Originally Posted by abaya

Well, definitely lesson learned, no question there. I'm just trying to figure out why no one in the DoL/DMV of two states didn't mention this to me, for whatever reasons... and that it wasn't mentioned on any of the websites I scanned while looking for the proper way to get this sale taken care of. I mean, where did you all first learn that you are supposed to remove them? I actually thought the plates belonged to the issuing state itself, not the owner... so there's one angle of my misinformation.

From what the DMV in PA said when I called today, it happens all the time, so I guess it's a common mistake. Personally, if I had been the one buying a used car with plates from a different state, I imagine I would have just removed them promptly, put the new ones on immediately, and then stored the old ones away or recycled them (which is apparently what my dad does when he buys/sells used cars--says it's pretty common in WA to do that). But I guess not everyone does that. Sigh.