Car number plates method of attachment.

[Michael Chare]

Why are car number plates now often held with sticky tape rather than screws? It can be quite difficult to get the old sticky tape off if you wish to use a different number.

[Andy Burns]

I've never needed to swap a stuck-on number plate, but would assume you use some fishing line or dental floss like a wire-saw?

[Tim Streater]

Or a cheese cutter like this:

I used this to separate a crossover board that was glued to a chunk of foam inside a pair of speakers. Worked a treat. This particular one is marked as unavailable at Amazon but they have plenty of others.

[Michael Chare]

My piece of dental floss broke so I used a thin piece of string instead which worked. I wanted to be sure that I did not use anything that might damage the car plastic. The main difficulty was removing the left over sticky tape. My neighbour offered me some Isopropyl alcohol which could well have been better than the white spirit I used. The other challenge was putting the replacement number plate in the right place as you can't move it once it has started to stick. My wife has an old number which has been in the family for three generations and is possibly worth as much as the car!

[alan_m]

What's worth the money? The physical plate or the number which can be transferred to another physical plate? Is it allowable to fit a plate that doesn't meet up-to-date regulations to a new or modern car?

[Andrew]

Neighbour got a new Toyota Corolla in March and its number plates have been fitted the usual way with those black or white plastic nuts/bolts. Maybe it just depends on the dealer.

[SteveW]

I assumed that it was the number being referred to and the plate removal was to either get it off the old car, so it could have a different number put on or the new car, so that the new number (whether on the existing or a new plate) put on.

[ARW]

You can fit old number plate to new cars but not the other way round.

That's how South Yorkshire police caught the Yorkshire Ripper. His number plates were newer by date than the car he was driving.

[Michael Chare]

It could well depend on the dealer. I have been meaning to look at some parked cars to see how often the number plates are not held on by screws.

[Michael Chare]

Correct the mumber was removed from the old car which then reverts back to its original number. I then had some new plates made with that number for £20 which I attached to the new car with sticky tape. I ordered a new set of plates on ebay but they never came. The seller claimed to have posted them showing tracking. I was never asked for a V5C so I wondered if that was why the plates did not arrive.

[NY]

Ah, I didn't realise that. I thought it was simply that the number plate related to a different make of car. But the wrong year might be more obvious, if a policeman knew that a car had stopped production several years before the date encoded into the registration number. (*) Something would have to make him suspicious enough to even get PNC to check it. Mind you, by that stage I think many police forces were routinely checking *any* cars seen in known red-light districts, on the off-chance that one might be the Ripper.

(*) Even that wouldn't necessarily be an offence, if a car had been kept off the road (eg as part of a manufacturer's stockpile) and registered after production had stopped. But it would certainly be cause for checking an anomaly.

[Brian Gaff]

You are lucky. I met a bloke who lost a number plate somewhere on the A3 a year or so back. He only found out as he was pulled over by police. The number plate, it appeared had been secured by some kind of plastic rivets coloured white. They had snapped.

Maybe this is why they started to use adhesive? Brian

[Andy Burns]

You can transfer an old *number* to a new car, but not necessarily an old *plate*

e.g. silver on black plates aren't allowed on post 1975 cars

[Bob Eager]

The plates on my last car were secured with metal bolts.

One of them rusted and caused ANPR in local car parks to get it wrong. It was a pain as I had to call the operator from the gate every time, holding up a long queue behind me.

Eventually solved by buying a new car :)

[Colin Bignell]

Painting the bolt heads would have been cheaper.

[Tim Streater]

You could have stuck some white sticky tape over the rusted bolt-head.

[Rod Speed]

You need to be publically drummed out of uk.d-i-y if you can't actually replace a rusted small bolt or get the rust off and paint the head.

[sintv]

My new cars plates are screwed on. When my mate picked me up in his car I noticed the plate hanging down..the glue had failed. He took the plate off and put in on the dashboard. Its an electric car and as he drove away he noticed that all the dashboard lights were dim. He was nearly driving to the dealer till he realised the plate was on top of a sensor.

[Bob Eager]

When I worked out what was going on, the new car was due. It had been on order for 14 months.