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I have a small piece of black paper over mine. I am happy to let a law enforcement officer view it if they ask.

by LinuxBender 7y ago

techopoly 7y ago
Not a bad idea. As far as I know it's not required to be visible
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
tbyehl 7y ago
Not illegal per se, but you're handing cops PC to enter your car to move the paper and any further evidence of "crime" they can see while doing that is fair game.
RandomBacon 7y ago
I thought about doing that, but if someone wants my VIN, they just have to squat down and look at the VIN that's punched in the frame of my truck. I haven't checked other vehicles, but I imagine they also have their VINs punched in the frame where it's easily visible. I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  > I imagine they also have their VINs punched in the frame where it's easily visible. It's not always easily visible, but the VIN must be stamped on the major components of the car by law. I believe this means visible from the driver's side windshield, stamped on the frame, and stamped on the major drivetrain components. > I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it. In my state, it's illegal to do either of those things, but I don't believe it's illegal to obstruct the view of the VIN in a less permanent way.
- grecy 7y ago
  > I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it. My Jeep has added "frame rust protection" from the factory (Canadian-spec) and I've never been able to find a VIN stamped anywhere on the frame. Apparently the coating covered it. It was a pain in the ass crossing borders in Africa when they didn't want to use the VIN at the base on the windshield.
pandaman 7y ago
What about parking tickets? Do they just leave the VIN# empty or impound your car?
- yellowapple 7y ago
  Parking tickets usually go off the license plate, last I checked. In fact, so do normal tickets, last I checked. My first job was punching in traffic ticket info for the CHP, and I don't recall ever seeing a VIN; just the LP and DL. This is in the US, though. Other places might have different information tracked on citations.
  - pandaman 7y ago
    LA parking tickets have VIN. You obviously cannot have DL on a parking ticket. Here is an example image: https://pci.etimspayments.com/pbw/include/la_sheriff/images/Ticket_Images.gif https://pci.etimspayments.com/pbw/include/la_sheriff/images/...
    - yellowapple 7y ago
      > LA parking tickets have VIN. Noted. > You obviously cannot have DL on a parking ticket. Well yeah, obviously. I was talking about tickets in a broader sense, going by forms CHP 215 ("Notice to Appear", i.e. normal traffic tickets) and CHP 281 ("Notice to Correct Violation", i.e. "fix-it" tickets).
Piskvorrr 7y ago
Also in the various databases? How does that work?

I have a small piece of black paper over mine. I am happy to let a law enforcement officer view it if they ask.

techopoly 7y ago

Not a bad idea. As far as I know it's not required to be visible

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

tbyehl 7y ago

Not illegal per se, but you're handing cops PC to enter your car to move the paper and any further evidence of "crime" they can see while doing that is fair game.

RandomBacon 7y ago

I thought about doing that, but if someone wants my VIN, they just have to squat down and look at the VIN that's punched in the frame of my truck. I haven't checked other vehicles, but I imagine they also have their VINs punched in the frame where it's easily visible. I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it.

JohnFen 7y ago
> I imagine they also have their VINs punched in the frame where it's easily visible. It's not always easily visible, but the VIN must be stamped on the major components of the car by law. I believe this means visible from the driver's side windshield, stamped on the frame, and stamped on the major drivetrain components. > I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it. In my state, it's illegal to do either of those things, but I don't believe it's illegal to obstruct the view of the VIN in a less permanent way.
grecy 7y ago
> I don't know if it's against the law to grind that off, but it's probably not against the law to weld a metal plate over it. My Jeep has added "frame rust protection" from the factory (Canadian-spec) and I've never been able to find a VIN stamped anywhere on the frame. Apparently the coating covered it. It was a pain in the ass crossing borders in Africa when they didn't want to use the VIN at the base on the windshield.

pandaman 7y ago

What about parking tickets? Do they just leave the VIN# empty or impound your car?

yellowapple 7y ago
Parking tickets usually go off the license plate, last I checked. In fact, so do normal tickets, last I checked. My first job was punching in traffic ticket info for the CHP, and I don't recall ever seeing a VIN; just the LP and DL. This is in the US, though. Other places might have different information tracked on citations.
- pandaman 7y ago
  LA parking tickets have VIN. You obviously cannot have DL on a parking ticket. Here is an example image: https://pci.etimspayments.com/pbw/include/la_sheriff/images/Ticket_Images.gif https://pci.etimspayments.com/pbw/include/la_sheriff/images/...
  - yellowapple 7y ago
    > LA parking tickets have VIN. Noted. > You obviously cannot have DL on a parking ticket. Well yeah, obviously. I was talking about tickets in a broader sense, going by forms CHP 215 ("Notice to Appear", i.e. normal traffic tickets) and CHP 281 ("Notice to Correct Violation", i.e. "fix-it" tickets).

Piskvorrr 7y ago

Also in the various databases? How does that work?