Front Number Plate on NA

Gerald Warner · Post by **Gerald Warner** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:23 am

this is an old perrenial I know! I don't like the various options for mounting the dtandard NZ rego plate on a NA model. To me all the different types look ugly and dtract from the lines of the car. I have seen a number of NA models with the number stuck on to the bumper with plastic transfer type stuff. I have also talked to some of the owners who tell me that they 'think' it may be illegal but that the LTSA turns a blind eye. One owner had been stopped by police but not ticketed.
Any advice out there? My inclination is to damn the torpedoes and just do it!

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:43 am

What were you thinking of doing? A stickon plate?
I drove around without a plate for about 3 months without a problem. I think you'd be fine.

Gerald Warner · Post by **Gerald Warner** » Wed May 09, 2007 10:59 am

Something like that yes.

Fletch · Post by **Fletch** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:30 am

technically, it is illegal, and they can ticket you if they choose to.

most people dont have a problem.... but if you happen to be young, or one of the other types of people who may receive "un-due" attention from the police, or happen to strike a grumpy officer on a bad day, you may not be so lucky.

Even if you do happen to get such a ticket.... you'll often have the option to rectify the issue and have the ticket dropped.... but again, thats at the officer's or police station/s discretion.

Do you feel lucky?

Fletch.

MatBat · Post by **MatBat** » Wed May 09, 2007 12:12 pm

When I drove without a front plate I kept it in the boot "just in case" I'm sure if you did that then if you were stopped you could "rectify" the situation on the spot thus avoiding a ticket.

Post by **zorruno** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:01 pm

on 9/05/2007 10:23 a.m. Gerald Warner wrote:

I don't like the various options for
mounting the dtandard NZ rego plate on a NA model.

on 9/05/2007 11:30 a.m. Fletch wrote:

technically, it is illegal, and they can ticket you if they choose to.

most people dont have a problem....

Hi Gerald

(warning, this is a bit of a rant sorry...)

I've been ticketed, got off the ticket, been ticketed again, argued, got
angry, wrote letters, got annoyed, then put my plate back on. This is
with both no front plate, and a convincing copy (but half the standard
height).

No front plate is definitely illegal. Stick on characters are
definitely illegal. Custom made plates could technically be touted as
legal in some instances, but I doubt you'd win in court if you tried
(and they'd just update the Act if you did).

Anything other than the one of the standard issued plates, front and
rear, mounted horizontally, fixed, not hinged, near the centre of the
vehicle, without any form of covering, untrimmed, unmodified, in
supplied colours with reflector holograms, can really be argued as
illegal under current legislation.

I pretty much know of people being stopped, and/or tickets being issued
that cover one or more all of the items listed above.

You may or may not be ticketed depending on what your car looks like,
who the officer that stops you is, if you break the law in other ways
(i.e. speed), what the current hot news topic is at the moment (e.g.
whether boy racer legislation is front page in the Herald that day) or
the current phase of the moon.

Your profile doesn't say where you are Gerald, but this also depends on
where you live - you are much more likely to be ticketed in the CBD of a
large city. (I have noticed that Christchurch seems to have a lot of
MX5s with stick-ons though) Finally, is it an everyday driver? It stands
to reason that the more you drive it, the more likely you are to get
stopped.

My opinion is to feel free to try it, and if you get the ticket ($250 as
far as I know at the moment) you could accept it as the cost of having a
nice looking MX-5 front, or plead your case and hope you get off the
ticket. Many MX-5s and other cars in NZ seem to have stick-ons or
non-standard plates, but that is unlikely to help your argument if you
get a ticket.

Hope this helps...?!

Cheers
H

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Wed May 09, 2007 3:41 pm

Yes it's illegal and you could get 'done' for having the stick on plate,
especially if whoever pulls you up has had a bad day!
More important though is the possibility of losing your insurance cover as
the car is not in a legal warrantable condition. I know many people do have
the stick on plates but I don't think the risk is worth it myself.

Grant.

Post by **zorruno** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:35 pm

on 9/05/2007 3:45 p.m. Grant wrote:

More important though is the possibility of losing your insurance cover as
the car is not in a legal warrantable condition. I know many people do have
the stick on plates but I don't think the risk is worth it myself.

If you have an 'incident', generally insurance companies have to prove
that any 'non-warrantable' items directly contributed to that incident.
e.g. if your lights don't work, and you crash into someone during the
day it would be unlikely that they would deny you a payout (even if your
policy says that they can).

They could 'cancel' your insurance if you have something not
warrantable, but I'm pretty sure this is on the WOF list anyway. It
wasn't last I checked. It is purely a legal/licencing matter.

Maybe if someone was checking out how great the front of your MX-5
looked, then crashed into you...

cheers

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:48 pm

I agree that it would be unlikely but thought it might be worth checking.

Grant.

poison · Post by **poison** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:55 pm

zorruno wrote:on 9/05/2007 3:45 p.m.
If you have an 'incident', generally insurance companies have to prove
that any 'non-warrantable' items directly contributed to that incident

Yes this is what they SHOULD do but experience tells us they will use any "OUT" clause they can, and they work on the guilty till proven innocent principal.

