VC 4463 – Forgery or Falsification of Car Registration Stickers

If you tampered with any document or device designed to provide evidence of current car registration, or fraudulently altered a smog certificate you may have violated this offense.

Watch this video to understand when the prosecutor will file charges.

What is Forgery or Falsification of Car Registration Stickers? VC 4463

Vehicle Code Section 4463 essentially defines the offense as the intentional fraudulent altering forging of car registration, license plate, or registration stickers, or intentionally displaying false forged license plate, registration stickers, or car registration¹.

Examples:

• Displaying a fake registration sticker
• Altering your originally issued license plate
• Carrying and presenting a counterfeit license
• Fraud involving smog test certificates²

Example

A man made fake licenses designed to pass police checks in exchange for money. 

The man can be convicted of forgery under Vehicle Code section 4463, as well as Conspiracy under Penal Code section 182 , because the man made, forged, and counterfeited licenses without authority with the intent to represent that they were issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles and with the intent that they pass police checks.

Additionally, the man collaborated with paying customers who paid him money in return for the fake licenses.

How Does the Prosecutor Prove A Violation of Vehicle Code 4463?

To prove that you are guilty of this offense, the prosecutor has to prove the following facts or elements.³

• You have committed any of the acts with the intent to prejudice, damage, or defraud⁴:
• Altered, forged, counterfeited, falsified any of the following documents: certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license, license plate, special plate, registration card, certificate, license, license plate, or permit provided for by a foreign jurisdiction; OR

• Displayed or caused or permitted to be displayed or have in his or her possession a blank, incomplete, canceled, suspended, revoked, altered, forged, counterfeit, or false: certificate of ownership, registration card, certificate, license, license plate; OR
• published, passed, or attempted to pass, as true and genuine, a false, altered, forged, or counterfeited any of the documents listed above, knowing it to be false, altered, forged, or counterfeited.

Example

A man took a registration sticker assigned to his neighbor’s car and placed it on his car to make it appear that his car’s registration is current.

Because the man did so with the intent to avoid paying for his own registration sticker, he can be charged with this offense.

Legal Defenses

No Intent To Defraud

If you did not intend to defraud, you have a defense to this allegation.

Example

Consider a situation where you yourself were an innocent victim of fraud. 

You purchased a vehicle that was in fact stolen and the registration documents were forged prior to the purchase.

Insufficient Evidence of Intent To Defraud

If the prosecutor does not have sufficient evidence to show that you had intent to defraud, you cannot be convicted of this offense.  However, keep in mind that the prosecution can use both sufficient indirect and direct evidence to convict you⁵.

Penalties

This offense can be charged as either a felony or misdemeanor, depending on the facts of the case and the criminal history of a defendant.

Penalty	Misdemeanor	Felony
Fine	$500 – $1,000	Up to $10,000
County Jail or State Prison	Up to 1 year jail	16 months, 2 or 3 years prison

Related Offenses

False Statements to DMV or CHP:  Under Vehicle Code 20 , If you used a false or fake name at the DMV, you may have violated this section of the Vehicle Code.  Likewise, if you knowingly made false a statement, or knowingly concealed any material fact in a document that you filed with the DMV, you may be found guilty of this offense.  If convicted, you face being charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Providing False Information to a Peace or Police Officer: Under Vehicle Code 31 , if you have given false information to a peace officer, either in writing or orally, you probably violated this offense.  If convicted, you face being charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Forgery or Counterfeiting of Seals: Under Pen. Code, §472, if you forged or possessed a forged California DMV “seal” on an official registration document such as car registration, you may be guilty of this offense.  If convicted of this offense, you face the same penalties as listed above for violating Vehicle Code section 4463.

Forgery of Drivers License: Under Pen. Code, §470, if you possess a driver’s license or ID that has been forged, and you do so with the intent that the driver’s license or ID be used to facilitate forgery, you may be charged with this offense.  If convicted, you face imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170.

1. Vehicle Code 4463 [↩]
2. See also People v. Avanessian (1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 635, 641. (“A smog certificate is a certificate within the meaning of Vehicle Code section 4463 so that defendants’ fraudulent production of smog certificates violated that section.” [↩]
3. Elements. Vehicle Code Section 4463 [↩]
4. The intent required for this offense is essentially intent to commit fraud in order to avoid paying for car registration renewal, smog check, or some other related car registration expense [↩]
5. Direct evidence can prove a fact by itself. For example, if a witness testifies he saw it raining outside before he came into the courthouse, that testimony is direct evidence that it was raining. CALCRIM 223 [↩]