Why do people blur out their plates in pics?

[nouse4aname]

They're not just 2,000 miles away, they could be 2 miles away.

The most logical reason I've seen is with people putting sig lines of all their mods(especially any stereo equipment) you're basically making a shopping list for thieves and then giving them your parking location...

 

[Gunkata]

They're not just 2,000 miles away, they could be 2 miles away.

The most logical reason I've seen is with people putting sig lines of all their mods(especially any stereo equipment) you're basically making a shopping list for thieves and then giving them your parking location...

While very remotely "possible", its highly doubtful. The same thing could be said for any modded vehicle driving at any time. A real thief isn't stealing my car from my garage at my house.. they are out stealing S2K's and Evo's from apartment complex parking lots.

 

[JhnR]

Meh whatever...i dont mind it much..never had ANY problems..

 

[C4L]

I have thought it was dumb too. It makes no sense whatsoever. There is no logical reason to hide your plate number in a picture. Not one.

 

[Bender1]

They're not just 2,000 miles away, they could be 2 miles away.

The most logical reason I've seen is with people putting sig lines of all their mods(especially any stereo equipment) you're basically making a shopping list for thieves and then giving them your parking location...

This - there was a rash of thefts around here a few years ago where people would go to car meets - find equipment or a car they want - grab the plate number - then break in to the vehicle or steal the vehicle outright days/weeks later.

For the .2 of a second it takes to blur it, its worth it to me.

Security isn't about being 100% full proof, its about being slightly better than the next guy. "You don't have to out run the bear, you just have to outrun your buddy."

 

[Gunkata]

similar to the pro-gun "no regulation at all" argument... "these things will happen".

And they do.

And having your shit tagged for stealing at a meet has nothing to do with having your plate online in pics, posted for 98% of the people who live nowhere near you.

 

[nouse4aname]

This is less than "an ounce of prevention". Takes a second to use freakin mspaint to draw a black line through your plate that you'd already be in to crop/resize. If it only helps in a .01% case it's not like a big effort was wasted.

 

[Bender1]

Standard Risk Assessment at work.

Risk of Car/Gear Stolen Due to Online Picture = Threat divided by Prevention

So it all depends on if the cost of prevention is worth it to you. It is a reasonable assessment for anything. To me, although the threat is tiny, the prevention to make that threat 0 is also tiny.

 

[Rotaryknight]

I do it because I can. Call me paranoid but unless you've had one of your cars stolen in the past it's a feeling I wouldn't want anyone to have.

Given yea It's such a small thing that probably doesn't help but for my own peace of mind I just did it. And the fact that I post pics of the car and build it's stupid but....

It's an awesome feeling coming back to where you parked your car and finding nothing. Yet your disbelief tells you that you "must have parked it farther down the street." So you walk in a circle for 15 minutes pressing your alarm FOB in hopes of hearing something. Now it's Friday before a three day weekend and you have to call someone to pick you up and wait another hour while they are stuck in LA traffic.

Tuesday you then get the call that your car was discovered in Inglewood and is now at the Police lot. When you get there it's basically just a frame as they have stripped most of the $35k in parts you had purchased or gotten from sponsorships. You stand there speechless and you get that fucking single tear like that Indian in that do not litter campaign.

It's great knowing that 2 alarms, an anti carjacking device, and a club did nothing. A regular tow truck takes less than a minute to get under your car and pull it around to a discreet location to "safety up" for further transportation. Also good to know that no one looks twice at a car if the alarm is going and a tow truck is there.

So yea....that's why I blur my plates. And yea I know it's stupid.

 

[xytbyk]

I do it because I can. Call me paranoid but unless you've had one of your cars stolen in the past it's a feeling I wouldn't want anyone to have.

Given yea It's such a small thing that probably doesn't help but for my own peace of mind I just did it. And the fact that I post pics of the car and build it's stupid but....

