Removing License Plates

[Boltfan]

Can anyone answer

Once you arrive at your destination, is it legal to remove the license plate from your car so long as you put it back once you head out to drive again?

[boardman]

Just get those James Bond Rotating ones. I thinck they come standard with an Aston Martin.

[tia travels]

You might just get ticketed while you're in the building (if a cop rolls thru the lot looking for say...people parking in handicapped without a license) if he feels you were driving without a license plate. I don't know if he needs to actually see you driving without one or if he just needs to see an unplated car.

I wouldn't sit in the hotel or spa lot and put the plate back on. Keep it in the front window when you arrive and leave and while you're in the hotel, you can try putting the plate under your front seat til your return.

But nothing calls attention to yourself more than an unplated car.

As far as legality, hopefully someone else can answer that.

boardman...I just saw the movie JOHNNY ENGLISH-REBORN (starring Rowan Atkinson) and his Rolls Royce had that same rotating plate. It was funny.

[Missy Mariposa]

If you park on the street and your tags aren't visible, you can be towed. I had a friend who parked his car in front of his house, took the plates off (as they weren't valid) and didn't move the vehicle. They came and took it in the middle of the night a few days later, he just woke up to it being gone.

The reason given was that his car was parked on the street and as no tags/registration was displayed, his car was not street legal.

Taking your plates off/obscuring them just makes you look MORE suspicious.

[notequiteatroll]

custom made flexible magnet. looks like a license plate and pops off and on really fast

[Capt. Lincoln F. Stern]

problem with swapping plates is getting some "real looking" fake ones.. or unless you have a friend in the used car business who can give you those paper plates that are good for 30 days but will still point back to him... the holy grail is you go to a salvage yard and find a "friendly" mechanic who can "find" you plates off a vehicle of the same make as yours.. aka you drive a Ford truck and the plates he "finds" are off a Ford truck...

Salvage yards are supposed to report any plates they get from cars so they can be decommissioned but if you can find some that way... make sure they do not have any warrants on the plates.

Changing them is easy.. carry a cordless screw driver and if the plates are not off a hot car or have outstanding tickets on them.. change em at home or some hidden place so that you can drive with them.. go to where ever, and when you leave find a new place to park and swap back.

[Cpalmson]

Another option would to park in a way that doesn't show your license plates. This will only work in states that only require a rear license plate.

[tia travels]

Or better yet, drive a rental or someone else's car, ride a bike or use a motorcycle (which has a teeny tiny tag), or...call a cab and have it ready for when you exit or use public transportation (if you're near a bus or train stop).

[Boltfan]

Private lot, not a public street.

Swapping plates is definately illegal.

Just curious if removing them on private property is illegal or not.

[MasterBaiter1996]

I think someone removing plates is more suspicious.

[Boltfan]

I don't care about suspicious. I could give a fuck what anyone thinks about my activities, save the law and their tow truck driver or ticket book.

[acp5762]

Originally Posted by Boltfan

Private lot, not a public street.

Swapping plates is definately illegal.

Just curious if removing them on private property is illegal or not.

Being that the License Plate on your Car does not belong to you it belongs to the State in which you registered your car. Removing, Tampering or improperly displaying of the License Plate is grounds for a citation. But being in a private parking lot it would be a bit remote that you could get ticketed. Why would anyone go through the trouble of temporarilly removing a License Plate and then putting it back on. Just because you're at a Hotel seeing an escort. Iam a little puzzled over the reasoning behind this.

[guest043013-2]

acp,

For a lot of us, a picture of our vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel, AMP, studio, strip club, or driveway of an unknown (provider) friend would initiate conversations with SOs that are not desired.

There have been a lot of allegations floating around about pimps & scams taking down a guy's plate number, taking a picture, and sending it to the SO to out a hobbyist.

[acp5762]

Originally Posted by tigercat

acp,

For a lot of us, a picture of our vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel, AMP, studio, strip club, or driveway of an unknown (provider) friend would initiate conversations with SOs that are not desired.

There have been a lot of allegations floating around about pimps & scams taking down a guy's plate number, taking a picture, and sending it to the SO to out a hobbyist.

Well, thats rather extreme. I would really have to stress if having superficial sex with a person you hardly know comes down to this, it might be time to reevaluate the true importance of this hobby.

[Wixchill]

Park in a nearby area (grocery store, restaurant, etc) and walk? Take the bus? Ride a bike?