Denver, CO -- If you don't register your car, there is little the state or counties can do other than write a ticket. So what's cheaper: a few tickets or one year of car registration?

That depends on the car and some, with newer more expensive cars, have chosen to pay a few tickets a year instead of the hundreds of dollars for registration.

In fact, CALL7 Investigators found more than 200,000 tickets for expired tags written statewide in last two and half years. Nearly 15,000 vehicles received at least three tickets.

This means that while some pay their fair share, others are cheating the system and hurting county services, like better roads and bridges.

It's a loophole the neither state nor county officials knew about until the CALL7 Investigators told them.

CALL7 Investigator John Ferrugia asked one repeat offender, "You've got a temporary tag from 2007, so you haven't paid registration fees for two years?"

She nodded.

Then Ferrugia asked, "You have paid how many tickets?"

She replied, "Several."

7NEWS found that her late model Mini Cooper has received at least 11 tickets in the past 20 months.

Each ticket costs $30, but the repeat offender ignored most of them.

Ferrugia asked, "There is no penalty really for not getting registered, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of," she said.

She's right. The only penalty is a ticket and when you pay that ticket there is no requirement for you to register your car.

"Is it cheaper to pay the tickets than it is to get registered?" asked Ferrugia.

She nodded and replied, "Quite possibly."

"So you have saved several thousand dollars and the city and county of Denver has lost several thousand dollars," said Ferrugia.

She agreed.

"The only thing that can happen is that at the point and time you actually register your vehicle, back ownership taxes would be collected." said Maren Rubino.

Rubino runs the Titles and Registration section of the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles.

She said the loophole was something she and other state officials never considered.

"There is no penalty the state can exercise. It can't take your license?" asked Ferrugia.

"Right," said Rubino.

The manger of Denver Public Works, Bill Vidal, told 7NEWS, "Certainly the city would get a major bulk of that registration fee and certainly we're interested in collecting it."

It's not just revenue for Denver County, but every Colorado county.

"I think that certainly is what you have pointed out in this investigation is that there appears to be a way for you to just keep paying your tickets for an expired license and there is no need for you to register your car," said Vidal.

"It would definitely impact your county budget because that revenue which is supposed to be paid isn't being paid," said Rubino.

State law does not authorize local government to require registration as a condition of clearing a ticket like it does for proof of insurance.

Vidal and DMV officials think the state legislature needs to act to close the loophole.

Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll wa stunned by the findings of the CALL7 Investigation.

Carroll said, "You just pay your ticket and you just keep on driving because apparently there is no hammer to force you to register your car. I'm actually surprised that no one has come to us and said, 'hey we don't have any hammer here.'"

He also noted that, not only is there potential millions in uncollected revenue, but unregistered cars can be past due on inspections

"The safety and emissions factors are just as important as the revenue, if not more," said Carroll.

He said, the fix will take time and would mean giving cities and counties the authority to force drivers to register their cars as a condition of settling a ticket.