Front plates

[2 Sweet]

OK, so I'm just kind of thinking out loud here, so bear with me.

 

I remember the thread on here with the CPD officer that used to write a bunch of front plate tickets, and he was a huge dickbag about it. Then he got busted for kid porn or something (karma LOL). But I never really heard about anyone else writing front plate tickets. Sure it might give the Staties or Westerville or whoever a reason to pull you over, but it didn't seem like it was being enforced too strict by anyone.

 

Back in 2006ish I got pulled over in Hilliard and given a warning for no front plate, and a couple years later my buddy got pulled over in the small town of Attica (we were on our way to Cedar Point) and written a ticket. Nothing since then. I've had numerous Camaros with no front plate on any of them. I had a job as a field supervisor driving 200 miles a day around central Ohio, with no front plate on my S10, and never once got pulled over. We never put a front plate on my wife's Equinox and we drive that thing everywhere.

 

I know lots of folks that put a front plate on their Corvette or whatever because they don't want to be hassled. So have I just been lucky, or have we reached the point that the police really don't give a shit anymore since they expect front plates to be phased out soon? I keep hearing that front plates are going away, but I've been hearing that for a decade now.

[zeitgeist57]

We've had a lot of discussions in the past on this, but I'll bring it back up.

 

From my first new car (2001 Nissan Maxima) through today, the only vehicles I've owned with front plates were older Cleetus' (cleeti??) where the stamped steel bumpers had a provision for front plates. Corvette, CTS-V, Passat, BMW, Lincoln, LeBaron, etc...never had plates, or as soon as I brought them home I pulled the front mounts off the cars.

 

The only time I've EVER had problems is when I was speeding. Recently, I've been lucky with a string of pull-overs, but my CCW license has gotten me off with warnings - and I'm guilty of no front plate, too-dark window tint, you name it...

 

If you're doing 0-9 over the limit, I would say front plate isn't going to get you.

[bdhill]

Highway patrol is not fond of no front plate...got off with a warning, but not worth the headaches. Hopefully, the law will change, soon.

[STEVE-O]

Never run one except on my Audi whose bumper had a indent for the plate, otherwise nothing ever and only been hassled 1 time and a warning was not even issued. Been pulled over for speeding without a plate and it was not even mentioned

[Geeto67]

I will start off by saying, If you can run the front plate do it. It's $50 you unnecessarily pay to the state and you can't see it when you are in the car anyway - I'd rather spend the money on a plate relocation kit to make it less obtrusive (including ones that fold when parked), then to the state.

 

That being said, I have been running without a front plate for a year now. My plate was ripped off my BMW by last year's flooding and it took a piece of the bumper mount that made it cost prohibitive to fix without replacing the whole bumper. I have it just sitting on the dash, not even suction cupped like some people do so it isn't visible from the front unless you are right up on top of the car. I have not yet been pulled over for it, nobody has mentioned it to me, nada. I basically drive only in suburban areas though and rarely downtown.

 

Now my wife, someone backed into her car 2 years ago and cracked the carbon fibre grille cross bar the license plate was mounted to. For a week she drove without a plate, and she got a ticket while parked at a meter downtown. I fought it and won, but I made a mount for her plate and remounted it. Since then it has not been an issue.

 

Now to be fair, my car is a white bone stock 3 series on poverty wheels. It has no visible "performance enhancements", tint, or makes any noise other than stock. It doesn't give anybody a reason to pull me over. My wife's car is a lowered black audi with many visible carbon fibre parts, a semi-loud stainless exhaust, and completely blacked out (tints on windows and lights) that we jokingly refer to as rolling probable cause. She gets pulled over once a year and it's hilarious to see the officer's face when behind the tint is this smiling, bubbly 5'5" woman (usually hauling my daughter in the back).

 

Prior to the BMW, I got pulled over in my jeep (2015) for alleged speeding. I had just been hit by a co-worker two days before and the front bumper was mangled (and the speedo not working). The officer mentioned it but let me go with a warning.

 

YMMV

 

Here's the thing, It's not a "priority" for anybody, but if you are attracting attention and they want to write you for something but don't want to stick you with something burdensome, you could easily end up with one. It makes a good reason to pull you over in the otherwise absence of substantial probable cause. Also it is low hanging fruit for the parking enforcers downtown, so you roll the dice and you takes your chances. Is it a big risk? depends on where you are going but I'll say no. Every city, township, village, etc has their own enforcement stragety, so if you find yourself driving through a lot of small speed trap towns (Linndale I am looking at you) I'd put one on just to avoid the potential for a hassle.

[TTQ B4U]

Highway patrol is not fond of no front plate...got off with a warning, but not worth the headaches. Hopefully, the law will change, soon.

 

^^ this. Highway Patrol are dicks about it. Columbus doesn't seem to care. The Cop that responded to my accident after my car was hit didn't care 1 bit and thanked me for the blue line sticker I had on my plate. He did warn me though that the tinted cover would give me trouble with the highway patrol. I asked if he was good with it and he literally said he didn't give a shit.

 

I ran a tow-hook on my Audi and thought it actually didn't look bad. I won't go without one only as Kerry has noted, I don't need to give cops another reason to pull me over.

[Buck531]

I'm waiting for someone to pull me over in the Fiero. Personal historical tags and only one is issued from the BMV. I wonder if they actually do see that I don't have a front tag and then when I drive by they see the personalized tag and say "damnit".

 

I live in Gahanna and work in Westerville and have driven by numerous police this past year and not one time did I get pulled over.

[Cordell]

I agree with those that just run it to avoid the hassle. There are holes under the one on the Camaro (where dumbasses riveted the plate bracket through the grill), and I didn't get the filler panel with the Vette so I just put the plate on. The other cars don't look like anything special so it really isn't worth it.

[B3NN3TT]

I've owned my Bullitt for 5 years now, never had a front plate. Bought it from Indiana, so it didn't have one when I bought it, and I wasn't going to install it. No issues.

 

I got 2 tickets in the Cougar for it though, in about a year's time. But it's obviously modified for autocross, so it tends to bring out the worst in people.

[Not Brian]

Daily: always

Fun car: never

[gillbot]

I never put it on my Camaro, it was in the front window. Randomly I’d get hassled about it but I always claimed it was because I kept getting personalized plates stolen so the one inside was kept for the bmv’s benefit.

 

Now I just run them because I don’t want the hassle and my cars are boring anyway.

[2pointslow]

i dont run one, i dont speed and its a secondary violation.

[cstmg8]

I also don't run one if the vehicle doesn't already come with the mount. I've only been hassled when pulled over for speeding.

BUT, be warned, if you park on the street downtown, they will ticket you for failure to display.

 

PS. I did get hassled in my G8 by a Whitehall cop on my way to a call in for work a few years ago. He ticketed me for no front plate, window tint, and tinted cover on the back plate. $375 in fines. I installed the show n' go license plate system for vettes. Magistrate knocked it down to $115 total.

[2 Sweet]

Normally I wouldn't mind putting a front plate on my DD, but the Equinox and S10 didn't have front plate brackets, so I didn't put front plates on them. Not gonna bother adding the brackets if they aren't already there. And I don't like to put front plates in the windshield either.

 

The funny thing is, I sold my S10 and bought another truck to replace it and I transferred the plates. Well my new truck had a front plate bracket, but I'm not sure what I did with the front plate, so I stuck this on it.....

 

 

I'm sure it's out in the garage somewhere and I could find it if I tried, but I haven't cared enough to bother with it. Then again, if I'm gonna have a plate on it, it seems silly not to use the actual license plate

[zeitgeist57]

BUT, be warned, if you park on the street downtown, they will ticket you for failure to display.

 

Oh shit! Yes...this is real. I’ve had 3 of those tickets in the last several years...$30-45 each

 

I normally park at Columbus Commons though...so most of the time I’m not at a meter. If you park downtown on Sunday, they don’t enforce anything.

[vonrottes]

I've been thinking about filling in the holes on my front bumper because the plate just takes away from the look/flow of it....but I also don't want to get pulled over for stupid crap...

 

until the law changes I'm just gonna live with it since the holes were already there when I bought the truck

[Fiji ST]

I’ve always run a front plate to appease my wife and her family of law enforcement members, however it was always a tow hook bracket (Mazda) or a removable bracket (Focus). Sadly the bracket became loose a few weeks ago, fell off my car in the middle of the road, and was run over.

 

Until I figure out what I want to do to fix it, I just put the smashed plate and bracket in my car and will use it as an excuse if need be. I hope I can hold off for a while until the wife bitches about it, but it’s kind of nice not having it. Just went out to Pittsburgh and passed a lot of OSHP. No one too a second look.

[Ben]

Yeah. The parking people downtown will get you for it. I even had one of them give me a hard time once for my front plate (even though I clearly display one) because it is mounted on the upper passenger side corner of the windshield. He was under the impression (legally incorrect) that it had to be mounted on the front bumper. Didn't write me up for it, but wanted me to move it. Fat chance.

[coltboostin]

I think a lot has to do with the car.

 

My original Colt did not have a front plate. Got at least 3 tickets for it.

 

My CTS-V, and BMW have never has a plate. 5 years later, not one ticket.

[POS VETT]

Nowadays I don't care whether I get a ticket or not for missing front license plate. I chalk up the tickets as sacrificial; "bad luck disposal" as a saying from another culture would sound like.

 

The average of the tickets is substantially less than once a year, no sweat.

[BStowers023]

I haven't driven with front plates for a while now. Never had an issue but would really suck if I went out to the bar for a game or something had like 3-4 beers and drove home and gave the cops a reason to pull me over.

[El Karacho1647545492]

OK, so I'm just kind of thinking out loud here, so bear with me.

 

I remember the thread on here with the CPD officer that used to write a bunch of front plate tickets, and he was a huge dickbag about it. Then he got busted for kid porn or something (karma LOL). But I never really heard about anyone else writing front plate tickets. Sure it might give the Staties or Westerville or whoever a reason to pull you over, but it didn't seem like it was being enforced too strict by anyone.

 

Back in 2006ish I got pulled over in Hilliard and given a warning for no front plate, and a couple years later my buddy got pulled over in the small town of Attica (we were on our way to Cedar Point) and written a ticket. Nothing since then. I've had numerous Camaros with no front plate on any of them. I had a job as a field supervisor driving 200 miles a day around central Ohio, with no front plate on my S10, and never once got pulled over. We never put a front plate on my wife's Equinox and we drive that thing everywhere.

 

I know lots of folks that put a front plate on their Corvette or whatever because they don't want to be hassled. So have I just been lucky, or have we reached the point that the police really don't give a shit anymore since they expect front plates to be phased out soon? I keep hearing that front plates are going away, but I've been hearing that for a decade now.

 

Stewart Miller. I know the attorney who defended him, he's a damn good lawyer who takes a lot of shitty cases.

 

Anyways, I didn't have time to read this whole thread but I've driven my entire life with no front plate and here's my experiences & observations.

 

Parking downtown: They'll nail you if they don't see a front plate, but they WILL IGNORE YOU if you just put your plate on your dash. I keep my front plate wedged between the console and driver's seat. I am meter parked downtown at least once a week if not more, have not gotten a ticket in 5+ years, and have watched meter maids skip my car.

 

CFP/OSHP: Haven't had a negative interaction with them regarding front plates since 2014. In 2014 I was pulled over and ticketed near the Lodi outlets by an OSHP trooper. This occurred memorial day weekend and I was surprised when a sheepish officer came back to my car with the ticket (8mph over) and stated "sorry pal, I saw no front plate and assumed you were out of state, but we've gotta write up everyone we pull over this weekend." By far one of the weirdest admissions I've heard, but I took it to heart; if you're gonna drive with no front plate on a holiday/heavy enforcement weekend, do your best to blend in. They're out ticketing people they know won't come fight it.

 

Local PD: Some use it to get their jollies, but that's like any local PD. Last time I had a truly negative experience was driving with my dad in 2007 in his E39 that he'd bought via Euro Delivery and had his legit D plate on the front. Gahanna PD pulled us over a 5am as we left town for the F1GP in Indy and lectured us about how we were not, in fact, in Germany, and the front plate requirement is there for our safety.

[TTQ B4U]

I was pulled over and ticketed near the Lodi outlets by an OSHP trooper. This occurred memorial day weekend and I was surprised when a sheepish officer came back to my car with the ticket (8mph over) and stated "sorry pal, I saw no front plate and assumed you were out of state, but we've gotta write up everyone we pull over this weekend..

 

8mph over and he wrote you up? that's lame as fuck and IMO is a perfect example of a directive to increase revenue above protecting the people on our roads.

 

I get they have to generate funds, but there are enough people on the road driving dangerously to make those funds while at the same time protecting the rest of us.

 

I respect what they do but in that case they are embarrassing themselves. If that happens to me I'm going hand him my blue-line support sticker and tell him to provide it the person directing them to ticket people for such shit and that I'll put a new one on when I calm down.

[BStowers023]

I get they have to generate funds.

 

I thought that's what taxes were for?

 

I guess I never understood giving out tickets for anything other than wreckless driving. The fact that PDs have "quotas" to meet is a fucking joke. Oh, didn't give out enough tickets this month, better go ahead and pull over the next person going 5 over.

[Wease]

I remember the thread on here with the CPD officer that used to write a bunch of front plate tickets, and he was a huge dickbag about it. Then he got busted for kid porn or something (karma LOL).

 

Yeah, that's the fuck stick who got me in the Cobra years ago. I got a good chuckle when he was busted for the Kid Toucher Porn.

 

Since then, no font plates on the following cars: G8, Cobra, Fiesta. And no tickets. Ever. The way I see it, is that the front plate thing only really becomes an issue if you get pulled over for something else. Then they may or may not notice, and decide to also get you for that.

 

Of my cars that don't have front plates, it's because they weren't originally Ohio cars and the bumper is not drilled out for them. Nor will I drill them out.