How to Surrender Your License Plates in New York

Last Updated on November 11, 2026 by James Shaffer · Reviewed for accuracy by Daniel Major, licensed insurance agent (NPN 14733759)

In New York, you surrender your license plates to the DMV before your liability insurance ends, not after. You can do it at a DMV office or by mail, and the DMV gives you a receipt called an FS-6T. If the insurance ends first, the DMV counts every uninsured day as a lapse and can suspend your registration and your driver license.

When You Have to Surrender Your Plates

New York requires liability insurance for as long as a vehicle is registered, and that includes a car that is parked, broken down or in storage. So any time the insurance on a registered car is going to end and not be replaced, the plates have to go back first. The DMV’s page on auto liability insurance spells this out.

The common situations:

• You sold, junked or gave away the car and aren’t moving the plates to another vehicle.
• You’re canceling your car insurance and won’t have a new policy in place.
• You’re taking the car off the road for a season.
• You moved and registered the car in another state. New York plates still go back to the New York DMV.
• Your insurer canceled the policy and you can’t replace it before the cancellation date.

You don’t surrender plates when you are only switching insurance companies. As long as the new policy starts on or before the day the old one ends, there’s no gap, and your new insurer reports the coverage to the DMV electronically.

How to Surrender Plates in Person

1. Take the plates off the car and remove any frames and fasteners. The DMV won’t accept plates with them attached.
2. Destroy the registration sticker on the windshield.
3. Fill out a Plate Surrender Application (PD-7) for each set of plates.
4. Bring the plates and the form to a DMV office. County-run motor vehicle offices charge a $1 fee to process the surrender.
5. Leave with your FS-6T receipt. If someone else turns the plates in for you, make sure they give you the receipt.

How to Surrender Plates by Mail

1. Check the address on your registration. The DMV mails the FS-6T receipt, and any refund check, to that address. If it’s out of date, change it before you mail the plates.
2. Remove the plates, frames and fasteners, and destroy the windshield stickers.
3. Complete a PD-7 for each set of plates.
4. Mail the plates and the PD-7 in an envelope, not a box, to: NYS DMV, 6 Empire State Plaza, Room B240, Albany, NY 12228.

The surrender date is the postmark date. The DMV says to allow 21 days for the FS-6T to arrive and to contact them if it doesn’t. The full instructions are on the DMV’s plate surrender page.

Time the Surrender with Your Insurance

The order matters more than anything else in this process. Insurance companies report cancellations to the DMV electronically, and the DMV compares the date your coverage ended with the date your plates were surrendered. Any days in between are a lapse.

A safe sequence looks like this:

1. Surrender the plates, in person or by mail.
2. Ask your insurer to cancel the liability coverage effective on or after the surrender date.
3. Get the cancellation date in writing and keep it with your FS-6T.

Once the plates are off, the car can’t be driven. Plan to keep it in a driveway, garage or other private property, and check your local parking rules before leaving an unplated car on the street. If you paid your premium ahead, ask your insurer whether you’re owed a refund of unused premium.

What the FS-6T Receipt Is For

The FS-6T is your proof that the plates were surrendered and when. Keep it somewhere safe. You may need it in three situations:

• Your insurer asks for proof before it processes the cancellation.
• The DMV sends a letter asking about your insurance. The DMV explains how to answer on its page about responding to insurance letters and orders.
• You want to register the same car again later.

Registration Refunds and Transfer Credits

Surrendering plates on a two-year registration may get you part of the registration fee back, or let you move the remaining value to another vehicle. The DMV’s refunds and transfer credits page sets out the amounts.

When You Surrender	Registration Fee Refund
Within 60 days of issue, sticker unused	Full fee, minus $1
During the first year	Half the fee, minus $1
During the second year	None
One-year registrations (trailers, motorcycles, snowmobiles)	None

Plate fees, title fees and taxes aren’t refundable. A transfer credit applies only to a new registration, not a renewal, and the new registration expires on the same date as the old one. If you plan to put the car back on the road, tell the DMV clerk you want a receipt for transfer, not a refund.

What Happens if You Cancel Insurance First

The DMV suspends your registration for the same number of days the car was registered without insurance. For a lapse of 90 days or less, you can pay a civil penalty instead of serving the suspension, but only if you haven’t used that option in the past 36 months.

Days of Lapse	Civil Penalty
1 to 30	$8 per day
31 to 60	$10 per day
61 to 90	$12 per day
91 or more	Not available. Registration and driver license are suspended.

As an example, a 45-day lapse comes to $390: 30 days at $8, plus 15 days at $10. You can run your own dates through our insurance lapse penalty calculator.

When the lapse reaches 91 days, your driver license is suspended for the same length of time as the registration, and it costs a $50 suspension termination fee to get it back. Driving the uninsured car in the meantime is a separate and more serious problem, covered in our guide to what happens when your insurance lapses.

Exceptions and Special Cases

Motorcycles

Motorcycle plates don’t have to be surrendered when the insurance ends. The motorcycle still has to be insured any time it’s ridden on a public road.

Lost, Stolen or Destroyed Plates

You can’t hand in plates you don’t have. The DMV’s instruction is to report them and surrender the registration. It can then issue a new registration and plates if you still need them.

Moving out of New York

Register and insure the car in your new state, then send the New York plates back to the New York DMV. Mailing them is usually easiest. Keep your New York insurance active until the plates are in the mail, because the registration is still open until then.

Plates from Another State

The New York DMV doesn’t take them. Return them to the state that issued them, following that state’s rules. If you’re coming the other way, see our guide to car insurance when you move to New York.

Getting Back on the Road Later

Buy a New York policy first. Then go to a DMV office with a completed MV-82 application, your FS-6T, your New York insurance ID card, and proof of identity and date of birth. The DMV’s page on temporary plate surrender lists the details.

Standard plates are destroyed when you surrender them, so you’ll get a new set, with a plate fee of up to $25. Personalized plates are stored, and you have to go back to the same office to reinstate them. The reinstated registration keeps its original expiration date.

FAQs on Surrendering License Plates in New York