Covering/blanking/hiding car reg in adverts

Covering/blanking/hiding car reg in adverts

Author
Discussion

aspirated

2,539 posts

145 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
Putting your reg on the internet opens it up to a much wider audience than people who just see your car in real life. Allows cloners to find reg's of cars with identical specifications in identical colours

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
So what exactly is the "risk" associated with this?

blearyeyedboy

6,252 posts

178 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
^ You get all the speeding fines, congestion charge tickets etc. of the cloner's car. They drive around with impunity and you have to prove to the police that it wasn't you.

If I post pictures of my cars on the web (regardless of whether I'm selling it or not), I cover the plates. Some may mock me; I don't mind.

(And mine has a fresh MOT with no advisories, thanks!) biggrin

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
blearyeyedboy said:
^ You get all the speeding fines, congestion charge tickets etc. of the cloner's car. They drive around with impunity and you have to prove to the police that it wasn't you.

If I post pictures of my cars on the web (regardless of whether I'm selling it or not), I cover the plates. Some may mock me; I don't mind.

(And mine has a fresh MOT with no advisories, thanks!) biggrin
So, I checked your profile to see if you had anything that would make you particularly at risk.

I found a couple of really common hatchbacks.

You may want to remove your foil hat.

funkyrobot

Original Poster:

18,789 posts

227 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
If it really was that big an issue, wouldn't there be guidance on things like Auto Trader advising you to do this?

blearyeyedboy

6,252 posts

178 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
Trabi601 said:
You may want to remove your foil hat.
I accept that my attitude's a bit "foil hat", but I'm happy to leave it that way. smile

ezi

1,734 posts

185 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
funkyrobot said:
On a side note, the MOT history checker is a great tool. smile

One car I saw last night was advertised as proudly having a full MOT. It had run out a month ago. rolleyes
I recently bought a Clio 200 from Evans Halshaw that was given a fresh MOT ticket when they took it as p/x. I received it with a snapped suspension spring and both front swivel hubs being fked. The car also had blowing from a rotted exhaust sleeve as it had previously been fitted with a cat-back system.

Sadly not a 100% reliable system frown

Edited by ezi on Wednesday 19th October 22:27

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
funkyrobot said:
On a side note, the MOT history checker is a great tool. smile

One car I saw last night was advertised as proudly having a full MOT. It had run out a month ago. rolleyes
Probably planning on putting it in for a test on sale.

The wife's Saab is due an MOT early next month. I will be advertising it before the test is taken, on the basis that we're going to ensure it has at least 12 month's ticket at the point of sale.

qska

449 posts

128 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
We had our 12 year old Focus cloned. It's likely due to an Autotrader ad we had at the time.

It wasn't nice to receive all the parking fines.

And the Police visit due to the car being used in a crime was not nice either. My wife (registered keeper) was bot amused.

The guy that bought the car from me didn't appreciate it either.

But - I sold many more cars, and it happened only to a 12 year old shed.

Go figure.

krisdelta

4,566 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th October 2016
quotequote all
I've blanked out plates when selling previously, but with the online MOT checking, it makes sense to show them so the informed can do a bit of research before phoning up. I used to be concerned about cloning (especially when I've had rarer cars) but not been bitten yet....

powerstroke

10,283 posts

159 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
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C70R said:
funkyrobot said:
Why do people do this?
To help me quickly highlight cars in which I have no interest, I presume...?
For me too also Same with POA and no engine or interior pictures .... all cause a loss of interest...

lord trumpton

7,321 posts

125 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Trabi601 said:
blearyeyedboy said:
^ You get all the speeding fines, congestion charge tickets etc. of the cloner's car. They drive around with impunity and you have to prove to the police that it wasn't you.

If I post pictures of my cars on the web (regardless of whether I'm selling it or not), I cover the plates. Some may mock me; I don't mind.

(And mine has a fresh MOT with no advisories, thanks!) biggrin
So, I checked your profile to see if you had anything that would make you particularly at risk.

I found a couple of really common hatchbacks.

