a family member got pulled over by the police this morning and warned that his euro-style number plates are illegal, and he must have them replaced immediately. The car has been fitted with these plates for longer than it's been in the family - over 5 years. What's the story! These are the common wide plates, with a flag of origin on the left hand side, like you see on many european cars here.
It's on a BMW 5 series, so is the right plate for the mountings, as the normal NZ plates are too narrow
nightboss,
May 6, 5:35pm
Get a second opinion from VTNZ or similar.
pyro_sniper2002,
May 6, 6:30pm
Not supplied by LTNZ/plates.co.nz = not legal. Simple as that.
kcf,
May 6, 6:31pm
Unless it's the number plate you got from the gummint, you can't use it.Can't really say for sure if the plate you are describing is actually definitely one gotten from AA / VTNZ / VINZ / Post Office.
fiatracer,
May 6, 6:47pm
neither can i, it *might* be the ones with slightly different font
edangus,
May 6, 6:49pm
There are some you can get online. They are not legal. Happened to my boss about 6 weeks ago on his new purchase. Buggar
n1smo_gtir,
May 6, 8:20pm
nothing is illegal till you get caught.
sw20,
May 6, 8:53pm
Good to see the 5-0 are keeping Licensys' monopoly on supplying plates intact rather than stopping red light runners.
esprit,
May 6, 9:07pm
FYI, the monopoly is nothing to do with Licensys. Licensys would love to sell you Euro plates at a competitive price of $40 or so. however it's the PERSONALISED PLATES LTD. Monopoly that keeps the prices at comical levels, they are nothing to do with Licensys, Licensys simply manufacture the plates to the government-decreed standard.
And fiatracer, if the plates are replica NZ plates from a site like www.germanplates.com, then they're illegal. the givewaway was probably that the font isn't the same as that used in NZ. NZ's font is unique anywhere in the world and none of the replica plate-makers are tooled up to produce these.
If you're lucky and have a plate whose letters look similar to our own when printed in the German font, then you'll likely go un-noticed. if it's got characters like "1" or "0" that look vastly different in the German font then it stands out like dog's balls.
Also, with ANPR, and on the NZTA system, it records what sort of plate you're allowed. If you have a standard issue plate (such as ADD101) then it's listed as "standard". If you have a personalised plate like J0KER, and it's on a standard format plate, it's listed as "personalised". If it's on a Euro, Country or other size format of plate, whether personalised content or not it's listed in the system as "special".
Cops can see this when they pull up your car's details in the patrol car so if the plate you're wearing doesn't match what's registered then you're eligible for a fine.
fryan1962,
May 6, 9:27pm
I have aussie plates id like to keep on my car is there any way! at beach hop I saw some cars with us plates,they may have been trailer-ed to event
esprit,
May 6, 9:30pm
Nope, no way you can legally do it. You MUST have officially-supplied NZ plates. No ifs, no buts, no maybes.
I know a lot of the HotRods have personalised plates and then have an American plate that reads the same as the personalised plate. that's NOT legal whatsoever.
However, it's down to what gets enforced. You could get away with it for 10 years then you'll pass a cop one day who will be within their rights to fine you.
rovercitroen,
May 6, 9:46pm
Pity the cops (our employees) aren't doing something f.n useful!
rovercitroen,
May 6, 9:46pm
Pity the cops (our employees) aren't doing something useful!
kcf,
May 6, 10:04pm
you'd be singing a different story if fake plates where everywhere and being used on stolen cars, re-identified cars, cars used in crimes (like stolen plates are are now) and the cops were making no attempts to pull over cars with fake plates to see what was up.
I'm not saying that you have no point at all, just that there's a flip side to it that if fake plates were allowed, then use of them for criminal purposes would be higher.That's the trade off we make because of dodgy folk.
esprit,
May 6, 10:10pm
What galls people is that Personalised Plates charge you $600 for the privilege of having a plate that actually fits your car and doesn't have to be bent to fit (which, in itself, is an offence).
Government-sponsored monopoly.
poppajn,
May 6, 10:17pm
Just a question, I don,t doubt OP,s ,but how can you register your vechicle if the plates not legal. Does,nt seem right.
smac,
May 6, 10:18pm
You can't. People bring vehicles in, keep the o'seas plate tucked away, register said car, then whack the old plate on.
esprit,
May 6, 10:48pm
You can also order plates over the net that look roughly like NZ Euro plates, but the font is German. You can get this plate made with the same number as your existing NZ plate.
rovercitroen,
May 6, 11:04pm
Fair point kcf.
moosie_21,
May 7, 4:08am
More like $839.
What galls me is the people that get an X FIVE plate on their beemer. "Yes, because I couldn't read the already massive BMW, nor X5 logos, on your overpriced car".
Like "turbo" or "vtec" stickers, but for rich people. More money than sense.
esprit,
May 7, 6:42am
I must admit to being guilty of that. Mind you, my car ain't the ordinary thing you see on the road, despite the plate most people still ask me what it is!
shuddupowh,
May 7, 11:03am
#23 let me guess your plate says ESPRIT!
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