[Porsche2018]

I have had my Porsche for 7 months and in that time put 6K miles on it, and that is even after being on an extended vacation for almost 2 months without the car. I live in a two license plate state but have driven the car without the front plate. I was wondering how many people have gone without a front plate in their state or country and have avoided an issue with the local law enforcement. I have not been stopped once, and I have riding around without the front license plate. My feeling is that local law enforcement in my area considers this to be of relatively low concern, and I am wondering is that the same in other states and countries. I still have the front tow hook plate boxed up……

 

[gtfish]

I am in Texas too. I just keep the plate on a tow hook mount and leave it in the trunk.
In my area I have never been pulled over for a plate on either of my cars. I am not sure if they can pull you over for just the plate in TX or not.

 

[Porsche2018]

I am in Texas too. I just keep the plate on a tow hook mount and leave it in the trunk.
In my area I have never been pulled over for a plate on either of my cars. I am not sure if they can pull you over for just the plate in TX or not.

I am pretty sure they can but probably of low priority. They could pull you over for "improper equipment". I have seen a fair number of vehicles riding around without a front plates in my area.

 

[mab33]

I have gone 11 years without a front plate in Austin and never gotten a ticket for it. I did have a police officer pull me over for speeding once and mentioned that I needed a front plate, but he left it at that.

 

[Porsche2018]

I have gone 11 years without a front plate in Austin and never gotten a ticket for it. I did have a police officer pull me over for speeding once and mentioned that I needed a front plate, but he left it at that.

Impressive track record......that is both helpful and useful feedback; thanks!

 

[Viffermike]

Impressive track record......that is both helpful and useful feedback; thanks!

I have @mab33 beat: I've not mounted a front plate on my car in Texas since 2002. No tickets.

That said, enforcement is extraordinarily subjective, as I'm sure you've heard. Certain agencies will stop you for it and it only (I'm looking at you, Allen PD), but thankfully most will only cite it as an add-on to another citation. In my experience both firsthand and second-hand: If you're respectful, plainly take care of your car, and aren't flaunting any other laws visually or mechanically (examples: too-dark window tint, obnoxious exhaust, etc.), you won't be hassled about it in Texas, even if you've been stopped for another reason.

 

[aeronca65tl]

I live in a state where we need two plates on normal cars but only one plate on cars with "historic" plates (more than 25 years old).
So cops see a mix. I have three cars with historic plates.
We have enough super-perfect old cars running around NJ (including plenty of classic 911s) that an officer might just assume my Cayman is an older, restored Porsche. So for the first couple of months, I didn't bother adding a front tag.
But in the long run I don't want to worry about this, so mounted a front place inside the "mouth" of my Cayman. This required curling and bending the plate a bit to fit, but I'm guessing they would let me go on that. In my case I drilled a single 5/32" hole in the center of the mouth and attached a mount that my plate is attached to, so other than carefully bending the plate, this was easy.

But one other point: license plate readers are now ubiquitous in NJ. And probably elsewhere. Many police cars have them plus they are often mounted at fixed points road side. A while back I forgot to put my EZ Pass transponder back in my cargo van (I had it in the Cayman). I went through an EZ Pass toll area and the license plate reader they use as a back-up billed my account just as if I had the transponder onboard. They are everywhere.
I don't know if plate readers would cause cops to notice a missing front plate more often. Maybe?

 

[Viffermike]

But one other point: license plate readers are now ubiquitous in NJ. And probably elsewhere. Many police cars have them plus they are often mounted at fixed points road side. A while back I forgot to put my EZ Pass transponder back in my cargo van (I had it in the Cayman). I went through an EZ Pass toll area and the license plate reader they use as a back-up billed my account just as if I had the transponder onboard. They are everywhere.
I don't know if plate readers would cause cops to notice a missing front plate more often. Maybe?

I think most take images of the rear of the car by default precisely because of the number of states that don't require a front plate. In addition, any transponder or barcode mounted to, say, the front windshield (as TollTag transponders are here in Texas) is read by a device that doesn't have image-capturing capability -- and by the time the transponder is read, the car is past the point where a frontal image is possible anyway.

Finally, every image I've received in the mail has been of the rear of my car: from TxDOT, city agency, NTTA (tollway authority), and one out-of-state agency in Alabama. I think the sheer inconsistency of frontal car identification from state to state, as well as the number of traffic video cameras that can be utilized to identify specific vehicles on an as-needed basis by LEAs, makes it not viable to invest in as a capability.

YMMV in, say, California (two-plate state) or, as noted, Jersey (TONS of tollways). But it doesn't seem to me like it would be even remotely widespread anywhere.

 

[Porsche2018]

I have @mab33 beat: I've not mounted a front plate on my car in Texas since 2002. No tickets.

That said, enforcement is extraordinarily subjective, as I'm sure you've heard. Certain agencies will stop you for it and it only (I'm looking at you, Allen PD), but thankfully most will only cite it as an add-on to another citation. In my experience both firsthand and second-hand: If you're respectful, plainly take care of your car, and aren't flaunting any other laws visually or mechanically (examples: too-dark window tint, obnoxious exhaust, etc.), you won't be hassled about it in Texas, even if you've been stopped for another reason.

