Custom European License Plates Official Blog » Product News

New Honey Badger Plate!

cvarner — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:54:52 +0000

Have you heard yet about the baddest animal in all the animal kingdom, the Honey Badger? If not, check out this video and see just how crazy this little guy is:

Now you can show the road you’re no one to mess with with our new Honey Badger plate. Put this plate on your vehicle and you’ll soon be known as the biggest badass on the highway!

Available in other color options.

Text Color Selection Available

dan — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:38:22 +0000

Choose from a Variety of plate styles with your own customized text color!

We have now added a text color selector to most of our European license plates. For those of you that want to be even more unique than just the text, you can choose the color of the text now, and even see how it looks in our amazing plate builder!! A few of the examples are show above, mix and match whatever plate and text combination you like best.

As usual, we are always adding new products and updating our site. Visit us frequently to catch all the new and fun updates we bring!

http://www.customeuropeanplates.com/

Cheers!

Own A Piece Of Royal Wedding History (Sort Of)

dan — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 17:18:21 +0000

CustomEuropeanPlates.com version of the British royal wedding license plate on William's and Kate's Aston Martin

OK – we admit that the hype and fanfare around the British royal wedding has been pretty excessive and that this is just adding fuel to the fire but we threw caution to the wind. I can hardly wait to see the choice comments we get. This is not an exact replica but our version of the royal license plate you see plastered all over the media. The real plate is made out of plastic and uses a UK font. The text is ‘printed on’ so the plate is flat – kinda lame . Our version is made from an Aluminum blank and the text is embossed into the metal using our standard font. An image of the William’s and Catherine’s license plate is below for reference. We like to think that they would have been much happier with ours but we didn’t get a call (maybe the next royal wedding). Basically manufactured using the same method we use to make all of our plates.

The plate was on the back of William’s and Kate’s Aston Martin Volante. If you are a commoner, you can put this on your vehicle of choice but we will look down on you. Currently my Aston Martin is in the shop but I will be sure to let you know when it is out.

By the way, if you would like to place an order our manufacturing team is working to get the materials together and we expect to have these next week (week of May 1). Obviously the buzz over the wedding will putter out quickly so we are making a limited number of these plates.

We realize that some of you royal wedding purists may scoff at this but we can’t make everyone happy. Here are the basics for the rest of you that would like to throw some gas on the fire.

Made In Germany using the same methods as actual German license plates (Germany is sort of close to the UK)
Yellow reflective background with black, embossed text
The blue left side is a high quality reflective decal
Dimensions are 4.4 inches by 20.5 inches
Includes our Black Universal Mounting Frame - FREE
Weather Resistant – Made stand up to the elements…maybe even until the next royal wedding
Balloons NOT included

Royal's Weak Plastic Plate

Carbon Fiber European Plate!

dan — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:43:39 +0000

Thanks to popular demand, we have added a Carbon Fiber European license plate. Our carbon fiber plate is a great way to make a unique statement. The plate is made from an Aluminum blank with a special coating that looks exceptionally close to real carbon fiber. Using Aluminum blanks with this special coating allows us to emboss your text into plate to add depth and that extra custom look. In addition to the carbon fiber look, the surface of the license plate has a gloss finish, further enhancing the look of the carbon weave. The text on the plate can be customized to be either Black, Red, White, Silver, or Gold.

Check out our up-close sample of our Carbon Fiber plate!

Full view of the Carbon Fiber European Plate

High Quality Carbon Fiber look, with a high gloss finish

Check out the Carbon Fiber plate builder at this link:

http://www.customeuropeanplates.com/carbon-fiber-european-license-plate.html?category_id=1

Cheers!

Half Space added to Plate Builder!

dan — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:18:24 +0000

After hearing many customers asking about our Ready-to-Ship German plates and how they can get the smaller space on their customized plate, we have added a new feature to our plate builder. Now when you are customizing your European License plate you can hit the “Half Space” button to add a smaller space. This is a popular tool for making more authentic German license plates and European license plates. This will also allow more room for customization when using spaces as the half space takes up less room.

Here’s a great example of how this “Half Space” can benefit you:

Used 9 letters and 2 spaces which until now was impossible!

Check out how others have used the new “Half Space” Feature on their European License Plates!

http://www.customeuropeanplates.com/plate-ideas

Enjoy!

