Front license plate on your MINI?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HappyKafka
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Oh... that's a story. Back when Ohio still required a front plate, careful reading of the law told me they just required the numbers on the front of the vehicle, not an "official" plate. Like, you could just paint them on the bumper and it would meet the text of the law.

Anyway, a state trooper disagreed, and I got 2 tickets (from the same guy) over the span of 2 weeks before I could argue it in court. When I did get to court, the county magistrate agreed with the trooper, and I was going to appeal, but was moving at the time and missed my 30-day window. Might have been a moot point anyway, as they changed the text of the law the following year to explicitly require an official plate (I like to think because of me, but probably not)... and then in 2020 they got rid of the front plate requirement entirely.

I got it from German Plates back in 2015, and they have examples and a "your plate text" thingy to see what it'll look like.
https://www.germanplates.com/us-eurostyle-license-plate.html

I had the same plate on my Audi and I was pulled over by an officer and I said the plate number is the actual plate number, he was amused and then he said " but we are not in Germany, so please put an official NY plate back on"
 
None of the tow hook versions look right to me on any car. The off centered plate just looks wrong; like it’s not meant to be there. I’ve seen cars in person with the vinyl license plate sticker and they don’t look right either. So my choice is go with the standard plate mount or no plate. If it was just me driving the car, I’d have no problem going with no plate. My kids will also be driving the car and they would not handle it well if they got a ticket for no plate.

I do wish someone like Carbonio made a no drill option for the Mini. I may contact them to find out. They have a great option for Porsches that is centered and quick removal so you can store the plate in the frunk and easily put it on at any time.


They don't look right to you.

But they certainly look very right to me as well as other vehicles like Alfa Romeo and classic land Rover defender and etc.

I have tow hook plate holder on all of my vehicles (Audi A3, VW GTI, new Land Rover Defender and the SE) and they look great to me. Centered mounted plate though not my preference sure doesn't look "wrong" and I am sure it looks "right" to many people.
 
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