Plate shy

[wingman]

Why are you guys shy about showing your plates??? Excuse my ignorance but I'd like to be able to identify you (OZ drivers) and give you a wave.

[BM-BOY]

Didn't you say you are a policeman...?

Heh heh...

[BigKriss]

I'm not shy, but maybe some other board members are wary that some dickhead will get into the RTA's database and steal the car. Just a thought.

[wingman]

Fair enough. But everytime I've been to stolen car job from a home they've left the keys in it and left it unsecured on the driveway. I can't see the connection between stolen cars and showing your plates on a web site! Do you know how hard it is to get into the RTA records? I can get into it for work but have to justify every entry as work related or I can be charged.

[SRR2]

In the US motor vehicle records are kept by states who have wildly differing access policies. I don't claim any expertise on what they are, just that they're all over the map. Some states, until recently, used Social Security numbers (everyone's favorite key to identity theft) as the index for drivers' licenses and vehicle registrations, and they PUBLISHED the doggone things where anyone could find them. Beyond idiotic, isn't it? Not only that, but quite a few of the DMVs have had (and probably still do) larcenous employees that conducted profitable little side businesses selling access to records. We just had a couple people arrested here in Pennsylvania for that. Thousands of records were compromised. You can't assume that simply because YOUR access is restricted that anyone else's is. Regulations such as those you operate under are effective in keeping out only the already honest people, you know, like most locks of front doors only deter those who wouldn't have broken in anyway.

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Paranoia.

Some people also advocate you obscure the VIN tag on your car's dash board. Somebody could walk up to your car, write down the VIN and transfer title/re-register the car as theirs. Or so the paranoids think. Really, what are the chances?

[Gayle]

Ok still clueless.

Can't make the connection between showing my license plate in pictures on this forum and what someone would do with my stolen dmv records. If someone steals dmv records and they have everything they need for identity theft, how does the picture of my car help them? Do they review these forums for pictures and say "oh here's a real twit, let's get her identity out of all these records. She is wearing a tee shirt and driving a 15 year old car. She must be loaded"?

If it is car theft, if they really want a 15 year old 535 why wouldn't they just pick one off the street? Maybe if I had a new M5, it would be different.

[SRR2]

There are plenty of instances of thieves using the VIN to have a key made to facilitate steal-to-order. Of course, this requires complicit insiders with access to manufacturer's resources, but one would be pretty naive to think that there are no dishonest dealer employees in critical positions.

I wouldn't call it paranoia, given the overall ease of information theft and the widespread dissemination of personal information, that people generally want to conceal information from public view that has even a slight potential for abusive use.

Besides, it's not paranoia when they're REALLY after you! 8-)

[Phil Sanderson]

[QUOTE=SRR2]You can't assume that simply because YOUR access is restricted that anyone else's is.QUOTE]

...who the hell wants to track you down from DMV records to steal your 10 year old car?

I did a Google search on "Phil Sanderson" (my name) and got 582,000 pages. I think they are mainly for an Ice Hockey player in Canada (I'm apparently pretty good). I then did a search for "PJS002" (my car's number plate) and got 47 pages. Who gives a fxxx?

Criminals are everywhere and you can't do anything about that, but to steal from me they need to break into my computer to get my bank records, but there is nothing on my computer, or maybe the security of my bank, and then they can clean out my bank account - but there's fxxx all in there so who cares if everyone knows my number plate? (PJS 002)

Years ago when the best E34 site was "bimmer.org" now "roadfly" my tag was PhilS because I expect I didn't want to be identified, but when I came accross to "bimmer.info" at the begining of it's inception I thought "Stuff this incognito, I want these guys to know who I am".

My only regret with this identifying history is with "Tim Collins" when some idiot told him that he was from "a wealthy family" Tim decided not to identify himself anymore and re-registered here with another tag - all because of an idiot.

I am Phil Sanderson, I live at No.99A Hewitt Street, Colyton. New South Wales, Australia and if you would like to steal my identity please feel free to do so as I'm sure you can find all my usefull details on the internet. (please feel free to steal my mortgage and all my other bills {would you like my mobile phone account number} I have 2 kids - please pay for them also)

I attach a pic of both my E34's - if you would like to pay for either of them please feel free do so.

with the kindest of regards
Phil

[wingman]

Dear Phil,
I remember you well from BMW Club meetings in Sydney. Your reply is kind of what I was trying to get at. I have a 16 year old car which is insured for more than I paid for it. If someone wants to steal it they can have their go. I'm obviously well connected as I am a COP (no secrets here) and as such I know that getting my car back in good nick and having the offender punished is like winning the lotto. I've got a max no-claim bonus for life...I don't care! I can understand that some don't want to publish their plate. That is their choice and power to them. I just thought it would be nice to publish my plate to let other OZ members of this site know that I'm about and would like to say 'Hi' on the highway.

Stand by for my next post: I've just had my car stolen...