Posting pics with your number plate.

[duggy72]

I see that there are some people that post pics of their cars with the number plates visible and some that blur them.

Is there really a necessity to blur them? Surely when you drive the car on a public road it is visible to all so whats the harm?

I would like your views before I post further pics of my cars.

Cheers.

[Chiefbadger]

I've never really understood it, but mainly because I'm just a bit lazy about these things.
I've always taken the view that I have nothing to hide, don't mind anyone knowing who I am, don't modify my cars etc so don't mind people seeing my plate.
I think most people obscure them to prevent any come back from insurance companies or anyone else being able to identify them.

I'm sure some others can provide a better answer than this though!

[S5 tony]

All my pictures have been posted with my plate showing.but to my shock 2 months ago i saw my car on ebay for sale by some scammer so maybe not a good idea.And the pictures was off A5OC in my build thread,reported it as soon as i saw it and it took ebay 5 days to remove it

[duggy72]

Thanks for the replies. It's good to hear other's opinions.

[MikeFish]

It's not about hiding anything from insurance etc, it's about protecting yourself from car identity theft and making it harder for the criminals to do it.
If someone has a stolen RS4 and wants to put some plates on it from a car that hasn't been stolen then a google search will bring up a number of cars with their number plates showing that they can copy and put on the stolen car. I'd rather it wasn't my number they copy.
Even in it's most simple form I could in theory get a set of plates made up from another black rs4 saloon that I've seen on here, then attach those plates to my car when I want to speed a bit down the motorway where there's a few cameras that I might get caught on. Then somebody else will receive the fine in the post.

[Chiefbadger]

That makes sense to me and I can see why people do obscure them.
I guess my rather relaxed view would be that they could just as easily spot my car on the road and how often in reality does cloning actually happen?

I guess like everything else, it is just another risk mitigation factor. But then I have never bought GAP Insurance either.

I probably should do both now I've said that as its bound to bite me on the ass!

[Ellis]

This happened to my old dear on her prestige marque that is a 59 plate Ford Ka. How they got her number is beyond me as the car is never more than 10 miles from home. The 'copied' car was caught speeding in the Scottish borders area.

She was very ill at the time and we managed to prove the car was parked outside the hospital and the NHS backed up the story with appointment details etc. No fines had to be paid however we did not hear anything more from the police thereafter.

I generally don't hide my plate when I post online but I probably should given I have first hand experience of the problems it can cause. If someone has their heart set on replicating your car however, there isn't a great deal you can do about it - you can only hope to have enough proof of your cars location on the time/date of any offences committed by the duplicate vehicle.

[duggy72]

Thanks guys. Better safe than sorry.

Got pics on my phone and it is easy to upload direct to tapatalk this way.

Will have to see if i can edit them on the phone.

[Covkiller]

I had my RS4's number plate copied. I had a car park parking ticket from Slough, I have never been to Slough. I was stopped at the Euro tunnel on the way to France by customs police who asked me a load of questions to prove I was the owner only to be told someone else in a Mugello Blue RS4 with my registration has been spotted drving around breaking the law. I then got stopped again by the police on the way home on the M25 as I was spotted on the traffic cameras on the Darford Tunnel.

This also happened to me in 1998 with my brand new E36 M3, the police came to my work and thouroughly checked the car over including the engine and VIN Nos.