I finally got caught by the cops in Virginia for having no front plate. It's a 85 dollar ticket but definitely worth it. The car looks so much better without the front plate and I doubt I'll be putting it on.

 

gonna get expensive

 

I have been caught several times in CA. It's just a 'fix-it' ticket. There is no fine. Just put the plate on and have a cop sign off on the citation. Then 1/2 hour later, the plate comes off again...ooopps.

 

Hey Livn,

Sorry to hear you got nabbed by the VA police. I live in Burke. Where you parked or were you stopped? If stopped, what made him stop you?

I would LOVE to take off that stupid front tag! It just f's up the looks of the front of the car. Damn shame. Your ticket's a shame too.

 

bought mine in NC where there is only one plate ... so I just stay registered there at my dads house ... there is no bracket or anything on my front bumper it looks sooooo great!

 

I hate Pennsylvania roads, but at least we don't have front plates....small consolation for the excuse we have for roads!!

 

hey i was just wondering if you still had your license plate in dash? in OR not having license plate mounted is illegal but i'm not sure about keeping it in dash. i want to add some suction cups and just stick my plate on the dash

 

I just got a ticket last week for no front plate here in TX. I told the cop that he was crazy if he thought I was going to mount a front plate on my new car. I'm going to take a picture of the plate stuck on there, send it in to court, and take it right back off. I'm not sure how it is in other states, but the officer also said that sticking the plate in the windshield would not comply with the law here.

This could get expensive, but heck, it's worth it in the long run.

 

i already paid two no front plate tickets in new jersey. it is worth it though in my opinion. not a big deal.

 

i got pulled over at dulles airport. i was taking the bags out of the car for my sister when the cop walked up to me. i used to keep the plate in my front window with 2 suction cups, but it looks like crap so i took it off and placed it in my glove compartment.

 

I live in CA, too.
What happens if you get caught for the same fix-it multiple times?
Say, I get three for no front plate. Do they keep track of stuff like that?

 

i hope not

 

Sure they keep track of that; it's called the "California Three Strikes" law. If you're convicted a third time, you automatically Go to Jail (for life!) Worst part is, you don't collect $200 when you pass "GO" ;-)
Only a personal appeal to Gov. Schwarzenegger can help you out at this point...

 

why dont you give me some money?

 

According to Section 502.404 of the Texas Transportation Code:

At $200 per incident, if you were to get pulled over every month I think it would quickly become not "worth it in the long run".

The statement "at the front ... of the vehicle" seems open to interpretation, so if you're good you may be able to talk your way out of a ticket but I wouldn't bet on it.

-phil

 

i got pulled over in va once for no front plate, luckily the cop knew my parents and let me off. i put it back on tho

 

That's a rough one. I've already got two strikes for parking during a street cleaning day. A no plate ticket will seriously screw me over. I'm a pretty boy with a mushy butt. How will I ever survive?

I've seen all of Schwarzenegger's movies. Does that help?

Conan the Barbarian is his greatest work ever.

 

one of the best posts on this site.

love your avitar.

The Barbarian is clearly his greatest work, the Destroyer pales in comparison.

cops here kept giving me tickets for that - i got like 3 in the first month. it looks so much better without the front holder but i'm not paying 200 bucks a month to keep it off.

 

Same thing here in Il. They want a front plate but I refuse. Haven't gotten pulled over yet. Knock on wood.

 

it's fine in the burbs but watch where you park in the city.

 

Thanks for pulling that statute. Although I'm an attorney, I was too lazy to pull it up on westlaw. There's a lawyer here in Houston that handles traffic citations who takes care of other attorneys' tickets for free. I just give him the tickets (this'll be my second one) and he takes care of it.

It's pretty rare though to be pulled over here in TX for not having a front plate. Heck, it seems that 1 out of 3 cars here doesn't have one in the front. In the 8+ years that I've lived in TX, this is my first time getting a ticket for no front plate. The officer that pulled me over this time was fresh out of the academy and did everything by the book. He even checked my eyes to see if I was wearing my contacts. I'm not real worried about this happening again or at least not very often.