3M Dual Lock Is Available!

dan — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 01:56:28 +0000

By popular request, we have added a 3M Dual Lock kit to allow you to mount your European license plate without drilling or using screws. We have been testing it for months and can honestly say it is rock solid. We currently offer it in clear so that you can mount your plate and remove it and it is difficult to see the Dual Lock on your bumper. Get a couple of kits – one for your US plate and one for your Euro plate and then you can swap them out if you need . Each kit has 5 squares about an inch in size. There are 2 pieces to each square – just like standard Velcro.

Mount your European license plate without drilling or screws

Check Our Premium Anodized AMG License Plate

dan — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:48:51 +0000

Another exclusive from CustomEuropeanPlates.com! Featuring a 100% anodized black and silver finish on Aluminum blank, this is the finishing touch on your Mercedes Benz AMG. We get a lot of requests for a metallic finish on our AMG Plates. While the silver paint on our standard AMG Plate looks great, the bright aluminum finish on the AMG logo and border really make this plate pop. What is anodizing? Basically it is a process that converts the surface of the metal to a color rather than applying a coating like paint. It is extremely durable and won’t chip off. Anodizing is also very weather and corrosion resistant. The surface has a subtle texture that helps give the plate it’s rich look. Check out the pics below to get a feel for how awesome this plate looks however they still don’t do this plate justice (you can click on them for larger versions). You have to see it for yourself to really appreciate it.

New Custom BMW, VW and AMG Logos Available

Euro Plate Blogger — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:33:50 +0000

Exclusive to CustomEuropeanplates.com! We have created tools to allow you to add a BMW or VW logo to any of our Euro plates. We are working on updating the site to include these as an option but thought you might enjoy a sneak peak. If you are in a hurry and want to be one of the first, please shoot us an email. We also have a custom Mercedes AMG plate available for immediate delivery. These are pre-fabricated by our manufacturer in Germany and are available in silver text on a black plate and black text on a white plate. We can do custom color combos but the AMG logo takes up pretty much the entire area so no other text can fit. We have a few pre-fabricated plates with the BMW and VW logos available for immediate delivery as well. You can find them all here -> Custom Stock Plates.

Alternate Ways of Attaching a Custom European Plate and Frame

Euro Plate Blogger — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:08:19 +0000

We’ve discovered recently that some people often are deterred from buying European Plates for their car because of the likelihood that they will have to drill holes into their bumper in order to attach it. Some customers that own European cars in the US already have a US license plate on their car, if this is the case the only thing needed to do to install a European Plate is to put the universal frame on the existing screws. However, some European car owners do not have holes in their bumper and do not want having a European plate make them change this detail. We have invested some time to look into alternate ways of attaching a Euro Plate that does not create holes in the front of your bumper. We’ve had a few suggestions from Euro plate owners and we’ve done our part to research the durability of some of these methods. What we have discovered though is that not every method works for every car in the same way. Some effectiveness of methods vary concerning your car’s construction…but here are some of the methods we looked into…

3M Dual Lock: This is a type of Velcro made by 3M. It is almost mechanical in locking power, it is waterproof, comes in colors: clear or black, and it is backed with 3M peel and stick adhesive.

How this method would work is you would use two sets of this Velcro and put it on each corner and in the middle of the plate. A recommendation is to try and slightly bend the plate first so it can fit more uniformly to your bumper. The next step then would be to stick the plate frame with the plate on your bumper.
Some customer feedback to this method has been given and some of its effectiveness seem to be dependent upon weather. One customer who lived in a hot and very dry environment said that the heat lessened the Velcro’s adhesiveness. This might be a factor to take into consideration. One very good attribute about this product is that many people have said that it does not peel off paint from your bumper and it relatively easy to remove if you wish to take the plate off your vehicle.

Scotch 3M Exterior Weather-Resistant Double-sided Foam Tape: This is a type of double-sided tape made by Scotch. This tape has a close cell foam middle which allows for excellent vibration protection and the tape consists of a strong 3M acrylic adhesive that creates a secure bond. Is able to hold up to 5 lbs. so it will be secure enough to hold a Euro plate and frame in place. In addition to this exterior type of double-sided tape, there is also a full line of 3M Automotive Acrylic Tape. The description of the product does not differ much at all from the initial type of tape listed it just has a name of being particularly for the automotive industry.

This method works basically in the same was the 3M Dual Lock works, it is suggested as well that you try to form the plate a little more so it will fit to curve of your bumper without trying to fan out to straighten itself.
Just as with the method, the advisement is the same with this product as well. This may not work for every plate/car due to the influence of climate. Some people really say that it works and they’ve had no issue with the plate falling off but others have said that the weather has led the tape to lose its adhesiveness. However, just as the 3M Dual Lock, most said they had no problem removing the tape from their bumper. One useful hint that was given to take the tape off even easier was to slide floss in between the tape and your bumper and wiggle it like a saw and it will just peel off and remove the tape even easier.

