noychris

i notice that most of the people here doesnt have front plates installed. Is it legal in your state without front license plate?

One time, as I walk towards the parking lot, i notice a citation ticket in my windshield. i thought it was only a parking violation but to my suprise, i was ticketed for not having front license plates!!!!! i live in CA so for sure, its illegal!

Adobeman

I have one. In CT for a long time you didn't have to have one but they changed the law back to making front plates mandatory. It seems there are a bunch of people that still don't have them. I would rather not have the front plate but I did put it on the car. I'm not looking to give my local/state police any extra reasons to hassle me. They are already good enough at waving folks over for much less.

bluenoise

I live in CA and am gambling that I won't be ticketed. I know it's required, but I haven't had a front plate on my car since 1994, so my luck has been good so far. I fully expect, though, that I will be ticketed for it if I get pulled over for something else, such as speeding.

I asked a cop friend of mine about it and he said he typically doesn't cite for it unless he's already got someone pulled over for something more serious. That's not to say that all LEOs are the same way.

Bummer you got ticketed when you weren't even in the car. How much is the fine?

Yakuza70

I just got my license plates and thought about leaving the front one off but decided otherwise. I took off the front plate when I still had the dealer plates since the temporary registration on the windshield excused me until I got my plates. I live in California too and know they'd ticket me if I didn't have front plates.

TL'n IT UP

I thought if you have your license plate on your dashboard it was ok to not have them in the front of your car in socali? True? false?

6speedv6

I live in VA and I've driven without it for about 9 months. No issues so far.

djemx2

thats false...the plate has to be a certain height in cali-basically mounted on the front bumper. i know a lot of people that have gotten tickets for having it on the windshield...they also consider that as a hazard. I would hate for that metal plate flying at me in an accident

NFLblitze1

most likely false, because then everyone would be doing that. i took off my front plate (NJ) and i got a ticket for it, and it sucked. i told him i got into a bit of a fender bender and i showed him the plate but he just didn't care, but thankfully i took off the plate because he actually pulled me over for going 35 in a 25. WHICH IN MY OPINION IS JUSTIFIABLE, because it was near a school at 11:30 at night.

TL'n IT UP

but... but..

noychris

good for you bro! the penalty was $35 but if you let an officer sign the ticket that indeed you place the front plate, they'll reduce to $10

noychris

my friend once place his front plate in the windshield and got ticketed. Most officers would admit that a car looks nicer withour front plates but it's the law, you can't do anything about it~

w1n78

musta brod! sorry to hear about the ticket. it is illegal to have no front plate. but most of the time it is ignored. i've only had a front plate for the first 2 months after getting it. that's coz the dealer put an extra hole in the bumper. after i had them fix it, i took it off. cops don't look twice and my windows are tinted too. i noticed that they pay more attention to common cars than the higher end cars only time i put on the front plates is when i go to LAX. someone got a ticket for $300 last time he went so i won't take that chance

you were just at the wrong place, wrong time

ChicagoSteel

It's illegal in Illinois, but I dont wear one anyways. It's a ridiculous law that will eventually be removed.

chill_dog

Not only do front plates ruin the look of a car, but I honestly don't see a point to having them (I'm sure there's some BS reason(s) given, but I'm not going to buy them). Thankfully, we don't have to have them here...of course, that just allows the bumpkins to put airbrushed plates of Myrtle Beach on the front of their cars instead

ChicagoSteel

It's so a police officer driving in the other direction can see if you're plated. Otherwise it's worthless. It doesnt do any good in a hit and run, and you certainly cant expect someone to read a license plate from their rearview mirror and have it deemed effective in accident cases.

1995hoo

It also gives them another highly reflective surface at which they can aim their LIDAR.

ChicagoSteel

Yes it does, try the windshield.

hehehe

WdnUlik2no

not mandatory in Georgia. a good thing too, having to poke holes in my bumper to install a front license plate makes me cringe.

w1n78

no need to poke holes, they are already there. unless you want an extra hole to secure the top part of the plate - which my dealer happily installed free of charge

Neumahn

I live in Ventura county just north of LA and I have not had a front plate for about 15 years. Last summer I went to LAX to pick someone up and left my BMW 750 in the short term parking lot. When I got back to the car I found a ticket on the windshield for no front plate. I noticed about 5 other cars right in my vicinity without plates but they didn't have tickets. Of course they ticket the Pimp-Mobile! Apparently they use the cameras in the garages and single people out. I paid it but never fixed it. The car was tinted out too but they didn't ticket me for that.

