All posts by Euro Plate Blogger

Product News

Are your plates legal?

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Are your plates legal?

I hear this question at least once a day, and I certainly understand why. A better question might be, “Does my state require a front license plate?” or “Are your plates meant for legal use?”

We’ve tried to address this in our Custom European License Plate FAQ, but I thought I’d expand on that.

In short, in no state is it legal to use as your BACK plate. In some US states, they do not require a front license plate and you can display your custom plate. I did some searching and the following list seems to be the general consensus about which states* don’t require a front license plate:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia.

People also ask if it’s legal if they put their state issued plate number printed on a Euro-style plate and affix that to the front of their car. Assuming your state is not in the aforementioned list, this is still illegal. Same goes for putting your actual plate in your front dash, visor or window.

Of course, local and state laws change, and you can’t always believe what you read on the internet, so you should always check with your local Sheriff’s office to determine if it is ok to have a Custom European License Plate in your area.

That being said, we have customers all over the US as well as the world, so we know that quite a few customers choose to customize their ride, regardless of the laws.

*Sources:
eHow
Wiki Answers
Mr. Traffic

Product News, Recent Orders

Whips

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I try to take a look at each plate order before they go back to manufacturing.  I can keep an eye out for any customer issues or concerns, but I also love to see what our customers are coming up with.  There are often a few each day that make me laugh out loud, and I need to pick one for Plate of the Day for our Facebook page.  You can see our orders on any given day by visiting the Plate Ideas Page.

Anyway, one that caught my eye this week was KÜHL WHIP:

KÜHL WHIP

If you didn’t already know, a whip is another way to say steering wheel, or even a car, or in particular a Mercedes (since the Mercedes logo looks something like a steering wheel).  See the Urban Dictionary for an excellent definition.  It’s a great play on words, and turns out to be a great idea for a Custom European License Plate.

Product News

New Honey Badger Plate!

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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.

Product News

Text Color Selection Available

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Text color options
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!

https://www.customeuropeanplates.com/

Cheers!

Product News

Carbon Fiber European Plate!

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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!

Carbon Fiber Plate
Full view of the Carbon Fiber European Plate
Carbon Fiber European License Plate
High Quality Carbon Fiber look, with a high gloss finish

Check out the Carbon Fiber plate builder at this link:

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

Cheers!



Product News

Half Space added to Plate Builder!

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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:

White Old Style European License Plate
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!

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

Enjoy!

Product News

3M Dual Lock Is Available!

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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.

3M Dual Lock Mounting Kit
Mount your European license plate without drilling or screws
Product News

Alternate Ways of Attaching a Custom European Plate and Frame

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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.

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Product News

What is the meaning of the German number plate format?

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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.

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Product News

Custom Text Ideas

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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

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