What to do if the license plates on your car are erased? List of actions and tips

Penalty for operating a vehicle with worn-out license plates

The law does not gradate the amount of punishment depending on the degree or reason for the unreadability of numbers. The penalty for numbers that are unreadable for any reason is the same. For minor abrasions on letters or numbers, the inspector may issue a warning. If one or more numbers or letters are not readable, the driver will face a fine of 500 rubles .

Some inspectors classify worn out or incorrectly restored license plates as a complete absence of registration plates on the vehicle. In this case, the driver will have to pay 5,000 rubles out of pocket, or lose his license for up to 3 months .

If a traffic police officer considers the corrected numbers to be a fake or a deliberate change in the license plate data, you may lose your car altogether or fall under the “fraud” article. And this is already a criminal offense for which you can get a criminal record.

Is tinting allowed?

Car owners often do not risk doing anything with their own hands, because they are not sure whether they can tint the license plates on the car themselves. It is difficult to answer this question unequivocally. And there are objective reasons for this.

License plates act as a government document and therefore cannot be changed or adjusted by law. At the same time, when even one character is erased, the inspector has every right to issue a fine.

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In such situations, whenever there is any defect, ordering duplicates or completely changing the number is extremely expensive and inconvenient. And we need to find a way out of this situation. After all, drivers are afraid of getting a fine for tinted license plates.

We can say that everything speaks more in favor of the car owner, who has the right to adjust the number as necessary. Here it is worth relying on two weighty arguments.

Touch-up does not involve changes or corrections to the state license plate. It is necessary to restore previously stored information. That is, the owner’s goal is to improve the quality of readability.
There is not a single legislative act that directly states that there are prohibitions regarding such manipulations with the license plate.

Therefore, touch-up can be done if you do not violate the established state standards. And they apply to the font, letter size, thickness, numbers and security elements. The latter include holograms evenly applied over the entire surface of the sign.

If you find any defects, small chips or scratches on your license plate, you have the right to touch them up yourself. The traffic police inspector should not have any questions or complaints.

But what you can’t do is paint over and repaint the entire surface. Then you immediately violate production standards. By painting over the surface, the holograms are hidden and the property of a reflective surface is lost.

We draw the logical conclusion that there is nothing illegal in tinting letters or numbers black. The only question is how exactly you will do this so as not to receive a fine for incorrectly colored numbers.

Options for solving the problem

There are several ways to restore erased license plates, and each car owner can choose the most suitable one for him.

Independent number restoration

Painting the number yourself is the most cost-effective way to restore it. In this regard, the question arises whether independent touch-up without the sanction of government agencies or the help of specialists will be considered a falsification of license plates. But if the restoration is carried out according to certain rules, such actions will not be considered a fake.

The main rule of self-restoration is compliance of the tinted numbers with GOST.
The restrictions mainly apply to the white part of the number, which is covered with special reflective paint. Therefore, it is strictly forbidden to tint the white part with materials that do not comply with GOST. Loss of reflective properties by the white part of the license plate is punishable by a fine of 5 thousand rubles or deprivation of rights for up to 3 months.
You can tint worn numbers or letters black with any paint. The main thing is that the black paint is located strictly along the contour of the digital and letter symbols and does not fall on the white background. In this case, there will be no violations of GOST requirements.

Numbers and letters can be painted with a thin brush, having previously marked the outline with a marker, or covered with aerosol paint, sealing the white part with masking tape. Before painting in any way, the number must be washed and degreased.

Advice. You can quickly and easily restore your number in an emergency by painting over the numbers and letters with a black marker. However, the marker will not last long, and the procedure will have to be repeated.

Purchasing duplicate numbers

An alternative to touching up plates yourself is to purchase duplicates from a specialized company. In this case, the motorist will not have to rack his brains over the question of how to tint the worn-out elements of the license plate.

The production of duplicates is carried out in agreement with government agencies, so the car owner receives a license plate that fully complies with GOST requirements. If a motorist chooses this method, he needs to contact the appropriate company and submit documents for the car and the owner’s passport. The price of the issue, depending on the region, is from 2000 to 3000 rubles.

Important. You should contact a trusted, specialized workshop to make duplicates. The temptation to buy a number on the cheap can result in purchasing a fake and causing problems with government agencies.

Changing vehicle registration data

When it is not possible to buy a duplicate, the driver should think about how to replace an erased number.
Another option to solve the problem is to completely change the registration information. To do this, you need to contact the nearest MREO and write a corresponding application. In essence, the car is re-registered. According to the new rules, a car can be registered at any traffic police department, so there is no need to go to the locality where the car was initially registered.

The issuance of a new number implies an advance payment of a state fee in the amount of 2850 rubles plus payment for actions to change registration data - 850 rubles. As a result, the amount turns out to be quite large. But if you give up on the erased license plate and continue driving the car without any action, you may end up incurring even greater financial losses, regularly paying fines of 500 rubles.

It is necessary to solve the problem with erased license plates in one way or another in any case, since driving with unreadable license plates is classified as an administrative offense. Negligence in this matter and imaginary savings can result in unpleasant consequences and significant financial losses.

Is it possible to tint license plates?

This question interests many car enthusiasts, but it is very difficult to find a definite answer to it.

On the one hand, the numbers are a state document that is prohibited from being changed or corrected. On the other hand, if even one letter or number is erased from the license plates, this will be a fair basis for issuing a fine from an attentive traffic inspector.

However, you must agree that making a duplicate or going through the procedure of replacing a state license plate every time is not a very tempting prospect.

Ultimately, we can conclude that touching up license plates is more likely allowed than prohibited..