SmartBolt Mounting System: This method comes from bavauto.com. This requires the use of a mount that hooks up to the tow-hook receiver on the cars that have it, without drilling any holes into the bumper.

This method requires you to buy the specific parts for installing it but this does not requires a use of a drill into your untouched bumper. The method and the parts that are required for the installation of this method are shown at http://www.images.gominigo.com/INSTRUCTIONS-GMG_NOHOLES_EURO.pdf. You can purchase the kit at bavauto.com as well, just search for “SmartBolt Mounting System”. This has been a highly referred method by customers if your car does have a tow hook. It hooks a bolt to your tow-hook and there are screws from the bolt that connect to your license plate frame which is a universal mount. This is the next best “secure” attachment apart from drilling into your actual bumper.

Zip-Ties: This methods requires just the use of normal/every-day zip-ties that end up hooking to holes in the plate frame and then tying to any spot you would like on your bumper that it will attach to.

These are most always made of nylon so it is heat-resistant and doesn’t leave any residue or anything on your vehicle and only requires you to cut it off with scissors when you wish to take the plate off. One suggestion that was made by a customer was to use a longer zip-tie in the middle of the plate frame (about 18”) and then to use shorter zip-ties on the sides of the plate (about 14”). This method is not seen because they would be hooked to the part of the car that the license plate would cover so this fact has been an attraction to some people.

L-bracket attachment: This method does require some drilling, however, the drilling occurs on the bottom edge of the bumper instead of the front.

This requires two L-shape brackets of your choice which could be found at any store that sells parts and to drill underneath the bumper to attach them and then the plate frame attaches to screws drilled into the opposite of the L-bracket that is not attached to the car. This was a choice for people who weren’t satisfied with some of the other methods they tried and although it involved drilling into their car, it did not require drilling into the front of it. The upside on this fact is that it is able to be removed and the holes left remaining would not be visible.

http://twitter.com/europlates

http://www.facebook.com/european.license.plates

http://home.myspace.com/europeanlicenseplates

What is the meaning of the German number plate format?

tnackel — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:32:11 +0000

The present German number plate format, used since 1994, uses black print on a white background and first provides information about the country where the car is registered, in the form of a D (for Deutschland) on the blue strip on the left, like many European Union number plates.

After that, there are between one and three letters which show the city or region where the car is registered. DD stands for Dresden, D for Düsseldorf and MST for Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for example. These units usually coincide with the German districts, in few cases an urban district and the surrounding district share the same letter code. Hanseatic cities may have an H in front of them, e.g. HH for Hansestadt Hamburg or HRO for Hansestadt Rostock. The number of letters in the city/region prefix often reflects the size of the city: one letter for a large city (B= Berlin or H=Hannover) two for a medium-sized city (DD= Dresden) or three for a small city (MST=Mecklenburg-Strelitz).

After the location name come the emission test and vehicle safety test stickers, then one or two usually random letters followed by one to four usually random numbers. The total quantity of letters and numbers on the plate is never higher than eight. One letter with low numbers are normally reserved for motorcycle use since the plates space of this vehicles is smaller.

Car owners can personalize their plates by choosing certain numbers or letters instead of the random ones at the end. For example, people living in the town of Pirna might choose PIR-AT 77, “Pirat” being the German for “pirate”; another favourite is BAR-BQ 777 for Barnim. Various combinations that could be considered politically unacceptable, mainly due to implications relating to Nazi Germany, are disallowed or otherwise avoided. The district Sächsische Schweiz uses the name of its main town, Pirna, in its code PIR, to avoid the use of SS, the name of the paramilitary organization; similarly SA is also avoided. In 2004 in Nuremberg, a car owner was refused a number plate beginning N-PD because of the connection to the political party, the NPD.

Example of banned combination (“NS”) which has been issued accidentally.Other banned combinations include the Nazi abbreviations HJ (Hitlerjugend, Hitler Youth), NS (Nationalsozialismus, National Socialism), SA (Sturmabteilung), SS (Schutzstaffel) and KZ (Konzentrationslager, concentration camp). Some registration offices have overlooked this rule by mistake, however; there are a few cars registered carrying prohibited codes, such as B-SS 12.

http://twitter.com/europlates

http://www.facebook.com/european.license.plates

http://home.myspace.com/europeanlicenseplates