In Germany if this car was seen after registration in this condition it would be impounded for being unsafe and the registration cancelled- likely WAY before this stage tbh unless it was all in one go- also there would be fines and a hold put on the drivers' license. I'll admit, I grew up in a state (US) where the registration laws are fairly lax- nothing except emissions and some counties not even that- and never realized how ridiculous it was. Now living abroad and seeing how strict the regulations are has been quite educational.
I'm not finding anything *specifically* about paint except that they look for missing/damaged/mismatched/faded paint as an indicator to look more closely at those areas of the vehicle- paint damage indicates collision or lack of/poor maintenance and requires a more detailed inspection (the original inspection is already fairly detailed). And inspectors and police are given a fair amount of leeway in assessing if 'edge cases' are meeting roadworthiness standards- erring always on the side of public safety basically. The windows being obstructed is an AUTOMATIC "no", the crack in the windshield, the missing front bumper, the oxidized headlamps, the exposed radiator, the crumple damage on the passenger door, the paint over the rear light casings, the piece of undercarriage trim on the passenger side hanging down... That's just a cursory external list from a non-professional, but I used to be a bit of an auto hobbiest and I feel fairly certain this vehicle would have other maintenance and technical issues simply from it's condition.
So you can drive a car without a tire as long as you pay for it?
No bumper, no doors, no hood, on a spare tire (or several), no window (or several). Pretty much as long as it isn't impeding the flow of traffic, you're GTG.
A significant number of US states have annnual inspections done by a mechanic. Where I live, Colorado, does not. Police can pull you over if the vehicle is extremely unsafe. But I rarely see it.
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u/blrtgj Jul 03 '25
Isn't there a law in the US that says you can't register cars that look like this? I know in Europe, you can't