Why do people hide their numberplates?

I had the reg. off my old SV cloned. Think about it - someone nicks an SV and (naturally) doesn't want to get pulled on it. Go to a nice handy site like SV650.org, wade through some nice pics until you find one that near enough matches and has the plate showing. Get your dodgy mate to make up said plate and you're away.

First thing I knew was when the I was contacted by the Police somewhere I'd never ridden my bike (somewhere in Somerset IIRC) about some offences they'd logged. I'm surprised they believed me so readily and I didn't have to go out of my way to prove that I hadn't been there at the time.

So my advice would be to always blank out your plate on any pics you post.

Cheers Keith

Originally Posted by Magnum

Unless the person cloning the plate had exactly the same bike in the same colour, living in the same area then surely that wouldn't be a problem?

They don't need to live in the same area and for many vehicles there are popular colours or limited choice. At the moment SV650S bikes only come in blue or black as far as I'm aware so if someone was after a cloned plate for their black SV650s they'd no doubt come to a forum like this, find some member's pictures and probably be able to find a suitable bike pretty quickly. Likewise the car model I have is only available if three colours therefore if someone wanted to clone a numberplate it wouldn't be that hard to find a picture of someone else's car looking the same and nick their numberplate.

I don't clone vehicles so perhaps I'm thinking it through too much especially having seen cloning cases where it's not even the right model of car but on the other hand it can be considerable grief trying to sort it out, therefore I blank my number plate out when posting it.

One of the local car dealers has covers on all their cars sitting out, it hides all the digits aside from the year which I assume is for the same reason.

John

Exactly. If you were going to clone a ZX6R, you'd head straight over to a ZX6R forum wouldn't you? A Clio 197 and you'd head straight to a Clio 197 owner's forum, etc etc. Except there'd be little point since everyone generally covers up their number plate.

You're still at risk of being cloned anyway of course (your bike that is ), but I'd say the risk is far greater if you publicise your registration number on a public forum.

Originally Posted by speedplay

Your supposed to supply the V5 when you get plates made up now to prove that you own the vehicle the number relates to.
Theres still one or 2 places round these parts that will make them without it though.

#

Most internet plate sites don't ask to see the V5.

Law's changed now mate..
Can only get new plates, if you have registration documnet and a V5 i think..
Now illegal to sell show plates in the UK..
(probily just end up getting them from abroad, as we do with visors..)

Originally Posted by saoralba

Law's changed now mate..
Can only get new plates, if you have registration documnet and a V5 i think..
Now illegal to sell show plates in the UK..
(probily just end up getting them from abroad, as we do with visors..)

got mine not so long back from malplates.

Originally Posted by speedplay

Your supposed to supply the V5 when you get plates made up now to prove that you own the vehicle the number relates to.

Yea, but you just buy the number plate making machine

Even a sticker over the numberplate would work, or even black tape to make the numbers (has been done).

The best makers have now moved to Jersey to get round this so showplates are back on the menu again! Whether the manufacturing has actually moved or it's just a mailbox I dont know

If you nick a forum bikes identity you could also be pretty sneaky and make sure it's a good egg who keeps their bike taxed and insured, if you were really good you might even get their address in case you were pulled.

Of course you could just go round at night and nick the number plate off a bike of the make and colour of your clone. The owner reports the theft to the police and gets a crime number to use in case of their number plate being noted on the other bike when it's doing something illegal.

Well, if you go and think it through there's a lot of reasons as already stated, but even without given it thought I'd still pull the numbers off the plate in public pictures.
It's sensitive information. Like your email address, home address or phone number.