Custom European License Plates Official Blog

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

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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

Custom Text Ideas

tnackel — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:30:11 +0000

Need some help coming up with your custom text? Here are just a few of our recent orders you can use for inspiration. To check out more recent orders visit http://bit.ly/d1FM4W

http://twitter.com/europlates

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

http://home.myspace.com/europeanlicenseplates

Customer Spotlight: Backward Plate Names

tnackel — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:30:12 +0000

These customer were extremely creative with backward plate names for viewing from a rear view mirror. Can you come up with other good backward plate names?

A Brief Description of German License Plates

tnackel — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:06:44 +0000

German car number plates show the place where the car carrying them is registered. Whenever a person changes their main place of residence in Germany, or buys a new car, they are required to buy new number plates. Number plates can be bought which are valid all year round or between 2 to 11 months within any 12 months. This allows people to change between summer and winter cars, such as a convertible and a sedan/saloon without having the time and money wasted for de- and re-registering. Emission test (front plate) and vehicle safety test (rear plate) stickers are also attached to the plate.

The expiry date can be figured out as following: The year is in the center of the sticker and the number on the uppermost is the month. The black marking on the side makes it easy for the police to see the expiring month from the distance. Imagine a clock, then the marking shows the same position as the face of the clock does. For example the black marking is on the left side, so it is the ninth month (or 9 o’clock) and hence the expiry date is 30th September. The colors are repeated every 6 years. The lower sticker is the official “seal” of registration, indeed, at the beginning of the 20th century plates were authorized with ink and a stamp. Motorcycles carry only the rear plate.

Twitter + Europlates = Love

Euro Plate Blogger — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:52:43 +0000

While you were busy fixing up your ride something cool happened, twitter. What is twitter you might ask? Twitter is a free social networking site that allows you to express yourself in 140 characters or less. Users can update their page and read other peoples updates as well. It’s basically a big chat room that gives you lightning fast information and a ton of ammo for water cooler conversations.

So why am I explaining all of this to you? Because WER’RE ON TWITTER NOW FOLKS! That’s right, you can stay up to date with what going on with customeuroplates.com. by following us on twitter. You might also want to take a look at the people that follow us. Most of them will share at least one interest with you…um cars.

Click here to start following our tweets and find our how to get special discounts, see what new with us and keep up to date on what’s happeneing in the world of customeuropeanlicenseplates.com.

Customer Spotlight: Mercedes Benz G55

Euro Plate Blogger — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:15:45 +0000

Make your ride look authentic with a euro plate and registration seals like this customer did…

EEC German License Plate

Registration Seals

From Ildar:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Last year I ordered one plate from your website for my Mercedes Benz G55. I just noticed that you have a gallery on the website, for I would like to contribute my picture to it. Let me know if I need to send you any additional information.

Best regards,
Ildar Bayazit

www.customeuropeanlicenseplates.com

Customer Spotlight: VW VR6

Euro Plate Blogger — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:46:32 +0000

Another Happy Customer

EEC German License Plate

From Yousef:

I love my Custom European Plate Thanks Alot!

Yousef Arefieg

Don’t wait, get your plate today at www.customeuropeanlicenseplates.com

Customer Spotlight: VW EÜRÖWNED

Euro Plate Blogger — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:05:28 +0000

Special thanks to Kelly Hayden for the pics of her EEC German License Plate.

EEC German License Plate

To get one for yourself visit our webstie at www.customeuropeanplates.com