Comments on: Relocating? What you Need to know About the Front License Plate

By: Todd Isler

Todd Isler — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 09:03:51 +0000

To add to my argument;

From Insurance.com:

“State production costs for a license plate range from 50 cents to $5.65, the study reports. These production costs are passed on to drivers via registration fees.

While front plates don’t cost much to produce, they do bring in huge amounts of revenue through tolls and violations.

Denver is a big winner in the front plate game. The A&M study found that front license plate scans were responsible for one-third, a whopping $23 million a year, of toll revenue generated from E-470, a toll road that circles the Mile High City.”

It’s ALL about the money, folks. All about the money.

By: Todd Isler

Todd Isler — Sun, 14 Oct 2018 08:52:52 +0000

If front license plates were *really* about safety or making it easier to track down amber alert vehicles or any of the other reasons the government gives us, then ALL 50 sates would do so, and those that didn’t would be cracked down upon by the federal government. For the states that do require two plates, front and back, it’s extra revenue, pure and simple: You have to pay more for two plates than you do for only one.
It is unnecessary, and hurts the look of *any* vehicle, and completely *ruins* the looik of some.
If it *were* really necessary, them, as i said, *all* states would make it mandatory.
Just more government nanny state b.s.

By: Allen

Allen — Sun, 30 Sep 2018 13:20:30 +0000

they are never needed. its just a way for the state to charge you more for something you dont need. lived in OK that gives you 1 plate and they charge you $15 buck for it. Lived in IL that required 2 and paid $300 for them. Its about politics and money, nothing more.

By: Robert Mitchell

Robert Mitchell — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 21:26:22 +0000

I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other about the one plate vs two plates arguments. But I find it difficult to believe the argument (mostly from high-end sports car owners) that some cars just aren’t capable of mounting front plates. Why? Because Germany, Italy, the UK and Japan ALL require two plates on passenger cars. In fact, one article I read said that the US and Canada are the only nations where some states/provinces require only a rear plate.

The guy who usually waits on me at the local Ford dealership tells me, that if you get down and look VERY closely at the front bumper of some of these sportsters, you’ll see two very slight indentations. That’s where the dealer’s technician is supposed to drill to install the front plate bracket.

By: PG

PG — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 06:43:38 +0000

I live in Nevada. I don’t think I’ve EVER heard of anyone being ticketed for not displaying a front plate. I own a VW – and it clearly doesn’t have a front end designed for a plate. I was not given a bracket for one, either.

I’d put Nevada in a gray area – the law reads:

“Nevada law requires most vehicles to display front and rear license plates at all times, except motorcycles and trailers, which require only a rear plate. You must display both plates if the vehicle is designed for a front plate or if the manufacturer offers an add-on bracket or frame.

Front plates are optional only if 1) the vehicle was not designed for a front plate and 2) the manufacturer did not provide an add-on bracket or other means of displaying the front plate. (NRS 482.275)”

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 21:30:22 +0000

I live in NY, where front plates are required. It also snows quite a bit here, so many people (such as myself) spend four or five months of the year driving around with snow plows on the front of our trucks, completely blocking that front plate. If it’s okay for me to obstruct my plate for half the year, why is it required to have in the first place? Also, I challenge you to try reading a plate number through your mirror or on a car driving the opposite direction.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:59:13 +0000

I live in Alabama – one of your “rugged 19.” Admittedly, I am one who does not like the front plate because of the aesthetics – on some vehicles they are downright tacky. They are also a waste of resources – metal and oil (the plastic bracket and the paint are petroleum products). It also covers up some of the lower air intake on many vehicles, and when you live in our summertime heat, any extra air to your engine is a good thing. On some vehicles the front license could hurt your gas mileage, albeit only slightly. Your argument for “someone following you” is a little silly, as you probably couldn’t read it in your rear-view mirror, especially since it’s not printed backwards like on an ECNALUBMA. I also don’t think anyone can read fast enough to get a plate # if they’re meeting someone at any speed over 5 mph. I would also suspect the low number of vanity tags in Cali has more to do with cost than with desire since everything is more expensive out there. As far as state inspections (I know you said you’d wait until another time), in many states they are a joke and in others they are restrictive, and they could just as easily be done at the time you renew your tag. Bottom line is tags, inspection stickers, etc, are just TAXES you pay in addition to sales tax on your vehicle, and I’m paying all I care to now. Another tag would just be more money out of my pocket.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 23:38:54 +0000

If the front license plate is a safety feature to be read through your rearview mirrors if someone is following you, the text would be backwards like the word AMBULANCE on the front of Ambulances. It may permit plate identification from the front of a vehicle, but in reality the real purpose is for police to be able to identify the legal status of a vehicle. In a wreck, there are VIN tags in many areas of the vehicle used for identification. Traffic Cams in AZ photo both front & back of vehicle. Requiring 2 plates results in needless exorbitant fees levied upon the citizen. While I’m not an environmentalist, there would be double the cost & waste created if every state required 2. Thank God the rugged states don’t require safety inspections…I like the fact that they treat responsible adults as such!

By: Dawn Crouse, Life Time Fitness

Dawn Crouse, Life Time Fitness — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 01:34:06 +0000

Literally every other car in California doesnt have a front plait and its annoying because allot of those people tail gate really bad .

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 06:09:23 +0000

In reply to Mel. The front license plate may seem like a great "safe" idea until you start caring about the environment. I often see people who support front license plate laws as anti-environmental capitalist republicans. There's a reason why auto manufacturers stopped shipping vehicles without front plates in the late 90's - because during wind tunnel testing proves it increases drag, which reduces MPGs. Federal government mandates of 35+ mpg fleet average shortly, and since a frontal plate directly inhibits best practice for fuel economy, a more costly measure would be needed to make up the difference elsewhere if kept, perhaps by leaving out an extra airbag or two to reduce the weight of the vehicle in order to offset the license plate drag?? How much exactly? Well have you ever stuck your hand out the window at highway speeds? Hurricane force winds is quite powerful aren't they? Your hand is about 1/5th the size of a license plate. It takes the vehicle about 1.9 horsepower extra when traveling to maintain 65mph with a front plate. Sure a piddly 1.9 horsepower doesn't sound like much, except when you factor in there are ~13 million registered vehicles in the wonderful environmental friendly state of California. That totals ~24.7 million unnecessary horsepowers. Or.... 103,347 Hummers worth of toxic emissions being pumped into the air!!!!!!! Small efficiency gains add up in big numbers, especially with a heavily populated state like California. Save the children, ban front license plates.