It's an awesome feeling coming back to where you parked your car and finding nothing. Yet your disbelief tells you that you "must have parked it farther down the street." So you walk in a circle for 15 minutes pressing your alarm FOB in hopes of hearing something. Now it's Friday before a three day weekend and you have to call someone to pick you up and wait another hour while they are stuck in LA traffic.

Tuesday you then get the call that your car was discovered in Inglewood and is now at the Police lot. When you get there it's basically just a frame as they have stripped most of the $35k in parts you had purchased or gotten from sponsorships. You stand there speechless and you get that fucking single tear like that Indian in that do not litter campaign.

It's great knowing that 2 alarms, an anti carjacking device, and a club did nothing. A regular tow truck takes less than a minute to get under your car and pull it around to a discreet location to "safety up" for further transportation. Also good to know that no one looks twice at a car if the alarm is going and a tow truck is there.

So yea....that's why I blur my plates. And yea I know it's stupid.

That's not stupid man.

 

[C4L]

Yet all of you reveal near intimate details of your personal lives all over the internet on this very forum daily...

 

[swfloridamk6]

I do it because I can. Call me paranoid but unless you've had one of your cars stolen in the past it's a feeling I wouldn't want anyone to have.

Given yea It's such a small thing that probably doesn't help but for my own peace of mind I just did it. And the fact that I post pics of the car and build it's stupid but....

It's an awesome feeling coming back to where you parked your car and finding nothing. Yet your disbelief tells you that you "must have parked it farther down the street." So you walk in a circle for 15 minutes pressing your alarm FOB in hopes of hearing something. Now it's Friday before a three day weekend and you have to call someone to pick you up and wait another hour while they are stuck in LA traffic.

Tuesday you then get the call that your car was discovered in Inglewood and is now at the Police lot. When you get there it's basically just a frame as they have stripped most of the $35k in parts you had purchased or gotten from sponsorships. You stand there speechless and you get that fucking single tear like that Indian in that do not litter campaign.

It's great knowing that 2 alarms, an anti carjacking device, and a club did nothing. A regular tow truck takes less than a minute to get under your car and pull it around to a discreet location to "safety up" for further transportation. Also good to know that no one looks twice at a car if the alarm is going and a tow truck is there.

So yea....that's why I blur my plates. And yea I know it's stupid.

Wow. Makes me think. I generally dont worry, but I am thinking twice now.

 

[lilfleck]

To keep anonymity on the interwebs. Once you put that on the board, your car is tagged to that photo. Some people don't care. Some do. It's personal preference.

 

[Gunkata]

This is also a reason why you should consider finding an insurance company that will write a rider/ endorsement to insured additional "parts" on your vehicle (have to be careful with the go-fast bits here), or never leave a car like that outside parked - in the past, depending on which crazy sportscar I had at the time, I'd either make plans for a friend to drive into the city and pay him/her gas money or buy them food, or i'd ask my parents if i could take one of their "boring" cars into the city.

I'd be much more concerned about having my identity stolen for credit/financial reasons than someone taking the time to hand pick my car out from a picture on a car forum and also happen to be local to me AND go find out how to get my address info, AND then break into my garage, steal my car without me noticing or hearing anything, and not having it recovered within a few hours of time so that it's totally stripped out, etc.

 

[Rotaryknight]

This is also a reason why you should consider finding an insurance company that will write a rider/ endorsement to insured additional "parts" on your vehicle (have to be careful with the go-fast bits here), or never leave a car like that outside parked - in the past, depending on which crazy sportscar I had at the time, I'd either make plans for a friend to drive into the city and pay him/her gas money or buy them food, or i'd ask my parents if i could take one of their "boring" cars into the city.

Yea I was young. Didn't really think about insuring the parts. I should have bought a beater to drive around instead. Sucks is that I parked in my garage and I rarely work the same place each day. The lot was full so I had to park on a very busy "high traffic" street which you think would be safe. I was gone for 3 hours. BOOM stolen.