You may want to remove your foil hat.
rolleyes Maybe his cars are his pride and joy regardless of their worth?


clio007

542 posts

224 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
I came accross an advert the other day with the number plates hidden but the Document Reference number of the logbook clearly displayed.

Hmm. Instead of cloning the reg, maybe I should just register myself as the new keeper onlineidea

funkyrobot

Original Poster:

18,789 posts

227 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
clio007 said:
I came accross an advert the other day with the number plates hidden but the Document Reference number of the logbook clearly displayed.

Hmm. Instead of cloning the reg, maybe I should just register myself as the new keeper onlineidea
That makes me chuckle. Full-on picture of the V5C on show. hehe

funkyrobot

Original Poster:

18,789 posts

227 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
ezi said:
I recently bought a Clio 200 from Evans Halshaw that was given a fresh MOT ticket when they took it as p/x. I received it with a snapped suspension spring and both front swivel hubs being fked. The car also had blowing from a rotted exhaust sleeve as it had previously been fitted with a cat-back system.

Sadly not a 100% reliable system frown

Edited by ezi on Wednesday 19th October 22:27
We were informed a few weeks ago that you should avoid the above at all costs.

Too late for you though. Hope you can get something sorted.

Hol

8,359 posts

199 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
ecsrobin said:
aspen said:
I would do this in future.

Recently had both cars stolen from the drive and they had cloned plates ready to go on. The plate for mine came from a car some poor guy had just bought after seeing it advertised online. It is very easy to go on the classifieds here or on Autotrader and search for the right make, model and colour and then they can drive right through any ANPR cameras.
But it's just as easy for someone to walk round a supermarket car park and do the same.
^^ I wouldn't be surprised if the cloning forums were awash with people complaining that their local Tesco never has the exact, year or colour they wanted. laugh


Joking aside. Its obviously IS easier for the cloner to go online and browse some adverts for a few minutes, than it is to actually go out trawling the car parks.




Moonpie21

530 posts

91 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
So I'm going to ask a stupid question... From a number plate is there an available way to find the cars registered address or owner details?

In my misguided ignorance, I genuinely believed this might be possible and that someone may turn up and take the for sale car without asking. (in my mind it's don't advertise where you live if you don't need to)

I am prepared to be called a clueless idiot.

Sump

5,484 posts

166 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Trabi601 said:
blearyeyedboy said:
^ You get all the speeding fines, congestion charge tickets etc. of the cloner's car. They drive around with impunity and you have to prove to the police that it wasn't you.

If I post pictures of my cars on the web (regardless of whether I'm selling it or not), I cover the plates. Some may mock me; I don't mind.

(And mine has a fresh MOT with no advisories, thanks!) biggrin
So, I checked your profile to see if you had anything that would make you particularly at risk.

I found a couple of really common hatchbacks.

You may want to remove your foil hat.
Common hatchbacks are the ones to clone. You're not exactly going to clone a Gallardo are you? rolleyes

SirSquidalot

4,039 posts

164 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
It puts me off straight away.

Lucas Ayde

3,541 posts

167 months

Thursday 20th October 2016
quotequote all
Trabi601 said:
blearyeyedboy said:
^ You get all the speeding fines, congestion charge tickets etc. of the cloner's car. They drive around with impunity and you have to prove to the police that it wasn't you.

If I post pictures of my cars on the web (regardless of whether I'm selling it or not), I cover the plates. Some may mock me; I don't mind.

(And mine has a fresh MOT with no advisories, thanks!) biggrin
So, I checked your profile to see if you had anything that would make you particularly at risk.

I found a couple of really common hatchbacks.

You may want to remove your foil hat.
Did you actually read (and more importantly, understand) the post, Einstein?

Finding another car with the same model/year/colour as the one you are going to use is the goal of the cloners who nick the reg and then use the car 'with impunity' as the OP pointed out. They are then free to speed as much as they like, park where they want or more likely, use the car to commit serious crime.

Not at all fun for the owner of the original plate who gets the tickets/ fines/ a visit from CID.

Pretty obviously, if you want to find the registration number of a car that matches your own vehicle closely, it's demonstrably easier to do a search online and copy it from the picture than it is to drive around until you happen to find a close enough match.