Number plates on the Internet

[dieselnutjob]

I noticed that lots of you airbrush out your number plates before posting pictures on the Internet.What exactly is the bad thing that can happen if you don't?I know that if you pay a few quid to the DVLA and lie about the reason, that you can get an address from a number plate.Are folks worried that someone will do that to find a car that they want to nick? or take bits off?Also there is number plate cloning I suppose if someone wants their parking tickets and gatso speeding fines sent to you.Any other reason?

[myglaren]

It is a cumulative thing. The more snippets of info that the buggers who make our lives a misery can accumulate, the more damage they can do. Starve them of info and they might curl up and die. Wishful thinking I know but feeding them is not really the way to go.

 

Have to say that I'm rather lax on that front, personally. Rarely take my own advice

 

[keef]

Also there is number plate cloning I suppose if someone wants their parking tickets and gatso speeding fines sent to you.

Have seen/heard some nasty ones about this, but think that is mainly from things like adverts for modern cars for sale on sites like Autotrader.

[Station]

Think it's an easy way of cloning a car. Do a search on internet, and then get the plates done and do a bank job. I don't blank the plates out tbh.

[FredTransit]

I always take mine off, specially on the tax exemept ones and the ambies. Why make it easy for the cloners? Remember with 80s plates being used legitimately as private plates, a C or B reg wouldn't look odd on a newish car.

[hennabm]

Because of all the reasons listed dieselnut.The plate can be cloned for illegal reasons; the car can be identified from the number and who/where it is.I do it as a precaution to my currently owned and friends vehicles.So why does my avatar display a number plate? Because that is not its current number but the one it was originally registered on.

[dieselnutjob]

so how much does a number plate have to be scrambled to make it useless to a miscreant.Presumably just swapping two digits would defeat most of this stuff without spoiling the photo too much?

[504GL]

It is a cumulative thing. The more snippets of info that the buggers who make our lives a misery can accumulate, the more damage they can do. Starve them of info and they might curl up and die. Wishful thinking I know but feeding them is not really the way to go.

 

Have to say that I'm rather lax on that front, personally. Rarely take my own advice

 

I always blur it out on my Fiat because it's a new car and therefore worth it for someone to clone if they wanted to or use it to steal fuel or get speeding tickets. Sure I can just prove that it wasn't me but I don't want to have to cross that bridge. Always makes me larf though when people blur everything out on the plate bar the age identifier. It screams "I don't want my plate cloned but I still want you to know that my car has a 59 plate, PLEASE acknowledge the fact that I've got a 59 plate!!!!!!"

 

Don't have a problem posting the numberplate of my 131, my 504 or my brothers Alfa on the net because we either don't own anymore or the cars have been scrapped.

 

http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/ ... 04/504.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/ ... 0131_2.jpg

http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/alfa2.JPG

[Rod/b]

I don't bother. Someone could just as easy clone my plates by noting the reg number whenever I park it, or much more likely just nick the plates and go bilking fuel straight away. I just don't see the need.

[pandamonium]

so how much does a number plate have to be scrambled to make it useless to a miscreant.Presumably just swapping two digits would defeat most of this stuff without spoiling the photo too much?

Doing that might lose you a sale or two, as some people run it through a DVLA/Autotrader check and if it comes back as a VW golf plate on a Fiat Panda, people might get suspicious

[dieselnutjob]

yeah but I'm not sellingjust talking about shite cars on the internetif you are selling it will be the next owners problem anyway

[Milford Cubicle]

I always take mine off, specially on the tax exemept ones and the ambies. Why make it easy for the cloners? Remember with 80s plates being used legitimately as private plates, a C or B reg wouldn't look odd on a newish car.

It'd look odd if it related to a completely different vehicle though.

[504GL]

I don't bother. Someone could just as easy clone my plates by noting the reg number whenever I park it, or much more likely just nick the plates and go bilking fuel straight away. I just don't see the need.

Of course but for instance if someone's wanting to clone an E46 M3 all the person needs to do is find a forum and have a look through threads and bingo there's your plate. Perhaps not such a problem on Autoshite as it's not particular to any marque or model and most of the cars aren't worth cloning.I prefer to be safe rather than sorry

[Albert Ross]

I couldnt give two shits about it. I mean, WHO else would have a 1970 or thereabouts Land Rover 109 painted red with a white stripe, green doortops, and a cream roof, and SECURITY slapped on the sides in foot high stick on vinyls? (And still drive it about that is, like me) I do like having black plates though, ANPR struggles with them, and I like this as it's a bit "schoolboy" of me, but legal.

[Guest]

I don't bother blanking my plates either, if anyone wants to do a bankjob in a Charmant, good luck to em.

[Gompo]

I dont bother either, if somebody is going to go to the trouble of stealing a car, finding a plate to clone cant be that difficult unless it's some obscure car/model (and if it is it usually gets flagged in another way).

[FredTransit]

I always take mine off, specially on the tax exemept ones and the ambies. Why make it easy for the cloners? Remember with 80s plates being used legitimately as private plates, a C or B reg wouldn't look odd on a newish car.

It'd look odd if it related to a completely different vehicle though.

That's the whole point, if one of my plates off one of my Mk2 transits (say a C reg) was seen on an obviously new Clio, Joe public would assume it was a private plate. They wouldn't look at it and think (or be able to check, on the street) Oh that's the plate off a 1984 transit. I get the impression too, that people that do this also think the less it matches the better, so it's easier for the real keeper to prove it wasn't them. I know of a TRACTOR owner that was contacted after his plate was snapped by a speed camera, it was attached to a Triumph of a similar vintage of the plate/tractor and despite the photo clearly showing the triumph (on black and silvers too), and the tractor being tucked up in the barn (let alone being incapable of 55 MPH) he still had loads of shit off the police and the DVLA. Yes it was sorted out in the end, but who needs it?

[Cavcraft]

yeah but I'm not sellingjust talking about shite cars on the internetif you are selling it will be the next owners problem anyway

It'll be the next owner's problem but only if the offences were comitted whilst they owned it. You advertise your car on the net for a week or two before it's sold and the first day on the net someone might clone it. Then it's your problem.

[FredTransit]

That's a very good point, and one you may be stuck with if you are selling. It would put me off (as a buyer) not to see the plate, but you are then open to cloning. You are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[Milford Cubicle]

I always take mine off, specially on the tax exemept ones and the ambies. Why make it easy for the cloners? Remember with 80s plates being used legitimately as private plates, a C or B reg wouldn't look odd on a newish car.

It'd look odd if it related to a completely different vehicle though.

That's the whole point, if one of my plates off one of my Mk2 transits (say a C reg) was seen on an obviously new Clio, Joe public would assume it was a private plate. They wouldn't look at it and think (or be able to check, on the street) Oh that's the plate off a 1984 transit.

ANPR FTW.