License Plates

Some people don't realize that it is against the law. Also, some automakers don't make any type of screw-ins for front license plates, so usually the owner doesn't worry about it. These tickets are written, but they are not common. Many people believe when they receive two license plates it is an option or just in case they lose one. Unfortunately, ignorance to the law doesn't get you out of a ticket all the time. I hope this information helps you.

I know that you have already responded to this but I just thought I would let you know that, yes you can get a ticket and for that matter I did get a ticket for it. I didn't know at the time that I bought my car that it had no front license plate or for that matter I didn't know that it was illegal till one night at 1:00 in the morning I was coming home from work and because I happened to be driving close to where the "street races" where being held they pulled me over thinking I was a part of it and wrote me a ticket. So yes it is illegal. But I can honestly say from experience that a majority of people do not know that you have to have them on the front of the car.

My mom has never put license plates on the front of her nice cars nor on the front of my step dad's sport cars. They don't like the way it looks and just play dumb if askd by the cops. In 12 years they have only had it mentioned to them once by a state trooper.

Wow, I didn't know we get to choose which laws to follow!

YES, you need two plates one in the front and one in the back NO MATTER WHAT YOU DRIVE!!!! I write tickets on it all day longggggg. If you choose not to have 2 LP's then that is your choice but it is againt the law. I have to have 2 LP's and so should everyone else!

I have to say, I drive a 4Runner and do not have a front license plate. I asked my husband why he did not put it on and got a five minute answer! If I get ticketed he will be paying for it!=-) However, I have been pulled over my fair share and never once been questioned, warned, or ticketed for it.

Interesting post! Fun to see something different and now and then.

I am fully aware of the law and I am not ignorant.

I choose NOT to put my license plate on the front of my car because I drive a Mercedes and the Mercedes cars do not have the holes in the front for the tag. I refuse to drill holes in my car. There are some people who do drill holes to comply. My extra tag stays in the trunk of my car.

When you see cars with no front tag, it is usually an import like mine that someone has chosen not to deface. I was told by the dealer that I had an option to comply or not. My dealership rep said that most people do not use the front plate. I inquired about a fine and I was told that if I was stopped by an officer, I would most likely get a warning. I am willing to take that chance.

Our other 3 cars do have the plates on the front because they had pre-drilled holes.

That is why I drive with no front tag. Now I suppose I will be blistered with negative responses.

Susan

I had my front plate on my Sienna literally yanked off at a car wash. I honestly didn't notice it til a few days later...well, OK my DH noticed it for me...LOL..and I wasn't sure what had happened to it til he took his truck to the same car wash & his almost got yanked off by the undercarriage washer. I wasn't sure if it was a law or not, but now that I know, I guess I'll have to get another set of plates. Ugh.

Tickets are issued for it, my husband got one. He had a "toy" car that he did a lot of work to & chose not to put his plate on front for cosmetic reasons. He got pulled over twice for the same thing.

yes ma'am it is true... my mother-in-law just recieved one for it. And that was the reason she was pulled over... so beware! even if it is mounted to see in your windshield is fine, just as long as they can read the plate you are good.

I drive an SUV now, but for a long time I drove a sports car. I had 2 and both of them definitely looked better without aafront license plate, so I didn't put one on. The only time I was questioned about it was when I got pulled over for other violations, such as speeding, and only once in the 8 years that I was in violation was I ticketed. I had to go down to the courthouse, with the front license plate on and show it to them. I think that the ticket was waived once they saw the plate or there might have been a small fine. I guess the lesson is that with any law, you can break it, but you have to be prepared for the punishment.

We drove to Tyler once while we were living in New Orleans to visit a military buddy. Our car was new then and when we got back we realized that the plates blew off. We were not stopped at all in both states. However in Seattle you would be pulled over before you got to the street from your home. G. W

I moved here not to long ago. When I got my plates the lady told me depending on the car like a sports car with a very low front end doesn't need to have one but needs to keep the plate in there car. I ended up just drilling a hold in my car to keep the plate on. I do see allot of vech's without the plates that are able to have the plates on them.

It is against the law and some people do Know and some are not aware, and some do not care. If you are stoped for speeding or in an acident the polkice officer will write you up for not having yur front plate. They will not pull you over for a plate missing only because they are much too busy for such things, unless they see some other reason they mght want to talk to you, like you are swerving a little or you look like someone who is wanted, they will use the plate missing as an excuse to check things out more closely.

Hey J.! When we moved here 2 years ago, I went to get my car registered, and I asked if I had to put both license plates on my car because in Alabama you are only issued one. She told me that if your car had a place for it then you had to place it there, but if it doesn't then you didn't have too. She said they are in the works of revising this law because people don't have the place for it.

R.

Citations can and are given to people without plates in front and back. It could be an oversight on that persons part but not always. Sometimes it is intentional and not for good reasons. Also, in some cases plates are stolen. My husbands were stolen a few years ago. It's important to report that immediately if that happens.

I wouldn't consider it ignorance.

My husband is by no means an ignorant person, but we have an imported car as well, and he simply chooses not to have the front plate on the car. He bought a plate from the dealer that has the car emblem on the plate and has that as our front plate.