Viffermike.....your the man. My brother-in-law is a retired New York police officer so he schooled me in the proper way to address and treat law enforcement. Though, I have to say I didn't take much schooling since I have an great deal of respect for our law enforcement officers, and for all people in uniform who protect and defend our freedoms. It may sound trite but freedom isn't free......

 

[Viffermike]

Viffermike.....your the man. My brother-in-law is a retired New York police officer so he schooled me in the proper way to address and treat law enforcement. Though, I have to say I didn't take much schooling since I have an great deal of respect for our law enforcement officers, and for all people in uniform who protect and defend our freedoms. It may sound trite but freedom isn't free......

Nope, it definitely isn't. Most LEOs have a tough, tough job that's ultra-exacerbated by stereotypes. Yes, there are 'bad apples', but every career has bad apples -- and I came out of a career (daily newspaper journalism) with some of the same stereotyping issues, so I feel like I understand that struggle more than many.

My attitude is to assume any LEO is doing a solid until proven otherwise.

 

[VIdjc9]

For Those That Can't Go Naked

If you are planning to mount a front plate you may want to check out the bracket available from Skene Design. It only requires two holes drilled on the underside of the bumper i.e. not visible when plate/bracket are removed. An added benefit is the bracket is height adjustable so the plate can be mounted lower in the front grill (that isn't).

https://skenebrackets.com/

 

[Porsche2018]

If you are planning to mount a front plate you may want to check out the bracket available from Skene Design. It only requires two holes drilled on the underside of the bumper i.e. not visible when plate/bracket are removed. An added benefit is the bracket is height adjustable so the plate can be mounted lower in the front grill (that isn't).

https://skenebrackets.com/

Cool but my feeling is tow hook or go home. I will not drill into that front bumper. Maybe a tad extreme but, I prefer no front plate because I think the 718 is a work of art and the front license plate is, quite frankly, ugly.

 

[geemman]

I too live in a 2 plate state of California.

I have not put on my front plate either since i bought by 718 (although not my DD). I have never been pulled over since owning my car for a 10 months.

I purchased a European style plate that i wanted to mount to the front grill, but i do not want to drill holes into the bumper, so i have not put it on. The European style plates seems to fit perfectly into the front grill. My plan was to order the front and side mesh grills and then mount them to that, but not sure how sturdy that would be since the grills are only held on by clips.

here is a pic of the European style plate just placed in the front grill, it is not mounted, i just wanted to see how it would look and fit.

 

[Porsche2018]

here is a pic of the European style plate just placed in the front grill, it is not mounted, i just wanted to see how it would look and fit.

Very Clever!

 

[Viffermike]

You know ... it is legal in most states to physically cut a license plate as long as its readability isn't compromised. So if you're in a front-plate state and you've got some room, it's possible that a U.S. plate could be cut on the top and bottom to fit in the center valance. Just some food for thought ...

 

[greywing]

Unfortunately, you're screwed if you have ACC option and want to put the front plate in the center - even with a European style plate. Or else you can mount the plate up higher "windbreaker" stlye. For those of us that find ACC useful, Porsche needs to relocate/redesign their Radar dish. Or perhaps the world needs to forget front plates entirely!

 

[Cinnamon]

Maybe drill a clearance hole in the plate for the ACC?
Washington is a two-plate state, but the lack of front plate is a secondary issue, not a primary reason for a traffic stop. After some whining, I caved and put on a front plate!
Doug

 

[aeronca65tl]

You know ... it is legal in most states to physically cut a license plate as long as its readability isn't compromised. So if you're in a front-plate state and you've got some room, it's possible that a U.S. plate could be cut on the top and bottom to fit in the center valance. Just some food for thought ...

That's similar to what I did.

I carefully bent the top and bottom of the plate so it would fit in the "mouth" of the Cayman.

I drilled a single 5/32" hole in the dead center of the "mouth" and then used a small, single bolt/nut to hold a cross bar to the mouth. The plate was attached to the crossbar. I used a backup plate on the rear of the mouth to reinforce things.

 

[lajoiedp]

I live in CT, also a front license plate required State. I never seriously considered not mounting the front plate when my 718C arrives, until yesterday. On my drive home last night I spent some time taking notice of how many cars didn't have their front license plate mounted. I would say 25% of them didn't. Honestly, I was shocked. I would have guessed 5-10% at most but I never really paid attention to it before. Based on that finding, I'm going to roll the dice and not mount my front plate, at least until the law forces me to.


Will the dealer automatically drill 2 holes in the front bumper and mount the front plate unless I tell them not to, or will they ask? I'm assuming if I tell them not to they won't have an issue with that and will give me everything I need to mount it myself. I'm guessing it's not something difficult to do?

 

[Porsche2018]

Will the dealer automatically drill 2 holes in the front bumper and mount the front plate unless I tell them not to, or will they ask? I'm assuming if I tell them not to they won't have an issue with that and will give me everything I need to mount it myself. I'm guessing it's not something difficult to do?

No front plate, you have chosen wisely

Porsche will generally not mount a front plate unless you specify a preference to have one mounted, though, having said that I would definitely express your preference to your SA. I personally like to assure there will be no confusion so I would remind the SA more then once, both verbally and via e-mail.