The big thing is to avoid airports. If you are going to the airport, take another car or stick your license plate behind the windshield. Law enforcement is much more on the lookout in airports for Homeland Security reasons.

 

quick question...where would i look in my state of oregon driver's manual to see the regulations on front license plates?

 

OK so in the Oregon Driver's Manual it says:

"Registration Plates:
If only one registration plate is required for your vehicle, such as a motorcycle or trailer you must display this plate on the rear of the vehicle.
If your vehicle is required to have two registration plates, such as a passenger car or truck, the plate must be displayed on both the front and rear of the vehicle."

So what do you guys think? If I have it displayed in the dash will I get in trouble? I still have a temporary permit because I just bought the car so...

 

I didn't know they can give you those tickets while your parked. Thanks for the heads up!

 

I removed my front plate (in CA it's only a fix-it ticket)...but now I have two molded indentions and screw-holes where the screws are supposed to sink in. I saw another TL which had little painted plastic plugs to insert into those holes and make the front completely flush. Any idea where to get those little plugs?

 

Here in the metro LA, more tickets are given to front plate violations as more intersections are equipped with the 'red-light' cameras. Somehow the cameras can only take pictures on your front plates when you ran a red light....Is that true?!

 

As I read this thread I can't help but think how foolish it is to serve vanity with the price of attracting unnecessary attention from law enforcement.

Mike

 

True, but to each his own. It's all about the cost to benefit ratio for each person. To me, the rare fix it fine, which I likely won't even have to pay, is an acceptable cost to not have anything marring the front of my car.

 

I was told previuosly that a Fix It Ticket in CA (Like No front Plate or in my case, clear turn signals) is in fact tracked. If you are caught for the same violation and its obvious that you did it intentionally (Like removing the front plate or putting clear/white bulbs back into your signals) that they will not only issue you a fix it ticket again, but then you will be fined once the 2 tickets collide in the system.

 

Damn airport cops!
Apparently no REAL police work to do out there.

 

Another way to attract negative attention might be to order vanity plates with "666" on them

 

not for nothin...but 3G TL's look sick w/o front plates

 

:wtf:

Welcome Jirzlee

 

I guess I don't quite understand this reply, if you could call it that. I was referring to his avatar of the license plate with 666 on it. I would expect that to gain about as much negative attention as would failing to display the front plate. I assume by the tone of your welcome that you would disagree.

 

I was reading this thread in search of a way to display the front plate without covering up the Acura insignia and killing the look of the front of the car. This is what I did on my RSX-S and I think it looked much better than just bolting it to the front so that is covers the face of the bumper..

http://www.geocities.com/jirzlee/plate

I just bent the top of the plate back 90 degrees and screwed through the existing holes in the plate and into the flat, underside area inside the bumper. I also bent the bottom portion back so that only the letters showed to give it a slimmer, less officious look. Remember, the front plate doesn't have any registration stickers like the rear plate does. I don't know if there is any way to do something similar with the TL.

 

That's very true. What makes you think I actually have those plates?

Mike

 

In 6 years driving TL's I've been pulled over once (in FM-1960, Houston)
he just gave me a warning.
(I told him my braket broke and a new one was ordered)

where were you at the time ?

 

I agree that most any car looks better without front plates (the TL looks markedly better without it) but there is a minor detail of the law in some states requiring a front plate to be displayed. Why would anyone want to waste their time and that of law enforcement for something like that? svtmike is correct about the unwanted attention. And how is it worth $85 and a trip to court each time one gets a ticket for something they know is illegal, just so the front of their car can look better? I guess I just don't have that kind of free time and money.

Remember that driving is a privilege, not a right as some people think. Someone who blatanly disregards the law, no matter how stupid they think it is, should not drive. Period.

I know this is not a popular position but the law is the law. And they have the upper hand. If we don't like the laws we can work to change them. Though I wouldn't bother - it's not likely to happen.

 

I was curious why you bumped a 3 month old thread to point out the 666 thing, when SVTMike's ONLY post in this thread up till then was saying ALL Vanity plates draw attention.

Then I was chalking it up to the Noob status.

 

Well you know what gave me the idea that you might, but is there any point of debating any further. I just thought it would be a bit ironic if you really did, nothing was meant by it.