

Reinstatement

When the Department of Revenue receives a record of a person's conviction under this Code section on a charge of driving a vehicle while its registration was suspended or revoked, suspension or revocation is extended for six months. Following the expiration of the original suspension or revocation period, the additional six-month suspension imposed under this subsection, and payment of a restoration fee of $210.00, or $200.00 when such reinstatement is processed by mail, the Department of Revenue may reinstate the suspended or revoked vehicle registration.

Clear Your Suspended Vehicle Registration

To reinstate a suspended registration, you must first contact the DMV to determine the reason for the suspension and what is required to reinstate it. Then you must deal with the problem and make any necessary payments. If your registration was suspended due to nonpayment of a fee, you must pay the reinstatement fee. If you have outstanding parking tickets, you must pay them first, followed by the reinstatement fee. If you have an unsatisfied judgment, you must pay it before applying for registration reinstatement.