Hiding your number plate when posting photos online

[400ixl]

There have been a number of people who have had their plates cloned (but that may or may not be due to the internet).

However there have been a number of people who have modified their cars and then had them stolen, and some of those have been tracked back to internet forums as the source of what got them stolen.

So it really depends on whether you want to make thing just generally harder, or have some reason that your car could be targeted. Takes 20 seconds when posting to obscure it, but its all down to personal tolerance of the risk. For some it is too low to give a damn, for others it is worthwhile.

 

[toolman1954]

In the 90's I had a huge Toyota Landcruiser, and the plate on that had been cloned. Not too long after I had bought it, the Police took my car away so they could examine it to determine which of the two cars was the one entitled to the plate. I was told that If my car was the false one then I could lose it. At the end of the day I had the right car, with the right plate, and the other owner, a member of the travelling community had some explaining to do. I had bought the car from a garage that had advertised the car on Autotrader, so I guess it had been cloned as a result of this.
I suspect if you have a run of the mill vehicle, you have little to worry about, but anything out of the ordinary , then you may have a problem.
Not only, but also, the practice of robbing you of your car keys and driving away your pride and joy seems to be on the increase these days, perhaps more reason to keep your reg hidden??

Steve.

 

[PRB]

So it really depends on whether you want to make thing just generally harder, or have some reason that your car could be targeted. Takes 20 seconds when posting to obscure it, but its all down to personal tolerance of the risk. For some it is too low to give a damn, for others it is worthwhile.

This was my reason to obscure my plates, I have done everything I can think off to make the car as secure as possible and don't want to undermine that, so being very risk adverse

 

[PenelopePitstop]

It becomes even worse if you blank out a registration plate that has a custom registration. After all, why go to the expense of spelling your name out on the registration plate only to blank it out when posting photos of your cherished registration to an online forum.

I don't want people on internet to see my plates. Unfortunately I can't stop other people taking photos on the meeting and posting them. But with group photo, my username is not attached to particular car. Trying to save what's left of my privacy online. I only left pictures with non-private plates when selling cars or after buying them and knowing, I will change my plate soon.

Didn't we have discussion about it already, when geotagging on photos was also mentioned? Or maybe it was another forum where people discussed stolen Golf R.

 

[Alex225]

I have never bothered to hide my plate on forums. Like you say OP it can be seen by the public any time and I have proof that my CLS is on the driveway if someone cloned that plate anyway.

A friend of mine had a 350Z show car years ago so it had been on forums and at shows so seen by a lot of people. He started getting speeding tickets as someone had cloned his plates. Was also a blue 350Z but minus the Veilside kit so proof it wasn’t his.

Irony was it was someone local to him as in, the same town. Likelihood is they saw the car and its distinctive plate out and about not online.

 

[chrisk2010]

My dad has had his plate cloned most likey from his driveway or driving around.

He found out when he got a speeding ticket which he is now trying to resolve. He requested camera footage which clearly show that the car has been debaged where his has a badge and also the wheels are different. He has reported to the police who basically said they are not going to do anything about it and it happens quite alot.

The car has never been posted on any forum picture wise but like has been said why make it easier for someone to do.

 

[BTB 500]

Yup it's a personal choice - if you're not worried about the risk (which probably is slight) then don't bother. But accept that others might feel differently about it.

I quite often take pictures at GTGs and as a matter of courtesy I do obscure all the number plates before posting them as I know some people prefer not to have them visible on the forum.

 

[brucemillar]

Having been a victim of cloning and knowing other victims, it occurred to me to add a unique and discreet identifier that is visible on ANPR etc but not obvious to a casual cloner.

This after I was asked if my car had any distinguishing marks that would Id it from a cloned car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[E53AMG]

Only 169 of my models in the UK and a lot less of the same external spec (colour, wheels etc) if it is cloned I guess the cloner would soon be found and doubt many R232 owners would need to avoid fines/paying for petrol etc so I am not too concerned but understand the arguments..

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[french]

My private plate has been on 6 cars in the last 10 years, which car are they going to clone?
...and if you are going to clone a car, you would hardly use a reg number that might draw attention to it, would you?
If you want to see reg numbers, check out the popularity of our own 'Seen any good reg numbers recently' thread!

Ahhh I often wondered "Why" people get a PP ...its a "Look at me" thing ....there ya go...

 

[DrewGardner]

After creating a new car thread on here I was just about to upload pictures of the car and it got me thinking, should I obscure my reg?

One the one hand you drive around all day with it on display but a cars reg number can be the key to finding out information about a car’s owner including names and addresses.

So is showing your reg ok or am I just being overly paranoid?

It could be worth bearing in mind. I often see cars heading off fro repair/salvage with their plates covered so there could be something in it.

When I lived in Hertfordshire I had my dipping drivers door mirror on my S211 stolen.

When I went into to get it replaced I found out just why it had been stolen as it was so expensive but what was interesting was that the guy in the parts store said I was the 'seventh person today' who had come in for a replacement.

To me this points to a concerted abuse of the DVLA records to go on a mirror stealing spree.

It seems that knowing the plate could make this a whole lot easier for spares theft.....

Drew

 

[Abb]

Ahhh I often wondered "Why" people get a PP ...its a "Look at me" thing ....there ya go...

At least now you can stop wondering

 

[french]

At least now you can stop wondering

Nice of you to care...

 

[Mactech]

Nice of you to care...

....’cos I don’t . I’m more of a can’t be bothered to show you the age of my car type...
I did say ‘might’ draw attention. If I were criminal, l’d want to be covert as possible.

 

[french]

....’cos I don’t . I’m more of a can’t be bothered to show you the age of my car type...
I did say ‘might’ draw attention. If I were criminal, l’d want to be covert as possible.

Yeah ...I was answering AbbbY

 

[Weds]

A friend of mine was transporting on a trailer a classic car which was untaxed and sorned, it got picked up by the cameras and he got sent a polite letter with a fine. Took a bit of sorting out but I expect thats why cars on transporters sometimes have their numbers covered up..

 

[Blackbird1]

I would defintely hide it, as there doesn't seem to be any number plates visible on autotrader, piston heads, ebay, gumtree, etc. So the only place someone could get your reg details from is a random onlne car forum

Wrong

There's plenty to see there, plenty are blanked too

 

[clk320x]

Wrong

There's plenty to see there, plenty are blanked too

sarcasm...

 

[MancMike]

I blank them out for aesthetics.

If you do it well, it looks like a blank plate, and looks a bit tidier than some rubbish random letters.

If I had a styled plate like I did on my RX8, I wouldn’t bother. It was S4 RXB

 

[Blackbird1]

sarcasm...