Mind you when someone did a U turn in front of me a year or so back, the insurance Assessor took photo’s of my WOF and Rego, and he stated the same principle applies, in that even if you don’t have a WOF or Rego the insurance company would have to prove a failure of an item covered by the WOF had contributed to the accident, but in reality that means they’d claim it did and therefore the onus would be on the driver to prove that it didn’t. Better to avoid the risk.

Shermio · Post by **Shermio** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:59 pm

Hehe I have always contemplated about doing this but was advice not to by a police friend... He told me that especially with younger folks that if they happen to stop you even at the breath testing compulsory stops they can give you a ticket for stuff like:

1) Blue LED windscreen washers (or any other inappropriate lighting)
2) License plate location (Or there lack of)
3) WOF
4) Rego

And even though I have made my car pretty out standing I do not want to give them a reason to give me ticket that would go towards the end of year policeman's ball

I have since bent my plates in a forward fashion so that it's less noticeable and gives me a good buffer for larger cars backing up in parking spots...

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:01 pm

FACT: FRONT LICENCE PLATES ARE NOT A WARRANTABLE ITEM! Insurance companies cannot refuse insurance if you dont have one fitted.

BUT.....its is definitly a ticketable offence. Just ask my wife who has the $200 fine to prove it for our stick on plate.

It depends on the cops whether or not you get a ticket.....Waikato cops WILL hook a dangerous u turn on state highway one and ticket you...Tauranga cops dont care.

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri May 11, 2007 11:54 am

My NZ new NA plate had a dodgy mounting frame when I bought the car 2 yrs ago. So I bought an NB black plastic plate surround (the Jap domestic screw on type) from Cant Mazda, and had my signwriter make me a custom plate in plastic to exactly fit the space, using a reflective white background. I had my numbers done in red, with an exact replica, also with red numbers for the rear.
People think I have a personalised plate....and I imagine the police do also, as I have had no grief to date.
Being a cautious fellow, I carry my original plates and fixing screws together with a phillips screwdriver in the boot........

Cheers, Ian

Konis and RB springs fitted yeserday, sport wheel alignment this morning, just off for a blast across the Port Hills!!!

Shermio · Post by **Shermio** » Fri May 11, 2007 7:16 pm

Hmmm I also wonder if one can trim one of those 'Euro' plates as they seem to be a bit shorter and instead of the metal, they are plastic... might be a looking point me thinks..

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:42 pm

I presume my 97, an import from Japan, has an original front plate holder. I have trimmed the ends of a standard NZ plate and it just fits nicely. When I got the car, the ends overlapped and the plate was bent accordingly.

keithdec · Post by **keithdec** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:34 pm

We were stopped and given a $200 fine yesterday. The registration no. is on the front of the bonnet. It was bought like that from a car yard 18 months ago with a new warrant. We have had 3 WOF since then with no problems. We had NO IDEA that it was illegal. How can it be when the reg. no, can be clearly seen. A young officious cop at 07.20 in the morning. Does anyone think we can get off this ticket? surely a warning would have sufficed.

MX5PWR · Post by **MX5PWR** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:49 pm

This has been an on going problem. In short, it is illegal to have anything other than the official issue plate on the car and if you are stopped and given a ticket you really have no argument for not having the correct plate as there could be another car out there with your other plate on it. Rego plates arte not a safety item and therefore not covered under the warrant of fitness. You could try taking the ticket back to the car yard for selling you a defective vehicle under the transport regulations.
It seems that some regions have more of a problem than others. Ferraris and Porches do not seem to have a problem in Auck as a lot of them seem to have stick on plates, maybe they can afford better lawyers!!!!
Nigel

Bazza · Post by **Bazza** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:09 am

Keith,

I had over 30 years in "law enforcement" and spent thousands of hours in Courtrooms. This is a case where you would have a very good chance of getting the thing dismissed. You would need to take a contrite attitude and agree that in hindsight your plate was not legal, however the fact you got three warrants gave you a false impression that you were legal. I would have a crack at defending this one....

There are many good reasons why motorists are not allowed to supply their own number plates and I think this should be obvious to anyone with half a brain. Whether we like it or not it is a fact of law and despite the old phrase "ignorance of the law is no defense" you must have a good chance in this instance. While some people might like to see exemptions for sports car, let's face it, it's not going to happen.

Post by **zorruno** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 11:46 am

keithdec wrote:We have had 3 WOF since then with no problems. We had NO IDEA that it was illegal. How can it be when the reg. no, can be clearly seen.

Hi Keith & welcome to the forum

You'll see by others' posts that this is a bit of a common discussion. It is not a warrantable issue, and only the issued plate, sensibly mounted on the front and rear is truly legal.

As mentioned above, I personally have been fined for that in the past (actually a couple of times, and countless warnings...!), and had the fine waived once I followed the disputes process. Just write a letter as per the instructions on the back of the ticket. I've had other fines thrown out too once I wrote nice letters, apologising for my wicked ways (and putting things right...).

My suggestions for the letter:
1. Apologise, and admit you were wrong. Be nice. State that in no way were you purposely trying to break the law.
2. Mention that you thought it was OK, due to the warrant/purchase issues, but after research now know this is not true.
3. Put the proper plate on and take a photo, and include it with the letter (as soon as poss)
4. Include a $100 note.

cheers
(actually, item 4 is optional, and may get you arrested)