Hiding number plates

[Starm]

I’m looking for a new car and focusing on G30 5 series, probably 530d and regularly scouring the usual sources, I see some nice examples but obscuring the number plates always makes me think the seller is hiding something, when I see a car I like I’d do a quick Tax check, MOT history and WBAC valuation, mainly for piece of mind that the valuation is in the ball park, the cars not been untaxed for a lengthy period or something odd with the MOT history.

So many cars have the dealers plates covering the numbers, which just puts me off straight away and I go no further. I get the potential for cloning but if main dealers are happy to share plates then why do other traders hide them?

[RS93]

I don’t see what the issue is personally. If your genuine about the car send them an email or call and they will be happy to share I’m sure. In rare cases yes they may be hiding something but is more likely to be the cloning/ protection of their asset than anything else.

[steveo3002]

ask for the plate so you can get an insurance quote...no one has refused me

if they do then its to hide a dodgy mot history or not tell you its mileage , average for year mate innit

[Starm]

Maybe that’s why they hide them, to get the enquiry call.

[Pistonheader101]

To stop third party companies from harvesting data using image recognition on the plates.

[Belle427]

Not long after advertising ours on eBay/Autotrader we started to receive speeding and parking fines etc from up north.
Plates had been cloned, in the end we were forced into putting a private plate on it to stop it.

[braddo]

Pistonheader101 said:

To stop third party companies from harvesting data using image recognition on the plates.

What does the data get used for?

[redandwhite]

braddo said:

What does the data get used for?

no evidence, but insurers would find this information very useful (undeclared mods etc).

I have always obscured mine - personal preference. The old line of 'you drive around with it attached to your car' doesn't wash.

When selling i will always provide it, and i have never struggled to sell.

[85Carrera]

redandwhite said:

The old line of 'you drive around with it attached to your car' doesn't wash.

Why not?

Personally I don’t bother with any car which is advertised with obscured plates.

[sandman77]

If the number plate is covered with a dealer plate I assume it is just an additional way of advertising the brand. If a private seller hides the plate in the advert I assume they don't want anyone looking up the MOT history of the car.

[samoht]

85Carrera said:

Personally I don’t bother with any car which is advertised with obscured plates.

I agree, if there are plenty of cars on the market I'll always start with the sellers who are being transparent and giving me the information to check the MoT history. (Don't mind if the plate's not visible if you state the reg in the text).

I'd only bother contacting ppl to ask for the reg if I couldn't find a car I was interested in that had the reg shown.

[anonymous-user]

85Carrera said:

redandwhite said:

The old line of 'you drive around with it attached to your car' doesn't wash.

Why not?

Personally I don’t bother with any car which is advertised with obscured plates.

It's quite common for gangs to use the internet to find photos of plates to use as clones. It doesn't cause huge issues as it's not too difficult to prove it's not you and your car but for the sake of blanking a plate in an advertisement and making sure they're not doing it to you and they chose the next weakest link it's totally worth it. You never know, it only takes them driving the cloned car in the area you live in and it suddenly becomes a much more difficult thing to deal with. I'd rather not have that hassle.

My company provide expert witness assistance on tech stuff for court, generally for the police. I used to work in digital media investigation so anything telecoms, ANPR, digital forensics or generally tech related comes through me to help. I've had a job previously where a group were regularly stealing cars from car key burglaries and then driving them on cloned plates. When I looked into one of the offender's phones there were regular messages to a plate maker requesting plates be made up with the VRM given. When I looked through the deleted internet history on the phone it was possible to match the requested VRM message to the search for the associated car and the VRM usually came up the first few adverts on autotrader or in google images. Like I say, it's not really worth it.

[joropug]

My number plate was cloned within a week of being on auto trader. I would not post a photo of my car online without blanking the plate.

Phone them up and ask they'd be glad to tell you it so you can do the relevant checks. A cloner wouldn't phone.

[nuttywobbler]

Last year, a few weeks after advertising our Golf R for sale, we started receiving speeding tickets from the Bradford area (we live in Suffolk, and have thankfully never had to venture into Bradford). Plates had been cloned from our for sale advert. So I think blanking of number plates is a very prudent thing to do...

[The Voice]

Echoing other comments, our car was cloned within days of being advertised on autotrader. We had a fine come through for bus lane infringements and two for speeding in the West Yorkshire area. I now think it’s daft not to blank number plates when selling cars!