Do I Have to Return License Plates in Maine?

Yes. If you sell your vehicle, take it off the road, or move out of state, Maine expects you to cancel the registration and surrender the plates to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Returning license plates in Maine is done through a single notarized form, the MVR-60 Plate Cancellation Request, filed either in person at a BMV branch or by mail to the central office in Augusta.¹ Handle it promptly and you avoid the penalties that attach to an unregistered vehicle, and you preserve whatever registration credit you have left.

When You Need to Return Your Plates

Your Maine registration expires automatically the moment you transfer or assign title or interest in the vehicle.² From that point the plates are no longer valid. The common triggers:

Selling or trading in the vehicle.
Scrapping, junking, or storing a vehicle long-term when you don’t plan to keep the registration active.
Canceling insurance. Plates on an uninsured vehicle create real problems, because an insurer’s lapse notice can trigger registration suspension. Surrender the plates first, then cancel the policy.
Moving out of state and registering the vehicle elsewhere. The BMV takes plates by mail, so you don’t need to drive back to Maine to close it out.¹

Leaving an open registration on your record after any of these events can complicate future insurance or registration transactions, so the paperwork matters even when the vehicle is long gone.

How to Cancel the Registration and Surrender the Plates

The Plate Cancellation Request (MVR-60) asks for your registration number, the vehicle identification number, and signatures from every person listed on the registration. One detail catches people out: the form must be notarized before you submit it.¹

Two ways to submit the notarized form:

In person at any BMV branch office. Bring the form and the plates. A staff member signs and dates the form, and that copy becomes your official Plate Cancellation Order under Title 29-A, Section 463.
By mail to the BMV central office at 29 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04330-0029, Attention: Registrations. Send the plates with the form.

Include your current registration if you still have it. The BMV-signed copy of the MVR-60 is your proof the plates were properly surrendered, so hold onto it. If you mail the plates, use certified mail with a return receipt. That receipt is the only thing that resolves a dispute about whether the plates ever arrived, and the postage is cheap insurance.

Registration Credit for the Time You Didn’t Use

Maine does not refund unused registration time in cash, but it does issue a credit toward registering another vehicle. The size of the credit depends on when in the registration year you cancel:³

Cancel during the first 8 months of the registration year, and the credit is the full registration fee.
Cancel during the last 4 months, and the credit drops to no more than half the original fee.

The credit applies when you, or your surviving spouse, register a different vehicle. If you have no plans to register another vehicle, the credit has no cash equivalent. When you’re selling one vehicle and registering a replacement, handling both in the same BMV visit is the cleanest way to capture the full credit.

What Happens if You Don’t Return Them

Operating or even leaving an unregistered vehicle on a public way is prohibited under Title 29-A, Section 351. The penalties scale with how long the registration has been expired and whether it’s a repeat offense:⁴

Expired 30 to 150 days, first offense: traffic infraction, fine up to $50.
Expired 150 days or more, first offense: traffic infraction, fine up to $100.
Any subsequent offense: traffic infraction, fine up to $500.
Never registered by the current owner: Class E crime, a misdemeanor that carries potential jail time.

That last category is the sharpest jump. Someone who buys a car and never files the paperwork is exposed to a criminal charge, not just a fine.

Lost or Stolen Plates

You can’t return plates you don’t have. If a plate is lost, or the number becomes mutilated or illegible, Maine law requires you to place a temporary marker on the vehicle immediately and notify the BMV.⁵

If the plates were stolen, file a police report before contacting the BMV. That report documents that you’re not responsible for whatever the plates get used for afterward. From there you’ll either request replacements or cancel the registration, depending on what you want to do with the vehicle. Ignoring the loss is the worst option, because plates in circulation without an active registration tied to them create liability for the last registered owner.

Plates You’re Allowed to Keep

Maine recognizes one real exception to the return expectation. If your plates carry a design the Secretary of State no longer issues, those plates are your property once the registration is cancelled, and you can keep them as a souvenir.² The design has to be fully retired from circulation. Plates from a registration that simply expired don’t qualify.

Antique, custom vehicle, horseless carriage, and street rod plates are sometimes assumed to be exempt from return, but they aren’t. Those are active registrations with their own fees, and when the vehicle is sold or taken off the road, the standard MVR-60 cancellation process applies.⁶

1
Maine.gov. Plate Cancellation Request Form MVR-60
2
Maine Legislature. Maine Code Title 29-A – Section 463 Disposition of Registration Plates
3
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 29-A – Section 502 Transfer and Return of Registration
4
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 29-A – Section 351 Registration Required
5
Maine Legislature. Maine Code Title 29-A – Section 465 Loss of Registration Plates
6
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 29-A – Section 457 Hobbyist Registration Plates