Foreign plates in the states

[post71]

A friend gave me a older german plate, can I mount it to my 2002 and drive with it on, along with my legal California plate?

Thanks again.

Mpost

[f1reverb]

export plate (the oval one) on the rear without a problem. I had no front plate at all, and the export plate had nothing to do with my car. I had the regular plates in the trunk anyway just is case of a roust. One day I got pulled over in Burbank and a BPD cop cited me for it. On the way back home from getting the ticket (within 20 minutes) I got pulled over by a CHP in Woodland Hills on the 101. First thing he says is about the plate so I pulled out the ticket and said you were beaten to the punch. He had to let me go.

I don't think they'd be as kind today.

[herkjerk]

I thought CA required a front plate?

[f1reverb]

I thought CA required a front plate?

This is the CVC violation a cop writes on the ticket when they get you for no front plate . . .

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.

( 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.

Now read this section and think of it in relation to the above section . . .

Registration Tabs

5204. (a) Except as provided by subdivisions ( and ©, a tab shall indicate the year of expiration and a tab shall indicate the month of expiration. Current month and year tabs shall be attached to the rear license plate assigned to the vehicle for the last preceding registration year in which license plates were issued, and, when so attached, the license plate with the tabs shall, for the purposes of this code, be deemed to be the license plate, except that truck tractors, and commercial motor vehicles having a declared gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more, shall display the current month and year tabs upon the front license plate assigned to the truck tractor or commercial motor vehicle. Vehicles that fail to display current month and year tabs or display expired tabs are in violation of this section.

( The requirement of subdivision (a) that the tabs indicate the year and the month of expiration does not apply to fleet vehicles subject to Article 9.5 (commencing with Section 5300) or vehicles defined in Section 468.

© Subdivision (a) does not apply when proper application for registration has been made pursuant to Section 4602 and the new indicia of current registration have not been received from the department.

(d) This section is enforceable against any motor vehicle that is driven, moved, or left standing upon a highway, or in an offstreet public parking facility, in the same manner as provided in subdivision (a) of Section 4000.

Amended Ch. 258, Stats. 1992. Effective January 1, 1993.

Amended Ch. 27, Stats. 1994. Effective March 30, 1994.

Amended Sec. 14, Ch. 945, Stats. 1997. Effective January 1, 1998.

Amended Sec. 32, Ch. 861, Stats. 2000. Effective September 28, 2000. Operative December 31, 2001.

[Mike Self]

[dubois]

no, without potentially getting a fix it ticket. I drive mine with it, I just don't go to the doughnut shops that day.

[mtriple]

This is how I bought it and I have been driving with this front plate for the past 6 months with no issues so far. Knock on wood though. I just had a no front plate ticket a month ago in my daily. Given a cop thats having a real bad day, you will never know. Although I had a cop inquire about the car right by Griffith park and gave me a compliment so that was kind of a booster. I am keeping it the way it is for now. We are talking fronts only BTW. Rear you will have no chance in southern Cali.

hamada

[VenturaTii]

I think sometimes nothing is less 'noticeable' that something different. When I lived in IL, I was on the same street as the police station; my Passat which was tricked out (lowered, BBS rims..ect) had a front air dam and I had no front plate and never was cited. When I originally move to IL from WI my Jetta had a Spanish Plate on the front and I was stopped 3 times in 2 weeks. The Passat was never stopped in CA and my Tii hasn't either...sometimes nothing is less noticeable.

[Tonys]

In the "Nothing is less noticable" department, I recently got stopped in my xB daily driver by an officer who was laser gunning traffic. He wrote me a fix it ticket for having a clear shield over my rear plate but didn't mention my lack of a front plate.

[Guest Anonymous]

I thought CA required a front plate?

an issue that most (if any) law enforcement agencies treat as a priority - 3 of our 4 cars (including both daily drivers) haven't had front plates on them for years. So far, neither my wife or I have been cited, despite both of us having recieved traffic tickets in the cars that don't have front plates mounted......

[clc]

and have not had any problems with the law. I thought my mini would be a magnet for fix-it tickets because I use a european plate along with my CA plates, so far (4 years) no tickets.

[f1reverb]

Higuera and Santa Rosa in the fish joint's parking lot when it was closed early in the day. I've seen a red one there several times too. Maybe? My dentist is on Pacific right by Santa Rosa so I'd wander around downtown a bit leaving my Golf '74 sitting protected in his lot. It could have sitting on the street on Higurea by SR too.

[Mike Self]

in a Renault 4CV I was fixing up, sporting a porcelain Out Islands Bahamas license plate...never was stopped. And those plates weren't common in Florida either...Couldn't afford the $7 for a proper Fla plate; it woulda been a significant percentage of the car's cost!

mike

[BillWilliams]

if you have a paid "normal" plate. You have to register your euro number and display the stickers on your Euro plate.

[InkaSteve]

California car....Legal on the back, euro on the front. Not legal but looks good. Worth the 10 buck fine if anyone cares to write a "fix-it" ticket.