Euro license plate in CA

[backtoreality15]

Anyone have experience with rolling around with a Euro license plate in the front? (On any car) Where have you been stopped? What was the fine?

I really want to mount one when I get mine, but I don't know if its worse than having NO license plate at all to the cops because its so blatant...

[aus]

I know someone who put his actual plate digits on a Euro plate and the cop was cool with it.

[Jewpac]

I think it might be legal if you have a matching euro front plate.

[aarong_m3]

I had front/back Euro plates on my E46 M3 and my wifes E46 325i before and we both got stopped for it. It's a fix it ticket, i think $20 and not sure if the prices have gone up. The places we got stopped were San Jose(3x), Milpitas(2x), San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont/Union City once. And having both front/ rear Euro plates doesn't make it legal at all. It's your call, but if you get caught replace with CA plate, pay fine and then reinstall Euro plate like me and my wife did.

[RobLS]

Yeah, I'd really like a rear only euro plate. not sure if i want to keep paying a fine though.

[aarong_m3]

Sorry, yes you can keep the rear Euro plate w/ your state plate in front with no problem. That's what me and my wife did after paying many fines of it being in the front.

[morscode]

Originally Posted by aarong_m3

Sorry, yes you can keep the rear Euro plate w/ your state plate in front with no problem. That's what me and my wife did after paying many fines of it being in the front.

Wrong, ILLEGAL.
(5200 VC)

Display of License Plates

5200.

(a) When two license plates are issued by the department for use upon a vehicle, they shall be attached to the vehicle for which they were issued, one in the front and the other in the rear.

(b) When only one license plate is issued for use upon a vehicle, it shall be attached to the rear thereof , unless the license plate is issued for use upon a truck tractor, in which case the license plate shall be displayed in accordance with Section 4850.5.
Amended Sec. 27, Ch. 594, Stats. 2003. Effective January 1, 2004.



http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/streetlegal.html

[backtoreality15]

Originally Posted by 1Mor

Wrong, ILLEGAL.
(5200 VC)

Display of License Plates

5200.

(a) When two license plates are issued by the department for use upon a vehicle, they shall be attached to the vehicle for which they were issued, one in the front and the other in the rear.

(b) When only one license plate is issued for use upon a vehicle, it shall be attached to the rear thereof , unless the license plate is issued for use upon a truck tractor, in which case the license plate shall be displayed in accordance with Section 4850.5.
Amended Sec. 27, Ch. 594, Stats. 2003. Effective January 1, 2004.



http://www.chp.ca.gov/community/streetlegal.html

In what cases would they sent you one license plate for a passenger vehicle?

[mastermav]

While I had no front license plate for about 4 years, I got just about 5 fixit tickets for $10 each. Come on I can afford spending $50 in 4 years on that.

[mrgoochio]

I've heard of tickets up to $45 for plates recently..

[backtoreality15]

Originally Posted by mastermav

While I had no front license plate for about 4 years, I got just about 5 fixit tickets for $10 each. Come on I can afford spending $50 in 4 years on that.

What do you do when you get your fix-it tickets? Doesn't that mean you have to drill holes & mount your plates just to get the ticket signed off???

[Stew]

Originally Posted by aus

I know someone who put his actual plate digits on a Euro plate and the cop was cool with it.

http://www.customeuropeanplates.com/

So for those who got pulled over with euro plates and recieved a fix it ticket, were the plates just random euro plates, your ED plates, or were they your actual license plate # issued by DMV? I also saw a site where you could order custom vintage CA license plates, for example, if you have a classic 70's era car, and you get current white CA plates, you can then order the 70's era blue plates with your new current CA license # on it...I don't think a cop would be able to recognize that your plate style does not match your number unless he pulled you over for something else...but this is totally different from a euro plate, even if it had the correct DMV # on it.

[aarong_m3]

I had matching numbers from DMV and non-matching on our Euro plates...either way the cops still gave me a fix-it tix. But i guess that is the Bay Area for you.

My coworker that had an ED plate in the front/CA plate in back and got a tix also.

Originally Posted by Stew

http://www.customeuropeanplates.com/

So for those who got pulled over with euro plates and recieved a fix it ticket, were the plates just random euro plates, your ED plates, or were they your actual license plate # issued by DMV? I also saw a site where you could order custom vintage CA license plates, for example, if you have a classic 70's era car, and you get current white CA plates, you can then order the 70's era blue plates with your new current CA license # on it...I don't think a cop would be able to recognize that your plate style does not match your number unless he pulled you over for something else...but this is totally different from a euro plate, even if it had the correct DMV # on it.

[cody joaquin]

I have a front Euro plate which matches my legal personalized rear plate (not that it makes my front plate legal). Haven't been stopped yet and I'm hoping that because they match I may have a slightly better chance of talking myself out of a fix-it ticket. I was able to modify the frame of the Euro plate to fit the standard holes in my front bumper.

[HighQ]

You can find some German Numberplates here. There are some new designs available that I haven't seen yet, very nice!

[E92-Lighting]

way illegal

[BeamerDreamer]

I have not had a front license plate on my car since I got it in 1997. I got pulled over for it once but that was just the excuse that the officer used to check me out and make sure I wasn't intoxicated and let me go immediately after speaking with me.