What an expired-registration ticket costs in Minnesota

Minnesota gives no driving grace period. Passenger vehicles are registered on a monthly series, and DVS says the tabs expire on the last day of the month shown on your plates (Minn. Stat. §168.017, subd. 2). From the next day the vehicle may not be driven: §168.09, subd. 1 bars operating a vehicle until it is registered, the tax is paid and the plates are displayed, and §169.79, subd. 1 bars operating or parking on a highway unless the vehicle is registered and its plates confirm valid registration. The ten days in §168.09, subd. 4 are only for putting newly issued tabs on the plates; in Carter v. State (No. A10-0008, Aug. 31, 2010), a published opinion, the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that they do not extend the 12-month registration period, and upheld a stop made in those first ten days. More than one statute covers expired tabs, and the section written on the ticket decides both the grade and the price. The price is set statewide, not by county, by the Judicial Council’s 2026 Statewide Payables List (effective January 1, 2026). §169.79 (vehicle registration and license plate violation, a petty misdemeanor) and §168.09, subd. 4 (listed as fail to display current plates, a misdemeanor) are each listed at a $30 fine plus the $75 surcharge that Minn. Stat. §357.021, subd. 6 adds on conviction, $105 in all. Your county may add its own law library fee (Minn. Stat. §§134A.09 and 134A.10 let each county set one); the court system’s posted lists leave that amount out, so the $105 total does not include it. If the officer instead writes §168.09, subd. 1 (operate unregistered vehicle), the listed amount is $175 ($100 fine plus $75), and §168.36, subd. 2, which makes it a misdemeanor to use plates after the right to use them has expired, is listed at $375 ($300 fine plus $75). Paying the listed amount is a plea of guilty (Minn. R. Crim. P. 23.03, subd. 3). Renewing late adds no DVS late fee: DVS’s vehicle fees page lists none for registration renewal (its only late charge is a $2 penalty on a title transfer filed more than 20 days after the sale), §168.31 imposes late penalties only on certain vehicles whose tax is paid in installments, and the DPS registration compliance working group’s February 2025 report to the Legislature discussed implementing a fee for late renewals as an option.