Front license plates

[AstroManLuca]

Just wondering, has anyone here decided to not use their front license plates even if their state's laws require it? Ever gotten in trouble for it?

I've heard mixed reports. Some people have never been pulled over for it, others have gotten cheap "fix it tickets," and others have gotten huge fines similar to speeding tickets.

I live in Minnesota where it's required, but since I just bought a new car, I actually care how it looks and I think skipping the front plate would make it look so much better. Unfortunately, the law says that not only is a front plate required, but it has to be mounted horizontally and facing outward, so I can't just keep it in the window either.

 

[T2urtle]

in IL its the same thing.

When there are meets around here and cops get word of it they wait for people at the entrances and given out tickets before.


I didn't have mines on but i was thinking if a cop were to pull me over for no front plates then they would get my for my tints as well. So didn't want to get hit with 2 tickets i opted to put my plates on. many people drive without them... your not the only on. A lot of higher end car owners put on shiny metal BMW/ benz plates over and drive like that.

 

[EightySix Four]

I drive with them in the trunk and if an officer pulls me over I tell them I took it off for a car show and forgot to put it back on.

They're required so they have an easier time hitting you with the LIDAR gun.

 

[zerocool84]

I've gotten pulled over once for not having a front license place. They can obviously use it as an excuse to pull you over if you don't have one.

 

[Zorba]

My wife's car doesn't have on because we lived in Oklahoma when we got that car so there is no front holder on it. The dealership here wanted to charge us $200 for a holder, even though it would've been free when we got the car.

 

[AnnonUSA]

In Jersey you will get stopped and ticketed for it. The Revenue squad is on high alert in the Garden State.....

 

[Auric]

I wonder if such laws tend to vary in their implementation such that substitute markings may be allowed? For instance, a vinyl decal or such as -so long as the digits are equivalent in size and visibility?

Recently, I saw a movie set in the UK, wherein there was a sports car with a front end something akin to an old Jag and the license digits appeared painted on the hood. Somehow though it seemed less obtrusive than a plate would have.

Most cars would look better with a smooth bumper and such decal than with a typical plate and plate cutout but if that exists then forgoing the plate would not benefit the appearance much.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
In Jersey you will get stopped and ticketed for it. The Revenue squad is on high alert in the Garden State.....

yep. I got a $54 ticket for it once. Got it in a town I pass thru to get to work. The same cop sits in the same spot every morning during rush hour, and after that initial ticket, he'd look at my car passing by every day to make sure I have my license plate on.

 

[BassBomb]

Its illegal not to have (in Ontario at least) even though it looks bad on our ES350 we better keep it

 

[VoteQuimby]

No front plates required here in Michigan.

 

[dotcom173]

heres how it went for me:

im 19 now, had my license since i was 16, been driving since i was 15 or 15.5 i guess. i decided to take off my front plate this past april i believe, and ive gotten pulled over twice since. however, before that, i had never been pulled over for any reason. im going to attribute the reason the cop pulled me over the first time was because i was on campus at around 11pm and pulled out of a parking lot, so he probably thought the chances i was drunk were high and he just used the license plate/dark tint excuse. the second time, my windows were down, so it wasnt a tint problem, and the cop just said it was my plates. i was driving in a cluster of about 4 cars at the time and not one of them had a front plate (i checked as soon as i saw the cop whip around from the other side of the street). my car is red, and the cop straight up told me that "the fact my car is red doesnt help me much," even though ive never been pulled over before, except a month earlier.

maybe that was too much to write about a front plate, but i didnt get a fix-it ticket either time, and was just told to put them back on. it probably helped that both times i told the cops my plate was in my trunk and that i could put it on right then and there, and it really was in my trunk.

my friend had a somewhat good idea: keep your front plate under ur front seat or somethign, so if u get pulled over, just tell the cop that some kids or something unscrewed ur plate and left it on the ground, and you havent gotten the screws for it yet. im sure if u say that they'll go easy on u, especially since u had it under ur front seat.

hope that helps. the first time i got pulled over can be dismissed partially cuz i guess i was suspicious, however, the second seemed like he just wanted to be a cop and pull me over, yet still didnt give me a ticket...maybe its cuz im a nice boy!

sorry about the length of this reply, im at work and looking for an excuse to shut my brain off for a while.

p.s. im 19 years old, maybe that had something to do with the second time.

p.p.s. i love you.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

i don't see the big deal with leaving them on.
definitely not worth the hassle or risk of being pulled over.

maybe i'm getting "old" at 25.

 

[dotcom173]

Originally posted by: BlahBlahYouToo
i don't see the big deal with leaving them on.
definitely not worth the hassle or risk of being pulled over.

maybe i'm getting "old" at 25.

Thats kind of how i think about it, but some cars just look sooooo good without it. mine probably isnt one of them, so i might as well put it back on, but some cars mannnn, sommeee carrsss...

 

[ViviTheMage]

required in minnesota...kind of sucks, but better then stacking tickets with tint, and that.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Speaking of tint, what's the deal with that? You're legally allowed to have a certain amount of tint (the law here is 20% reflective and allows 50% of light in, maximum). If you have tinted windows do police just pull you over to harass you about it? Do they have any way of actually testing your tint?

 

[dotcom173]

from what i have heard, they do/can get a tool that tests the amount of light through your windows. i assume its in two pieces, one side shoots light through the window, and the other side detects how much of the original light is missing/absorbed in the window.

thats never happened to me, i think they usually just tell u its too dark as a warning. i dont know the rules about forcing u to get a lighter tint without testing it first...i guess they can just tell by looking that its illegal...if they dont use the tool

 

[mitaiwan82]

No problems w/ that in TX...I think taking the front plates off is the first thing I do

watch the ironing and I get pulled over soon...

 

[T2urtle]

bout the tint they have a tool that measures amount of like that goes thru it. similiar to a radar gun that tells the speed, this thing tells the tint.

it doesn't matter for me because in IL no front tints period. i have 35 fronts and 15 rears. the rears are dark but i can have them any way i want. When i get pulled over or asked about my tints i honestly think the retard cop thinks my rears are too dark when there is no law about the rear but i never argue, i tell them its the way i got it the car from the dealer and i say the name of a local dealer and tell them to call ( random name) i always go with andy to confirm this. 35 is really light in the day time to a point where its just smoke, its equal to having dirty windows in a sense.

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Its illegal not to have (in Ontario at least) even though it looks bad on our ES350 we better keep it

Might as well keep it on, it'll just be all rusty or corroded in a few years.

 

[nbowman]

they are required in CA too, though I drove around without one for ~5 years before I got pulled over. Cops largely use them as an excuse to pull you over if they can't find something else, though the legislators that passed the law probably thought they were saving lives or something when they voted for it.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: potato28

Originally posted by: BassBomb
Its illegal not to have (in Ontario at least) even though it looks bad on our ES350 we better keep it

Might as well keep it on, it'll just be all rusty or corroded in a few years.

its not an older plate those things rusted like abitch

we have a cover over it too, to help

 

[marincounty]

It's for the red light cameras, so they have a nice picture of you with your license plate.

 

[alfa147x]

I took them off of all our cars

 

[dug777]

Our non-fixed multanovas (speedcameras) fire into oncoming traffic.

 

[imported_Champ]

up in alberta we have no front license and its alot better(aesthetically)...the only licenses that look good on the front are European