Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

Why hide license plate numbers?

4K views 39 replies 31 participants last post by  RustyRide 
#1 ·
Just curious why so many people blank out all or part of their license plates in photos they post? Afraid somebody's going to see it and track it down and take it? Millions more see it on the road or parked if that's the concern.
 
#7 ·
I always thought it was funny that people hide their license plate but then be all over FB posting where they're at and on vacation etc. Trying to hide in 1 place but then telling all your business in another!!!
 
#8 ·
I never post my plate anymore. For the record I'm a tough as shit Jeep chick, but no reason to risk it.

Depending on the state, you can find out a lot about a person from their plate. Often at least their name and home address. All it takes is one psycho deciding he likes you (or hates you) who decides to track you down. Maybe he likes your mods and discovers you live close. Maybe he's got a more intense scenario in mind.

Thing is you just don't know. Better to be safe.

And yes, I've had people show up at my door.
 
#10 ·
With a license plate number in hand, anybody can go to the DMV and pay a certain amount (about $20 in my state) and the DMV will give them a copy of all your information including address and other sensitive info. Some people are crazy so I'd rather keep my info as private as possible.
 
#11 ·
In Chicago posting plates is a good way to get your wheels stolen or worse. Forums like this are a good way for people to fine out exactly what is done to a vehicle and the plate lets them know where it's parked. That said I don't really worry about it, but I understand why some do.
 
#13 ·
fair question...I too did it recently and wondered at the time "why am I doing this?"...

Google street view does it...so I suppose there's some reason....

as other have noted "better safe than sorry"...
 
#14 ·
For the same reason as tinfoil hats?

I leave mine showing, always have. Stop by the house, I'll offer you a beer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJNOMO
#16 ·
I started doing it when I saw so many vehicles for sale on C'slist that had done it. I didn't know what the deal was but figured maybe they knew something I didn't. I guess, better safe than sorry.
 
#17 ·
Sometimes people leave for work and get in a car accident. Better stay home so you don't get in an accident. Oh wait, sometimes people stay home from work and their house blows up from a gas leak. better spend your time home from work in the backyard. Just simple paranoia. Anything can happen to anyone and if you fall into the trap of being paranoid, you are not living a full life as far as I'm concerned.
 
#19 ·
Haha! Well I certainly don't want anyone to steal my Jeep, but don't think having my plate showing on here will contribute to that. I once lived in an area where vehicles were stolen nightly. I used to leave my doors unlocked hoping they would steal my truck.. they never did bc it was a piece but I tried.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
Can you please give me your license plate number ? I'll pass a thousand better Jeeps on the road just to get to yours. I won't follow the little old lady to her house, I'll come to your house so I can get shot trying to screw with your Jeep. Ridiculous ! Here is one of my Jeeps, come to my house and screw with it. I've had the Same Colt .45 for over 40 years, I don't miss anymore ! lol
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
I blur mine because people can be f**ked up. I guess by living in major metros all my life that's the one thing that has always been a constant.



Not necessarily YOU (the person reading this post) - but somewhere - there's someone who is totally ****ed up in the head loaded on meds one thought away from doing whatever scrolling through. If a site has 100000 people on it, and 1/10th of 1% of those people are super jacked up in the head, that means 100 people scrolling through are straight up weirdos.



I also don't walk around D.C. with my address on my t-shirt, with a picture of my family and living room on the back.
 
#24 ·
It all depends on where you live. In SoCal, I've read of guys who have found their grill yanked out, wires cut and LED headlights stolen. Someone posted a vintage motorcycle for sale... the bike and trailer disappeared in the middle of the night. Full size lifted pickups stolen from driveways. If some douchebag sees something they want to steal... they'll try to take it. I just don't want to make it any easier for them.

I just don't take extra chances if I don't have to. Sure, someone could follow me home... but I know how to look in a mirror and they'd have a hard time explaining why they followed me for four right turns around the block.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#25 ·
People are whacked..no doubt about it. I figure it took me less than 5 seconds to blur it out, so why take the chance.

Speaking of messed up people, I have a client here that owns a few hotels with vending machines. Some "thief" took out an ad selling the vending machines from the hotel property that were not his - he had no affiliation with the hotel. "Seller" even met the buyer on-site to help him load them up...pretty ballsy if you ask me (and frankly pretty ingenious ha ha).

He got "caught" on security camera on neighbors property so the police were able to identity the buyer's truck (via license plate, so there's the thread tie in). Buyer was of course innocent but was able to locate the seller for the police...crazy.


********
2017 JKUWW - Granite Crystal, 24W, Auto, Premium Top, Alpine, LED Lights, Teraflex Leveling Kit, Ace Rock Sliders
 
#26 ·
Any and all information you put out on the Web can be gathered, stored, analyzed and cross-referenced. There may be nothing to it, or maybe one day it will result in a privacy breach that is critical to you (but not necessarily to anyone else).

Any ID number (license plate, SSN, driver's license, etc. - anything that goes into a database and can be used to ID you), when exposed, can make it much easier to de-anonymize you. Sure, someone could de-anon me based on my Jeep's looks, but it would take some doing, especially compared to just pulling a license plate number.

If you say "oh, I don't care if people online know who I am, I'm on facebook anyway and everyone knows everything about me", then you've capitulated and don't care about your privacy at all. Pray it never comes to haunt you.

If you say "oh, there's nothing about me that could be used against me" you are wrong; there's something that can be used against anyone. It just takes digging and doing, and the more you expose about yourself, the easier the digging and doing is.

ANYONE can be deanonymized with sufficient effort. Even the most paranoid slip up every so often, but again, it's all about how much effort it takes. Nobody is 100% secure; but one shouldn't make it easy for an attacker either.
 
#32 ·
Its because you can look up where you live by your plate #. If you have a friend that works for dvm or a cop friend its a few clicks away. Not to mention people that can hack databases and figure it out.

So if you post your car online and it looks very nice with a lot of expensive mods its not a bad idea to do it anyway. Doesn't take that long.

There are also license plate hide gadgets you can buy online. https://www.google.com/search?***


.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top