OMG! So many out-of-state license plates....

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Boise is only 40 miles from the Oregon State Line. It's the major metro area for a large part of Eastern Oregon. Of course there will be a lot of Oregon license plates in Boise. Just like there are Washington plates in Portland.

This is true. Ontario is a nice little town in eastern OR, but frankly most there do most of their shopping in Idaho despite the sales tax. I will continue to believe out of state plates are not a good indicator of those moving to your State. Instead the odds are they are just moving through or visiting.

[karlsch]

Actually, people from Idaho come to Ontario to shop because of no sales tax. Walmart, Home Depot, and many other large stores that normally would not be in such a small town.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Actually, people from Idaho come to Ontario to shop because of no sales tax. Walmart, Home Depot, and many other large stores that normally would not be in such a small town.

Point taken. I was referring to stores that can’t be found in Ontario, but I wasn’t clear.

[pnwguy2]

License plate sightings are poor indicators of people moving. Uhaul or other moving companies are much better indicators.

That said, some Oregonians like to keep their low fee plates as long as possible, even if illegal in a new state. I have also noticed many long expired tags in my home state of Washington, some by a year or more. I am guessing some just don’t think there is any enforcement of that, and they may be right. Until they eventually get pulled over.

In general has everyone else noticed the lack of traffic enforcement in WA and OR since covid? Drivers are taking advantage of this by much more speeding and reckless behavior on the roads. Not sure what the answer is to this building problem.

[Starbar]

I've been back to Portland a couple of times to see family, for some reason I saw a lot of Arizona plates, my family has even commented about it too. It made sense back in the summer, but even in the depths of winter we still saw a lot of them. I thought everyone was moving to AZ, not the other way around?

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

License plate sightings are poor indicators of people moving. Uhaul or other moving companies are much better indicators.

Perhaps in Oregon this is true. In places with more military presence, the opposite is true. Military personnel are allowed to keep their home state plates, yet may live in a locale for many, many years.

Whether moving or visiting, out of state plates aren't necessarily a bad thing, IMO.

[Jimrob1]

Alot of the cars are probably rentals. I use to work part time at a Rental car company at PDX. We always had out of state cars show up sometimes Canadian. I believe the rental car companies do one way rentals, back to where the cars were originally rented from. Or the car remains in Portland and eventually gets an Oregon registration. You can tell a rental car fairly easy that is if your able to get a good look at it. There will be a bar code usually on the rear passenger side window. Anything that has to do with U Haul will most always have Arizona plates.