License plate theft is a thing again...

[mazdavirgin]

Parked my car out at one of the city car pool lots. The one next to COP and the weird hippie garden commune thing they have going on out there(https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Canada+Olympic+Park/@51.088022,-114.237643,19z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x53716ea3c6f1b705:0x1efd4e93c5b4fe6). Went out to the mountains, came back and low and behold I have no plate on my car. Called the cops on the non emergency number and had it declared stolen... Then I had to go get a new plate. Now I have one of the ugly squished letter plates :\ Damn thieves.

In either case anyone else have this happen to them recently? That and whats everyone's take on security screws for your license plate? Obviously if you really want a plate a security screw won't mean shit but at least it might make them take another plate instead of mine next time. Thankfully they didn't damage anything taking my plate off... Guess maybe with the security screws they might get pissed and break something on the back.

Guess that's what I get for parking next to the hippie garden. :dunno:

[Sugarphreak]

...

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
^^ How did you get home without a plate? Do they let you drive the car home?

When you call in they give you a case number. I just figured if I got pulled over on my way home and to the registry that I would tell the police officers my sob story and provide them with the case number. Didn't really ask if that was OK when I was talking to the police though. Figured it was better to be "clueless" than to explicitly ask and get told I wasn't allowed to drive the car back home.

Maybe one of our resident police officers can shed some light on the matter. I was sorta surprised that I made it home without getting pulled over though. Figured cruising about around 10:00 at night downtown with no plate would get me some attention but then again I pretty much just drove straight home.

[rage2]

It's always been a thing. You just finally got unlucky haha.

[KRyn]

I recently acquired a custom plate and was warned of this kind of behaviour. The lady at the registry said she wouldn't be surprised if my plate was stolen because it is so awesome. Hopefully this isn't the case becuase I like my plate a lot.

[beyond_ban]

What's your plate?

[speedog]

Never have had a plate stolen off of a car but have had one stolen off of an old utility trailer we used to have parked behind our garage. The replacement plate was riveted on and that one never got stolen.

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
What's your plate?

Was just the old school 3 random letters followed by 3 random numbers. No good numbers either. It had 4's(which I hear is bad news) and no 8's. So definitely was not stolen because it was "cool" or had good numbers.

Maybe I should have gotten the plate with 8's but does that work for Caucasians or are we unaffected?

[/////AMG]

Probably taken to use on a similar car to do something dodgy! Why else would you do it?

[rage2]

Nobody steals plates because they look cool. They steal 'em to slap onto stolen or unregistered cars to stay under the radar, so they're going to steal the most bland looking series plates.

I had a friend back in high school that drove around in different stolen cars for 2 years without getting busted. Keeps stealing different plates from parking lots every month and slap 'em on the car. As long as you don't drive like a dick, the plate never gets run, the stickers show that you're up to date on registration, and you look like any other car on the road.


Originally posted by /////AMG
Probably taken to use on a similar car to do something dodgy! Why else would you do it?
There's no point in stealing one from a similar car, the plate is flagged stolen regardless.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by rage2
Nobody steals plates because they look cool. They steal 'em to slap onto stolen or unregistered cars to stay under the radar, so they're going to steal the most bland looking series plates.

I had a friend back in high school that drove around in different stolen cars for 2 years without getting busted. Keeps stealing different plates from parking lots every month and slap 'em on the car. As long as you don't drive like a dick, the plate never gets run, the stickers show that you're up to date on registration, and you look like any other car on the road.


There's no point in stealing one from a similar car, the plate is flagged stolen regardless.

A guy I went to High school did this too.

For example he would steal a Red F-150. His first step was to find another red F-150, and swap the plates. The truck he was driving would be reported stolen, but the other red F-150 would get pulled over because it had the stolen plate. He would basically swap plates like this as often as he could because who ever he swapped plates with would never notice until they got pulled over and realized their plate was gone.

I have no idea if he ever got caught or not.

[Aleks]

I didn't know you two went to a high school in the NE :dunno:

[Graham_A_M]

^ LMAO, you speak the truth my good sir. :thumbsup: :clap: