Yeah I've definitely noticed it more over the past ~12 months than I think I did before that.
Sometimes no number plates, sometimes only one number plate instead of the normally-required two. IDGI.
this post was submitted on 12 Apr 2025
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After having my car stolen and learning about how these people operate,, they're all most likely stolen vehicles.
Even the ones where they've only removed one number plate?
A car walks into a bar and the bartender says 'hey did you lose a plate?', and the car goes 'nah I found one'.
Yes, especially the ones with one plate. That's how mine was, they took off the front plate, and left the rear one on. Now that I know, I'm always on the lookout on the other side of the road.
They will take a plate from a similar car to the stolen vehicle. They will then drive around, pretending to be you,
In some cases, they won’t even bother stealing a plate and they will just buy a “novelty” plate from an online retailer, driving around in a car they didn’t pay for and racking up tolls and fines under your name!
I see it a lot round my part of Melbourne too. I think there's many reasons, one of which is sovereign citizen bullshit.
I had my plates stolen off my car a couple of years ago.
A real pain.
Police report.
TMR
$’s
Tell everyone the new number:
- insurance
- tolls
- parking
- work
Assumed they were taken so a stolen car could pretend to be me. Therefore reporting and making them of less value to the thieves was top of mind. And making sure fines and tolls could be knocked back.
From memory with the police report number it’s legal to drive for 14(?) days.
Once you’ve noticed one, you keep seeing more, it’s like seeing the same model of car as yours every day when you had not noticed seeing them before buying one.
Don't know why people don't DIY, like this.
At least here, a single missing plate isn't criminal and might not be caught, but any modification or self made forgery is and will automatically get you stopped and probably fined. In which process the vehicle gets run through the system. YMMV.
I've seen many put them on the inside of their window, harder to see (esp if tinted), and probably harder for pranky teens to steal?
You can drive without plates if you get approval in a few states iirc, could just be coincidence?