What an expired-registration ticket costs in Oregon

Oregon gives no grace period: neither ORS chapter 803 nor DMV’s registration and fee pages provide one. A registration is valid only during its registration period (ORS 803.400), and not receiving DMV’s renewal notice is no defense to a charge of driving with an expired registration (ORS 803.450(3)). Oregon also has no single “expired tags” section, so the ticket may name any of several, all of them Class D traffic violations: failure to pay the appropriate registration fee (ORS 803.315, operating an Oregon-registered vehicle whose registration fee has not been paid), failure to renew vehicle registration (ORS 803.455), failure to register (ORS 803.300), or improper display of validating stickers (ORS 803.560(1)(b), stickers displayed after the registration period they show). The fine is set statewide by statute, not by county: the presumptive fine for a Class D violation is $115 (ORS 153.019(1)(d)). The Oregon Judicial Department’s Schedule of Fines (SOF-24, effective September 1, 2024) says that is the amount the officer must write on the citation whichever court the ticket goes to, and that it is the amount you can pay to resolve the ticket without doing anything else unless the law or the court requires you to appear. If you plead no contest and pay it and the court accepts the plea, the fine cannot exceed that amount (ORS 153.051(6)). The court’s full range runs from a $65 minimum (ORS 153.021(1)(d)), which a judge may waive in whole or in part when requiring it would be inconsistent with justice given your finances (ORS 153.021(2)), to a $250 maximum for an individual (ORS 153.018(2)(d)). Where a county’s circuit court imposes the $5 courthouse surcharge allowed by ORS 1.188, the surcharge is made part of the presumptive fine (ORS 153.019(3)), so the ticket reads $120; SOF-24 names Multnomah and Jefferson counties as examples. The surcharge is levied in full on any fine the court imposes (ORS 1.188(4)), so in those counties SOF-24 adds $5 to the minimum and maximum too, and Chief Justice Order 20-022 lets violations bureaus add it to the reduced amounts below. Circuit courts also cut the fine for drivers with a light record: under Chief Justice Order 20-022 (June 12, 2020, still the order OJD’s ePay page links for eligibility), a circuit court violations bureau, including OJD’s online ePay/eCVB system, must reduce a Class D fine to $65 if your driving record shows no prior convictions in the three years before the ticket, or to $90 with one or two, when you ask for the reduction and every charge on the citation is one the bureau can handle. You resolve the ticket without a trial to get it: a no contest plea online, or no contest or guilty in person, per OJD’s Traffic Options page. That page describes the same test (two or fewer convictions in the last three years, and an Oregon driver license number on the citation) and says online reductions are not offered on citations issued in Tillamook, Union or Wallowa counties, where you ask the court instead. The order governs circuit courts; a ticket filed in a city or justice court follows that court’s own practice. Renewing late costs nothing extra at DMV: ORS 803.455(3) sets the renewal fee at the same fee required for registration under ORS 803.420, Oregon DMV’s vehicle fee page lists late fees only for title transfers, and the only late fee in ORS chapter 803 is the late title-transfer fee (ORS 803.090, 803.105).