why so many WA state plates in NoVA?

June 12, 2008 8:05 PM

I live in northern Virginia, and since I moved back to this area about 8 months ago, I've been noticing many out of state license plates from Washington state (this happens one or more times a week). Is there any rhyme or reason to this (some big company relocating here), or is it just coincidence?
posted by fnord23bc to grab bag (10 comments total)

This is sort of a guess, but the big company may be the military. Some states let their residents who enter the military remain residents of that state, even when stationed elsewhere. IIRC my parents' cars had NY plates for this reason when I was growing up in MD.
posted by Jahaza at 9:38 PM on June 12, 2008

Those goddamn apple pickers are down here in Texas too. Of course, in Austin we have the Seattle/Portland/Austin exchange program.

Seriously, you're experiencing confirmation bias. You could have started noticing cars from California just as easily. I bet you see one by Monday.
posted by birdherder at 9:39 PM on June 12, 2008

Maybe big rental car market in Washington State?
posted by k8t at 10:35 PM on June 12, 2008

This is sort of a guess, but the big company may be the military. Some states let their residents who enter the military remain residents of that state, even when stationed elsewhere. IIRC my parents' cars had NY plates for this reason when I was growing up in MD.

Yup, this and confirmation bias. It's DC, we've got a crazy assortment of plates.
posted by phrontist at 11:07 PM on June 12, 2008

Seems a little confirmation-biasy; I'm in NoVA also, and I hadn't really noticed much of anything. (However, I tend to notice plates from states where I've previously lived, and WA is not one of those.)

The major sources for WA -> DC personnel that come to mind are Boeing or the military.

Although Ft Lewis is a major training center, and many military personnel in the MDW have doubtless passed through there, I don't think most of them would have WA plates on their cars. There's always a chance, I suppose, that something's occurred (e.g. BRACing) that's caused a glut of people to move around. Also, occasionally groups of people moving from a particular post will all resettle in one neighborhood, which might make it seem like there are a lot of people from some region around you.

Boeing comes to mind because they obviously have a big presence in WA, and they also have a substantial amount of stuff here in the DC Metro area. It's not outside the realm of possibility that some new project has brought a bunch of people over, particularly if business isn't booming at their West coast locations. However, not knowing anything about Boeing as a company, I don't know whether that's even realistic.

I'd tell you I'd keep an eye out, but then I'd probably just start seeing them everywhere, too.

But hey, maybe you've discovered the secret to the Potomac Park mystery project! Inventing conspiracy theories is what makes this town interesting ... gives you something to think about in traffic. Besides license plates.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:46 PM on June 12, 2008

Yeah, I'm with phrontist, it's confirmation bias. It's DC, I saw a Guam plate the other day, no foolin'. I wonder how they drove that one here?
posted by Pollomacho at 4:53 AM on June 13, 2008

I don't know about Washington state, but do expect a small influx of Michigan plates to NoVA - VW is moving its U.S. headquarters to Herndon, and a couple of hundred employees are coming too. One of them just moved in close to my house. Of course, I'm sure they'll register their cars soon and not try to skirt VA personal property tax. ;)
posted by candyland at 5:38 AM on June 13, 2008

I could maybe see people moving to DC from WA being less likely than people from other states to switch their license plates and drivers licenses over because WA (like FL) is one of the few states with no income tax. So Washington transplants that are in DC to study or to work somewhere like the military might choose to remain residents there, rather than pay VA or DC state income taxes. Whereas someone from, say, Massachusetts might find the state taxes in VA less onerous and switch over residency here.
posted by iminurmefi at 6:45 AM on June 13, 2008

Avoiding property tax on their cars would be my guess. I have a few friends that "forgot" to change their vehicle registrations for several years because they didn't want to pay several hundred in property tax on their vehicles in NoVa.
posted by longdaysjourney at 9:29 AM on June 13, 2008

So Washington transplants that are in DC to study or to work somewhere like the military might choose to remain residents there, rather than pay VA or DC state income taxes.

Hardly limited to people from Washington State. If it's possible, temporary residents (and not just those inside the Beltway) try to avoid the hassle of registering their vehicles locally.
posted by Rash at 9:18 AM on June 14, 2008