MadManMike Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 So I have been doing a lot of vehicle searching on craigslist. As such I bought a subscription to carfax. Carfax now allows you to run vehicles via the license plate, which is pretty handy because a lot of pictures have the license plate and not the Vin #. However, about 70% of the listings have the license plate blurred out or obscured. For the life of me I can not think of a good reason to obscure your license plate number. Especially on craigslist. The funny thing is, some people post their VIN # and blur out their license plate. There is no legal way to find out someones address or personal information from a license plate #. You already put your name, phone number, general location and description of your vehicle in the Ad. Your license plate is visible to the whole world when you drive If I wanted your license plate number for nefarious activities I would ask to come see the vehicle and then write it down. You are selling the vehicle What do you think? -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerch641 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 People just have an odd need for unnecessary privacy on the internet. You are correct in all your points, and the internet is an nonsensical place sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 It's the scary interweb, I must hide my plate! I think people worry about identity theft or something like that, hell take mine it might help my credit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdtimesacharm Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 In the UK and i guess other civilisations under mass surveillance (?) you get 'car cloning' where you get the reg of a similar vehicle and put it on your own. So your car might be uninsured with no road tax or MOT (yearly inspection) but you can pretend to have all those things. If you were doing that sort of thing, you'd probably search the car ads for candidates.. And if you saw one that is blurred out, you would just move onto the next. In conclusion, it takes miminal effort that could save alot of future agro. As you say in point 4, you could just go view it and get the details.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Go ahead and search my license plate number. Go for it. I couldn't care less... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I bet nobody knows my plate number... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 not a clue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stabworthy Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 i had a psyco ex find me via plate. i change them when i moved. but since then my pathy has got very noticeable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I remember years ago 88pathoffroad talked about this a time or two. iirc he said he was ok due to the laws in the state he lived, but not all states had the same privacy protections. Best thing to do would be to look up your local and county/state/province/country laws in your area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I know that in Ca, you can't get any info from a license plate unless you are LEO or agency afilliated. Some 30 years ago you could just go to the DMV and get the persons info, presumably if there was an accident or other issue, but then some nut job tracked down and murdered some woman via the DMV info desk, and that was the end of that. I usually blur out my plates because why not, but when you are selling a car, that seems pointless... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 I know that in Ca, you can't get any info from a license plate unless you are LEO or agency afilliated. Some 30 years ago you could just go to the DMV and get the persons info, presumably if there was an accident or other issue, but then some nut job tracked down and murdered some woman via the DMV info desk, and that was the end of that. I usually blur out my plates because why not, but when you are selling a car, that seems pointless... B Too me it makes sense to blur your license plate online when just posting pictures of your car. Especially if you don't want to be personally connected to your online identity. Or you are worried about someone stealing your numbers or something. But yeah, when selling a car it makes no sense. I remember years ago 88pathoffroad talked about this a time or two. iirc he said he was ok due to the laws in the state he lived, but not all states had the same privacy protections. Best thing to do would be to look up your local and county/state/province/country laws in your area. Yeah someone else told me that too. A quick google search shows that there are Federal protections against it: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2721 But I guess its up to each state to interpret that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beatup96 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 I don't see a problem with it . When you sell a car you're not selling the plate along with it , and lots of times the plate and number are transferred to your next vehicle . The plate # on my truck has been on three different vehicles since being acquired in May 1988 . With all the technology available to scumbags these days , who knows ? Better safe than sorry IMO..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Looks like car cloning here involves replacing the VIN tag with the same number as a properly titled vehicle, and then trying to register it out of state for a clean title, and the DMV figured out how to cross-check between states somewhere around '09 to shut that down. Even if they just wanted to run fake plates, our plates would be a PITA to clone without the proper stamping tools, refractive paint, stencils... If somebody wanted to track me down via the Internet, they'd probably have my IP, which would get them a lot closer than my plate number would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Yep, I know where you are... I don't see a problem with it . When you sell a car you're not selling the plate along with it , and lots of times the plate and number are transferred to your next vehicle . The plate # on my truck has been on three different vehicles since being acquired in May 1988 . With all the technology available to scumbags these days , who knows ? Better safe than sorry IMO..... Untrue in this state, unless it is a personalized plate. Every vehicle I have sold in 30 years, the plate went with it.Looks like everyone has different rules and experiences, so yeah, blur just to be safe... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Plates only transfer here if it's a classic/antique/collectors plate (with a written consent from the current owner) or sometimes to a family member (say a child taking possession of a car previously registered to their parents until they were no longer "high risk" owners) My stuff stands out to begin with, online nunya is easy to match to in person josh. Hell my truck sais my screen name on the windshield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPath88 Posted August 1, 2014 Share Posted August 1, 2014 Yep, I know where you are... Untrue in this state, unless it is a personalized plate. Every vehicle I have sold in 30 years, the plate went with it. Looks like everyone has different rules and experiences, so yeah, blur just to be safe... B Same here Another thing to consider... when you post about mods (the harder to see ones) and such that have been done to your car, it can make it much easier to identify for a potential thief if you show it's unique easily seen identifier (the plate number) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 Good point Red, never considered that angle. Just not Gansta enough, yo? B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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