What if my car just looks better with only one license plate?
Q. Hello Mr. Honk: I read Mr. Ball’s question and your reply last week regarding the state requirement for a front-mounted license plate, in addition to the one in the back. We recently purchased a new car and there is nowhere to mount a front plate other than to drill holes and/or cover the cooling fans. If we are pulled over for the lack of a front plate, is this a moving violation against the driver’s license or a fix-it ticket? When driving all over the Southland, I do notice the many cars without front plates. Just curious before I bore a three-quarter-inch hole into my wife’s new car.
Rod Plotzke, Irvine
A. Honk is all for keeping the Mrs. happy, Rod, but you would risk the chance of getting pulled over.
However …
“No, it’s not a moving violation,” said Tino Olivera, an officer and spokesman for the California Highway Patrol out of the Santa Ana office. “It’s a fix-it ticket.”
The officer can, if he or she chooses, though, kick it up a notch and make it a full-blown citation.
Olivera offered two scenarios when that is likely, at least from the CHP: if the officer sees that you have had a fix-it ticket or two before for the same violation, or if you get pulled over on a toll road and it seems that your car or truck isn’t donning the required plates in an effort to avoid paying the toll.
“We can make it non-correctable,” Olivera said. “(Then) it’s a fine, a few hundred dollars.”
Still, it would not be a moving violation.
Q. Now that rainy season is upon us, what is it going to take to get drivers to turn on their lights when their automatic wipers are in use? They are supposed to even in daylight under the law. I see some gray or silver vehicles without lights on that are darn near invisible to see in the rain. Maybe a reminder from Honk?
Dick Oakley, Rancho Santa Margarita
A. Done.
The law went into play a dozen years ago.
Honkin’ fact: Gas is expensive. This past Monday, a gallon of regular cost on average $3.16, according to the California Energy Commission’s weekly survey. Here are the corresponding figures for years past:
2014: $3.632009: $2.222004: $1.821999: $1.10
More Honkin’ facts: The temporary license plates that dealerships must now put on new vehicles, instead of the business’ advertisements they used to slide into the frames, include an expiration date, the make and model, and the vehicle identification number in addition to a unique license-plate number. Soon, after vehicles purchased new late last year hit deadlines when they must have permanent plates, virtually every motorcycle, truck and car on the road will have to sport actual plates.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk