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      09-20-2020, 11:57 PM   #158
Sedan_Clan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by snareman View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by TJ_NL View Post
No they don't. It is the quickest way to get pulled over as every policy officer is going to see you don't have one. My front plate fell off once in a car wash, and I couldn't mount it again with some clips from BMW. So I had the front plate inside the car. I got pulled over within 24 hours (didn't get a ticket, as they believed my story).

You basically cannot drive a car if it does not have a license plate. I do not understand why in the USA it is ok to drive without plates (I've had rental cars without any plates - front or back - that came with a piece of paper behind the window because it was "new"). That doesn't happen in Europe. The license plate is the only way to identify a car (others can't read a piece of paper behind a window) when you get into an accident, or otherwise behave in a way that warrents people knowing who you are.
Even if you by a car in a different country and just want to drive it back to your own country (lets say I want to buy a BMW in Germany, to take it back to Netherlands and take care of all the paperwork and registration in Netherlands, I still need a 1 day license plate in Germany to drive it in Germany.
Yea, it seemed to me that everyone in Europe obeys plate laws. I figured it was the case. In the US there are 20 out of 50 states that don't require front plates. Thankfully mine just passed the law in July. You can get a fix it ticket for it here but generally most cops won't bother you about it. I got pulled over once at 2am because of it. It was really just an excuse for him to pull me over at that time of night. He more or less checked my stuff and sent me on my way.
That's more or less how we do it in CA as well. Much like tinted windows or objects hanging from the rear view mirror, it's a reason to check people out.
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