Someone changed my license plate?

Submitted by HelloEverybody94 t3_10ukgrk in philadelphia

Found a ticket on my windshield this morning. No biggie, I'm parked within my permit zone so I'll just dispute it. Then I notice the ticket doesn't even the right license plate number on it and start laughing.

Just to be completely sure, I step out to look at my license plate, and what do you know, it's the license plate number that matches what's on the ticket, which is also NOT MINE!

I check my title, registration, and any pictures I have on my phone of my car just to be sure I'm not going crazy, and yeah, this definitely isn't my license plate.

Has anyone ever had anything like that happen to them before? Is there a reason why someone would just steal a license plate? What should I do about that?

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VMON215 t1_j7cbln9 wrote

Yup. My wife had her plate swapped before the new year. We started getting pictures in the mail from ez pass of violations. The thieves had the same model car. We made a police report and made a report with PenDot. We got new tags and a new registration. I'm still dealing with EZ pass fines because they are as incompetent as humanly possible.

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poncythug t1_j7cj0ex wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,730,538)

Can confirm; I used to work for a rental car company and had someone swap plates on a rental to try to steal it. We only caught it because someone in the neighborhood snitched to me.

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GoldenMonkeyRedux t1_j7cofky wrote

Just an FYI, but you can swap out the bolts that hold your plate on with security Torx bolts. I did it to my cars a few years ago. Of course, anyone with a good set of bits will have the one to unscrew it, but your average tweaker probably won't.

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Kodiak_85 t1_j7cqq5l wrote

Your plates were likely stolen by someone who intends on committing a crime using their vehicle with your plates attached. They put the other plates on your car in the hopes that you wouldn’t notice them stolen and don’t report it. Once you report the plates stolen they will be flagged whenever they are scanned by an automatic license plate reader.

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TheNightmareOfHair t1_j7da96t wrote

Saw someone changing the plate of the car parked in front of mine yesterday evening but there's really not much you can do. Like... maybe the guy just bought or renewed the registration on the vehicle and was putting on his new plate!

Probably not. But maybe!

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William_d7 t1_j7ddv6z wrote

Report plate stolen. Plus side, ticket isn’t your problem!

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HelloEverybody94 OP t1_j7dephe wrote

Replying to VMON215 (#1,730,551)

Did you have to pay for the new plates and registration? Or can you replace it for free if they were stolen? I'm moving out of state in a month and definitely don't want to pay registration for just one month.

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PhilaTesla t1_j7dhd4r wrote

Replying to SnapCrackleMom (#1,731,674)

That goes back to the idiotic practice of keeping the registration decals directly on the plates themselves. People would get clear plastic covers for their plates to try to protect the decals. If you're old enough, you might remember consumer reporter Herb Dennenberg, who had a segment calling out people who did that (for making it harder for police to read the plates, etc.) while completely missing the reason for using the covers.

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Capkirk0923 t1_j7dl7b8 wrote

Why can't they just make fake temp plates like a normal Philadelphian?

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katecrime t1_j7dz6k0 wrote

Getting that ticket was actually good luck in a way - it alerted you to the issue sooner than you might have noticed it. Especially if you’re moving away soon… you get to deal with this prospectively, before the police come knocking on your door. (Which, after you report it, they probably won’t).

Good luck / Bon Voyage 🍀

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FedUPGrad t1_j7e1wuf wrote

Replying to Kodiak_85 (#1,731,166)

It's either that or they've stolen a similar looking car - so if OP has say a 2015 grey Honda civic they may have stolen a grey Honda civic similar year and because the plates are from a car that isn't reported stolen it is less likely to be detected.

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8vaNJ t1_j7e98i0 wrote

Wait til you see your ez pass bill

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Freakazoidberg t1_j7ea4qw wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,733,206)

Probably because GPS units are cost out of company's budget while car thefts are covered by the insurance policy.

So a GPS unit for an entire fleet of cars add up. Then there's the tracking (who's doing the tracking? Who's in charge of the tracker repositories, how do they coordinate with cops), serialzing etc. Which is a logisotical nitemare. Probably easier to claim insurance. Now if it happens often enough that the premiums are going up by a decent margin that's another story.

Edit: this was very incorrect regarding the insurance coverage reasoning.

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Phillyz t1_j7ehejh wrote

Replying to stonkautist69 (#1,732,892)

Happened to me. Noticed immediately since people on my street have the same car, same color, so I identified it by license plate. Called cops, they surprisingly came out fast, paid 35 or 65 and got a new plate. They found the fucker in a stolen car six blocks over. Not sure what happened, don’t really care, but it was sort of annoying.

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meezercheezer t1_j7ejgod wrote

I had my plate stolen last year and quickly had $500 worth of speeding tickets in the mail. You gotta call the cops and get a police report so you can fight any tickets you get.

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mikebailey t1_j7eumar wrote

Replying to Kodiak_85 (#1,731,166)

A lot of people in this post saying contact the police first, but that doesn’t get you anything. OP needs to commit the crime first with their plates. Free speeding tickets!

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CoolJetta3 t1_j7fhkjn wrote

This is part of the paranoia that makes me walk around my car first anytime I have to use my car. Checking for flats, vandalism, stolen plate, whatever.

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idontlikeolives91 t1_j7g7a67 wrote

This happened to my bf. They swapped his license plate then ran a red light so he got the ticket. He had to contest it in court and it was a lengthy process due to COVID.

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Edison_Ruggles t1_j7g8ulp wrote

.....and once again, I must enter the conversation to say this would be at least slightly harder to do if the state required TWO license plates.

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shertuyo t1_j7ggtw1 wrote

Wow! I was not yet familiar with this particular con. Thanks for publicizing. Hopefully you report it before you get a bunch of speeding tickets

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TooManyDraculas t1_j7gtbwu wrote

Replying to Kodiak_85 (#1,731,166)

License plates are usually stolen by people looking to drive around in an unregistered vehicle. Or to hide from unpaid parking tickets or DWI warrants. Less commonly to hide a stolen car.

If some one is looking to get away with a serious crime. They don't drive their own car with disguised plates. They steal a whole car.

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Robert_A_Bouie t1_j7lxuhm wrote

Replying to SnapCrackleMom (#1,732,180)

When he went after Ron Pearlstein (diamond merchant) Herb was in my bosses office a lot. I worked at a jewelry store and my boss was a certified gemstone appraiser. Herb would come in with new brides to have him appraise diamonds that their husband's bought from Ron Pearlstein. Basically, Pearlstein would sell them a rock and say it was "grade A" quality but in reality it was a C+ at best (the terminology isn't A, B, C, D etc. but I'm keeping it simple), not that anyone could really tell without looking at it through a microscope.

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