OT: tailgaters

Or, rob a bank!

It's not how easy the task may be but, rather, how likely you are to get away with it!

Here, your plates tend to be disposable because the plate isn't the credential; it's just the most visible identifier! What really matters is the ~1" square "registration sticker" that is affixed to the plate.

These are issued AFTER payment has been received for the annual registration fee. In some cases, this is a fixed fee; in others, it is essentially a property tax (a car "worth" $2X pays a higher annual fee than one worth $X; and, both cars pay less NEXT year as their values have depreciated).

Ages ago, stickers were mass produced. So, you and I could swap stickers and no one would be any wiser -- they were effectively identical.

To remove this possibility, stickers (here) now bear the plate number of the vehicle to which they are issued. So, you can't intercept a sticker in the mail intended for another owner and affix it to your vehicle.

I.e., sticker must correlate with plate. And, that is easy to verify (if you have eyes!)

You must present proof of insurance at the time the car is registered. But, registrations are nominally valid for a year while most folks pay insurance semi-annually (and, some folks even pay *monthly*!). So, it is easy to "arrange" to pay for less than a full year of insurance! Just hope you don't find yourself in a situation where it is NEEDED! (like being pulled over for a traffic violation or getting in a fender bender -- even if it's the other guy's fault!)

As this is a real possibility, we have to carry "uninsured motorist" insurance -- in case "the other guy" has NO insurance! And, "UNDERinsured motorist" insurance -- in case the other guy doesn't have ENOUGH insurance!

The trickier part is plate must correlate with VIN. Nothing to stop someone from pulling your plate and affixing it to THEIR vehicle! Of course, if they drive a 72 Ford pickup and you're driving a 16 Lexus SUV, it wouldn't be hard for a cop to "notice" that the plate doesn't fit the description of the vehicle to which it is registered!

Here (close to the border), car thieves have wisened to the issue and will now "shop" for a plate from a vehicle that loosely fits the description of the vehicle they've stolen (they don't want to keep the plate that belongs to the stolen vehicle as that's how they'd eventually be identified and caught!).

So, they'll find a plate off another "White, Lexus SUV" and SWAP it with the plate off the *stolen* White, Lexus SUV (so the legitimate SUV owner isn't as likely to notice his plate "missing"). Driving through the border crossing, a license plate scanner can automatically look up the registration for the vehicle bearing that plate. And, if it comes back "White, Lexus SUV", chances are no one will actually approach the car and check the VIN number to be sure that it is THE correct "White Lexus SUV".

Not really. First you would have to get paper that feels the same as the real dollars. People are going to be touching the fake dollars. Next you have to figure out how the pens people use to detect fake dollars. And so on.

With license plates I think I could make paper mache plates that would pass at ten feet.

Dan

That's the whole point. Laws only work on the law-abiding. It's the criminals that we need protection from. Government can't do it.

They have the exposure of having to insure a car that they're not collecting premiums from, forever. That can't be cheap.

Perhaps but you pay for it on the other end. TANSTAAFL.

It's really not all that easy to print *good* copies.

I can tell you that you cannot do it electronically. I tried. The software prevents it. You need like a lithograph or something, I forget how they used to do it.

The hard part is the paper. It's hard enough that many counterfeiters "wash" (bleach) small bills and print larger denomination bills on the paper.

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Despite insurance legal insurance requirement in most states, the Insurance Information Institute reports a 12.6-percent national rate of uninsured mo torists.