Parker75

It is legal in MI and the Secretary of State only gives you one plate, and one tab when you renew annually.

But considering it is illegal in IL and I drive to Chicago a few times each year, I wonder if IL cops will ever give me grief and ticket me for driving my legal-for-MI cars to IL?

Any IL lawyers or cops amongst us care to comment?

crazymjb

sorry if this is a repeat, but in MA all the new plates come front and back, and both need to be on. If you have an old plate and you transplant it you do not need and additional plate.

mark 3M bra man

No, they will not. I had my car registered in IL before and lived in MO where both plates are required. I had only 1 IL plate driving in MO. MO cops never bothered me, but IL cops did. When I registered the car in MO and only had 1 plate driving around MO, I got a warning. They will not bother you in a diff. state.

I decided to put both of them on. In my case, I use it for advertising.

socal16

I drove my previous Civic for 10 years without being ticketed once for not having the front plate on. Hopefully I can go another 10 in my TL without a ticket either. But I was in my friend's car once when he got ticketed.

noychris

its a matter of cat n mouse with cops. those cops who give those tickets probably had a bad day or "just nothing to do" or even its near end of the month......better to get that quota!

sclaz21

never had my front plate on. no problem so far. tinted windows too. they didnt see to mind higher class cars. plus looks so much better without it

REDLINEN

Well I have had no plate on the front since I got the car repainted in febuary of 04 and have never been bothered about it since. I guess living in the city the cops have other things on there mind to bither people about.

1995hoo

They will in Washington, DC, although of course that's not a state. The law in DC is that two plates are required, but the law makes an exemption for those states that only issue one plate. They do ticket, too--there have been letters in the Washington Post about it recently.

Perhaps more ridiculous is what happened to a friend of mine some years back. In Virginia when you get your license plates you also get "month" and "year" decals to indicate when it's up for renewal. The "month" decal goes in the top left corner; the "year" in the top right. For some reason a lot of people are always putting them in the wrong place (I have no idea why, but it's common). Virginia cops couldn't care less. But in DC??? Well, my friend had the "year" on the left and the "month" on the right (opposite of how it's supposed to be), parked the car in DC, and came back to find a ticket on the car for "improper display of a license plate." Bunch of arseholes over there.

Parker75

It is good you have this experience and found no problems. Still I wonder if the laws on the books requiring front license plates codifies this out-of-state exemption.

It will be my dumb luck to get pulled by some IL cop who has had a bad day. Without such an exemption, my lack of front plates would be illegal if the cop wants to stick it to me.

dezzzmond

I don't have my on either (I live in VA). But I have a bag of excuses why I don't have it on ready for the officer. I keep my plates in my trunk just in case. Cops tend to "ignore" TLs because I guess it looks "grown up." When I was in my Mustang, i was harassed almost every week. I was forced to put it on my Stang. We'll see how it goes with the TL/

WdnUlik2no

yeah I know about the holes, but once you poke them out of the bumper they are there forever.

WdnUlik2no

Do you have to pay for both tags seperately when it comes time to renew your registration?

And please don't say you have to pay ad volorem on EACH tag.

dezzzmond

Yup I have to pay for both tags; but thats once every two years.

1995hoo

???? The one fee you pay to the DMV covers both plates. I think what he meant is whether they charge a separate fee for each plate. They don't.

Brewmaster

When i lived in Jersey they required both front and back and the local PD WILL bust your stones over that crap, Delaware is a one plate state so no worries there.

Got pulled over in northern NY for speeding ... he asked what was wrong with my license I said: "Oh Delaware doesn't require a front plate" he responds back .. I don't care about your plate what's wrong with your license? ... hmmm ya think I got the ticket???

bluenoise

When I removed my front plate, I plugged the holes with the little caps that come with the car. If the car has never worn front plates, are the holes not already drilled behind those caps?

Contivity

I just have no plates, front and back and leave the dealer sticker VIN number at the front... that way, it seems like new anyway

w1n78

there are caps to plug up those holes just as bluenoise mentioned

noychris

it kinda bothers me with that dealer sticker in your windshield!

hcekc

That's ghetto, especially on a TL. I can see if it's a 1970's Monte Carlo though.