And I am thankful for it too. Not too long ago, I was maybe 6 and 1/2 months pregnant at the time with my little girl in the car, and a guy cut me off right before a stop light and I honked at him. He proceeded to get out of his car and confront me and was yelling at me until he eventually went back to his own car. Had we had a front plate, he could have easily written it down and gotten our home address and no telling... I never did get around him before he turned off of MacArthur for him to be able to catch my rear plate if he had thought to. It was a very scary feeling!

But just because someone chooses not to have a front plate, does not mean they are ignorant...

-Char

my bf moved here from Arizona where they didn't require 2 plates (at the time) and she got pulled over for it. She had 1 TX plate and didn't realize at the time that she needed two. When she showed her Arizona License, they gave her a warning but she never bothered to get the 2nd plate cause she sold the car within a year. On her new car, she has both plates.

I think people just don't realize that it's the law...the state I came from didn't require it so I didn't know when I first moved here. Plus it's apparently not a law that's adamently enforced...or probably so many folks wouldn't be so careless!

Jonna,
I loved your question.And yes you are right about it being against the law because I owned a 91 Firebird and had a new nose piece put on which cost me $800. I couldn't see drilling a hole in it for the tags.Call it weird whatever LOL I got stopped and warned several times until I placed the plates up in my front window of the car.The Highway Patrol said as long as they can read it it was fine.So now my grandaughter is driving the car and still places the plates in the window.Not sure how long she will be able to do this since she is taking the car to a big city for college.I just wanted to tell you why I just had one plate Thanks and Have a Bless Day! V.

I sold a Corvette a few months ago that did not have a front plate on it when I bought it, and I never did put it on. I did get pulled over one time for it, not for speeding or anything else. I did not get a ticket. I think that it is looked over a lot of the time, but it does give an officer a good reason to pull you over so that they can try to find anything else while they are checking your car over, like stickers, drunk driving, etc. I knew it was not right to have the front plate missing, but I did not like the look of it and just hoped that I would not get stopped, since I see so many of the same types of cars without plates. Luckily, I was not guilty of anything else, or I surely would have been ticketed. I just got a warning for no front plate. I saw the same officer almost every day sitting on the side of the road and he never pulled me over again, even though I never did put on the plate!! I guess I was a little too bold :) I have always had a front plate on all other cars. I don't know if this answers your question..but yes, it was because I just did not like the look on that particular car, and yes, I did know it was against the law...bad, bad!!

I got pulled over for it once!! He didn't give me a ticket but said I need to have two.

S.

Speaking from experiance. Basically you get a fix-it ticket the first time. When you get that one they warn you that the next time you will get fined out the butt. This has occurd twice for us, once when our licence plate was stolen in that case we had to get a new set of plates, for obvious reasons and report the others stollen. Then a second time in adifferent vehichle years latter we had the plate in the car with us we just had not drilled holes in our front bummper to put it on yet.

You are correct. It is law and people don't have them on front for image purposes. My dad is the greatest guy on the earth and when he turned 55 he bought his favorite car ever, a corvette. Well who's going to deface such a beautiful car like that with a license plate? Silly I know but... It also doesn't help that cars like that (and several others, not just luxury cars) are made without a place to put them. So you'd have to drill straight into the bumper to put it on the front...

From my understanding a cop can pull someone over and yes write a ticket just cause they don't have a plate on the front. Supposedly its a courtesy thing that if that's the only reason, the cop won't mess with it. Plus its too much paperwork just to file that one little ticket so they don't mess with it. But like you mentioned if you tick the cop off he'll probably get you for that as well as anything else he can find no matter how big or small...

It is not required in SEVERAL other states therefore lots of people from out of town won't have it on their car. Maybe you could just tell your son that they may be from out of town where they don't have to have it on their car...???

Good luck, they get so smart so quick, don't they?

~T.~

The car my husband drives is a Ford Escort and it doesn't have holes in the front for the plates. He just read in the paper last week that they are going to start getting serious about this and issuing more tickets that could cost up to $200. I'm hoping some place like Pep Boys will either drill holes for us or someone told us there are clips that you can buy to hold the plates on...that seems like an easier alternative but easier for someone to steal it.

J.,
you are correct. My husband is a police officer and in Texas it is required to have both front and back license plates. I think most people just don't realize it. Not all states require front plates. and YES, you can get a ticket for it.

I don't think it's ignorance of the law in all cases. As the Mercedes owner mentioned some cars are just not designed well for them to be attached. I don't drive a Mercedes, I drive a Honda minivan and my license plate was ripped off when a little old lady hit it in the church parking lot. But, you can look at the front shape of the fender and see that it was not designed to hold the license plate holder and that they really do stick out and are prone to bending, etc. I did look up the law and do realize that I could get a ticket, but I also have the license plate in the back of my car and I kept the slip of paper from the police officer that documented the accident to show why I don't have it. I would think one would likely only get ticketed if there were other things going on. I did an informal survey and noticed that 10% of the cars don't have front license plates. That all said, I certainly don't disagree that some folks MIGHT be ignorant of the law, I'm just not one of them. Personally, I worry a whole heck of ALOT more about the truly ignorant folks that violate the seat belt laws and have kids loose in cars.

J.,

I think you're right in that it's likely ignorance as to why people don't comply. I actually was pulled over for something else and had a police officer give me a warning for the license plate.