State Moves to Restrict Driving of Classic Cars

Welcome once again to Lato's Law.

Here's Steve Lato.

I had a whole bunch of people send me this story,

including Stan, and I think that Lauren Fix

may have been one of the first people to bring this

to the attention of the public outside of Minnesota.

And Lauren Fix is a syndicated radio host slash content

creator who talks about cars or whatnot.

And this story, however, is from carscoops.com.

Stephen Rivers with a pH wrote it.

Minnesota lawmakers want to ground your class at car

five days a week.

A new Minnesota bill could ban most weekday

and nighttime driving for classic cars.

Now, this is kind of wild.

Of course, we enjoy seeing classic cars on the road.

It brings a smile to everyone's face you think,

but that experience might be about to become even

a rarer in Minnesota because the new law,

if passed, would limit classic cars to driving only on weekends

or at special events.

In fact, it goes so far as the limited driving

to only between sunrise and sunset on the weekends.

A newly introduced bill, HF3865,

would overhaul how the state handles collector class vehicles.

On paper, much legislation looks harmless.

It updates definitions, standardized registration language,

and tweaks paperwork for everything from pioneer

plays to collector motor cycles.

Under the bill, any vehicle registered with a Minnesota's

collector classic pioneer street rod

or military vehicle plate could only be driven

for collector purposes.

That includes club activities, tours, parades,

exhibitions, and similar events.

Outside of those situations, owners would only be allowed

to drive their vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays

between sunrise and sunset.

Now, keep in mind, if you've got a classic car,

you can put a regular plate on it,

and this wouldn't affect you.

We're talking about getting the discounted collector plate.

So, the state appears to be proposing

a near-total ban on weekday cruising night-time drives

or spontaneous midweek trips for anyone to collect your plates.

Here's the crazy part.

The law in the state is already quite restrictive

for cars in this class.

And collector cars currently, as it is,

cannot be used for general transportation.

Owners can still take their cars out for test drives,

informal meetups or the occasional evening cruise

without worrying too much,

but the bill would replace that flexibility

with a far more rigid framework.

That said, the bill also leaves some important questions

unanswered, terms like exhibition and similar use

are not clearly defined,

which could leave enforcement up to individual officers

and then the courts.

So, the bill doesn't explain why lawmakers believe

these restrictions are important.

It's likely tied to ensuring that people don't take advantage

of the lower fees on these vehicles.

Even if that's the case,

it'd be nice to see a little more transparency

surrounding the situation.

For now, it still has to pass the house,

to the Senate and get signed into law,

but it's in the process right now as a bill

up on Capitol Hill.

Now, I'm gonna let you know right now,

I'm in Michigan, I'm an attorney in Michigan,

been dealing with cars, stuff in Michigan now for 35 years.

I also own a couple cars.

Right now, technically speaking,

I have two cars that would qualify for historic plates.

And I do not have historic plates on either cars,

specifically, so I don't have to deal with this problem.

And the law was modified a couple times,

recently in Michigan,

but I'm gonna let you know the law says at MCL 257.20A,

and MCL 257 is our vehicle code.

Historic vehicle defined.

Historic vehicle means a vehicle that is over 25 years old.

And like I said, I got two vehicles to qualify.

I've got a Dodge Viper, which is a 99.

I've got a Jeep, which is a 98.

The oldest vehicle I own is a Jeep,

but a vehicle over 25 years old,

it is owned solely as a collector's item.

And for participation in club activities, exhibitions,

tours, parades, and similar uses,

including mechanical testing,

but not used for general transportation.

So if you wanna put a plate on a vehicle

that's a historic vehicle plate

or an antique plate, or whatever they call it,

you can do that for a lot less than a regular civilian plate,

except it's gonna limit how you drive it.

You can't use it for general transportation.

But a lot of people complained about that language,

and they added language to it.

And I did a video back at the time it happened

a couple of years ago,

because in Michigan, see,

people in the southern states don't understand about snow.

In Michigan, we have a period of time

where they can be snow on the roads,

pretty much from like, I don't know,

September through like, I don't know, April.

And you don't wanna drive your car in the snow,

if it's a nice car.

For a couple of reasons, one of which is we salt our roads.

We salt our roads liberally,

like it's cheap popcorn at a movie theater.

And so the salt on the roads is corrosive,

and we'll chew up and spit out your car.

And so you don't wanna drive your car

in those conditions.

So when spring hits and a snow melts,

and you get a couple of good rains terms

that wash the streets clean,

and then the sun comes out,

and you've got dry pavement, dry, clean pavement,

as far as the eye can see,

you wanna go out, get in your car, and take it for a drive.

Well, are you taking it to a parade,

or a mechanical testing?

Are you taking on a tour?

An exhibition, a club activity?

I don't belong to any clubs, what are you talking about?

And so people are saying that's so unfair,

because as it is, we can't drive our classic antique cars

for so long.

And so believe it or not, in Michigan,

they added a sentence to the statute that says,

for purposes of this section,

use of the vehicle during the period

from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day,

each year is considered an exhibition.

So we got these restrictions,

but they're all lifted between Memorial Day weekend

and Labor Day.

And that right there is the good meaty part

of cruising season in Michigan.

And when they added that people,

okay, we're good, we're good.

Now, it's true, I've had both my cars out.

Well, I also have a civilian plate on my Cobra replica,

which is not old enough to qualify,

but don't worry about that.

But I'm saying that I've got nice cars

that I want to drive when it gets nice out.

I've had them both out already.

In fact, I believe I had them both out in March,

which I did.

I did, yeah, March wasn't that long ago.

And so the fact of matter is that if, if, which I don't,

but if I had historic vehicle plates on my Viper

or my Jeep and had it driven it before Memorial Day,

well, then it would have had to been being driven

for a club activity, an exhibition,

a tour, a parade, or a similar use,

and including mechanical testing.

And so some people are gonna say,

but Steve, first time in the year,

you pop off the battery tender and you take it out

to drive, make sure that everything's okay with it.

Is, isn't that mechanical testing?

Well, the problem is that if you could say

that anytime you're driving it,

you're just checking it from mechanical testing,

then that subsection would be kind of hard to,

hard to enforce or to find.

So that's a problem.

But I'm also gonna let you know that I had an M35 A2

Duce and a half Army truck a few years ago.

I don't have it anymore and I miss it, but sad.

But I had this Army truck and I bought regular plates

for that vehicle also.

Because I knew that there's no way I can drive down

the road in this 14,000 pound monstrosity

without everyone going, oh, look at that.

And I don't want the police going, oh, look at that.

I wonder how that's plated.

So I had regular plates on it.

And I drove that thing everywhere.

I drove it from Detroit to Copper Harbor twice.

And those long rides are tough on every part of your body,

including your ears.

And never once, never once got pulled over on it.

Now I can tell you that I once did have a police officer

pull up my driveway when I had my garage door open

and you could see the truck and he walks up

and he goes, is that your truck?

I said, yeah.

And he goes, that's cool because I served

and I spent a lot of time in the back of one of those.

I said, well, I get to drive it because I own it.

So I don't spend my time in the back.

It's been my time up front.

And he said, are you interested in having it in a parade?

And I said, I'd love to.

And he said, okay.

And I actually drove my army truck in a parade,

which was a lot of fun.

And it had a civilian plate on it.

If it didn't have a civilian plate,

driving it in the parade would have been fine.

And I'm assuming driving to and from the parade

also that kind of thing.

But like I said, I did not buy those plates

for my vehicles that qualified simply because

I don't ever want to have to make the argument.

I think I would win the argument,

but I don't want to have to make it.

And, you know, but there are people out there

who've got cars that they drive like three times a year.

And the rest of the time they spend working on it,

polishing it, cleaning it up, making even nicer,

and then enjoy the car.

And I'm not knocking anybody who does that

because I know those people out there like that.

And if you've got a car like that

and you only drive it a few times a year,

it's kind of a hamper on your fun.

When you realize it, oh, I can only drive it

for these following purposes on these particular time frames.

And next thing you know you're out

and a police officer pulls you over and goes,

it's past sundown.

And is it really like it's getting darker?

I thought it was dusk.

No, no, no, it's past sundown.

I didn't want to have to have that argument,

that discussion with anybody.

So that's what I did.

But if I was in Minnesota right now,

I'd be up in arms about this.

Only because it is so restrictive

that it seems punitive.

And the guy who wrote the article, Steve and Rivers,

says that they don't explain why they're doing this.

And interestingly, legislators don't always explain why.

But sometimes they do.

Many federal laws in particular will have a preamble

that will say things like in order to promote competition

and to prevent unfairness in the market

and to protect consumers, the following law has been passed.

And they'll say that that's the purpose of it.

Now, whether a state does it or not depends on the state,

it depends on all kinds of other things.

But it's pretty clear what they're doing here.

And I think most people understand this,

that they are looking at all of the collector plates

of the issue every single year.

And they're saying, okay, out of all these plates

are they all being used properly.

And let's face it, some of them are not.

Some of them are not being used properly.

And so what they're gonna do is go, okay,

let's flip it the other way,

make them extremely useless as plates go.

And if you wanna drive your class at car more often,

get a regular plate.

And of course they'll raise revenue.

This is all about the revenue, that's all this is.

So what needs to happen in Minnesota,

if you don't want to build a pass, if you're there,

contact your legislator.

Let them know that you are very concerned about this law.

And that you think that they should not pass the law

because of the fact that it explains them why.

Be nice about it, by the way.

It goes a long way.

You don't want them to think,

oh, only crazy people are against this law.

So there you go, Minnesota lawmakers want to ground

your class at car five days a week from carscoops.com.

Steven Rivers wrote that, Steven's a pH.

And by the way, that's an old, old joke on this channel.

It goes back probably at the beginning of time,

which by the way, I believe yesterday was a 12 year anniversary

of my channel.

But the joke is that I was at a deposition once.

And I was asked to put my appearance on the record.

And I said, Steve Lato, L-E-H-T-O,

which was common, you spell out your last name.

And the court reporter said, is that the Vera pH?

I said, you can only spell Steve with a V.

Steve Lato, L-E-H-T-O.

And she goes, yes, but Steven with a Vera pH,

I said, it's not Steven, it's Steve.

And she looks at me.

She goes, what's your driver's license, say?

And I go, none of your business.

My name is Steve, call me Steve.

She goes, yeah, but it's Steven, isn't it?

I go, go look up the bar journal.

It's Steve.

It's my professional name.

I use Steve.

I don't care what my mom yelled at me

when she was angry at me.

Okay, I chose to use Steve.

It can only be spelled with a V, okay?

So, the running joke is that not everyone spells

their name Steven with a Vera pH,

but I spell my name Steve, which is only with a V.

But Steven Rivers here is a Steven with a pH.

But some people might call him Steve,

I don't know, but he calls himself Steven here.

So I'll go with that.

Questions or comments, put them below

those talk to you later.

Bye bye.

Thank you for watching Lato's Law.

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