The following arguments can be made:

The tinting procedure does not imply changing or correcting the number, since it only allows you to restore existing information and improve the quality of its perception.
There is not a single by-law or law that directly prohibits such a procedure.

So, it is allowed to tint numbers manually, however, one should take into account the state standards prescribed in ST RK 986-2012.

Thus, license plates must comply not only with the requirements for the font, size and thickness of letters and numbers, but also contain intact security elements.

These include holograms - these are negative or positive ellipses (with the KZ symbol), which are evenly distributed - over the entire surface of the license plate, at a distance of five centimeters from each other, as well as a three-dimensional traveling wave.

What to do if the paint on your car license plates has worn off? Minor scratches and chips may be carefully touched up, and this should not cause any complaints from police officers.

However, repainting the entire surface of the license plate will violate the relevant standards, since the holograms will disappear and the surface of the license plates will lose its reflective properties.

So, tinting the letters and numbers on the license plate with black paint meets the requirements of GOST, because it does not change its visual appearance. Therefore, what is not prohibited must be permitted. There is nothing illegal about this, that's for sure .

What to paint with?

There are as many options as there are types of black paint. You should not use non-waterproof types of paint, such as gouache or watercolor. You need to apply the paint very carefully, preferably with a thin brush. However, not everyone can draw perfectly straight lines while squatting in the yard, so the letters may turn out crooked, and the number itself can be splattered with paint, which will only completely ruin it.

In this case, many car enthusiasts consider using a black permanent marker to be the optimal solution.

The marker must be waterproof, permanent (these are indicated by the inscription PERMANENT), alcohol-based.

They are sold at any office supply store.

It is advisable to buy a marker with a thick rod, the end of which is cut at an acute angle.
Before restoring the number, you should wash it in warm water with car shampoo and dry thoroughly.
If possible, before touch-up, remove the license plates from the car and carry out the restoration in a well-lit, comfortable and dry room.
To get straight lines, you can use a piece of cardboard or thick paper. It is substituted for letters that can be safely circled. The outline turns out smooth, and all excess paint remains on the cardboard.
How long such a repair will last depends on the quality of the marker, but the updated numbers will definitely last at least a couple of months.

Technical side

When making a standard license plate, paint of two primary colors is used: white and black (with the exception of the flag). White plays the role of a background and has reflective properties. Using black, alphanumeric information is highlighted, which should be clearly readable on a white background.

You should never touch the white paint!

Any attempts to tint the background will lead to loss of reflective properties, that is, the number will not comply with GOST.

And this is an excellent reason for traffic cops to issue you a fine once again. But tinting letters and numbers with black paint does not have the same effect, so technically there is nothing illegal about it.

The license plate on the car has been erased, what should I do?

Good afternoon, dear reader.

Over time, the state registration plates (numbers) of any car lose their original appearance. Under the influence of rain, snow, sand, dust, reagents and other factors, the black paint on the numbers gradually wears out and the numbers become unreadable.

Different drivers' license plates wear out differently. The degree of wear depends primarily on the operating conditions of the car, on the mileage of the car, as well as on the quality of manufacture of the plates themselves. For example, in the case of a low-quality batch, the numbers may be erased after the first rain. Such numbers are quite rare in practice. More often than not, numbers wear out, so to speak, from time to time.

Today we will talk about what to do if the license plates on your car have been erased . Let's get started.

Let's consider all possible options in turn.

Causes of wear

Before we talk about what needs to be done if the license plate on the car is erased, it is worth touching on the reasons for this situation.

Wear is influenced by a number of factors, one of which is long-term use of the vehicle. It is also worth considering the conditions in which the machine is used. When the car is driven primarily in the city, the plates rarely wear out. But when a car is exposed to harsh conditions, the paint may not withstand such stress.

In order to somehow prevent rapid wear and tear, motorists came up with the idea of using metal frames, inside which the number is placed.

A license plate can be erased for the simple reason that it was originally of low quality. This happens when production is not carried out by state enterprises, but by private organizations engaged in the creation of duplicates. Sometimes such signs cannot withstand even one trip in heavy rain or snow.

But it is important to note that such license plates are very rare. Therefore, the most common cause of wear is time.

It is worth recalling the existence of a fine of 500 rubles, which is provided for driving a car with an unreadable license plate. This may be due to contamination or wear of the paint.

Method 2

We order duplicate numbers. Currently, there is no problem ordering duplicates of state registration plates. Today private companies are doing this legally.

Duplicates are made quickly. An hour after you contact us (or maybe earlier) you will already receive brand new “tins”. Yes, don't forget to bring docks for your car (especially STS).

The only drawback of this method of restoring unreadable numbers is the price. Replacing one number will cost you one and a half thousand rubles, two – from two thousand.

Is it possible to restore it yourself?

So, you have a situation where you need to restore your license plate because the paint on its symbols has rubbed off. There may be several reasons for this: from banal defects in the production of license plates to the consequences of physical impact.

Also, do not forget about the loads the front number plate is exposed to during the operation of the car - the abrasive effect of falling stones or sand, reaction with chemical de-icing reagents.

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question about the right to independent restoration, since it is not regulated by law:

On the one hand, the car number can be considered a state document, the independent modification or modification of which is unacceptable.
On the other hand, it is prohibited to operate a vehicle with unreadable license plates, and if this fact is discovered, the driver faces a fine for violating traffic rules.

If you look from the technical side, restoration within the framework of the established GOST will not be interpreted as a violation. According to GOST R 50577-93, clause 4.8, when making a number, white paint is used as a background and black paint to highlight the characters.

Moreover, the white background has a special coating with reflective properties. There are no strict regulations regarding the black paint used, so tinting the symbols alone will not be considered a violation.

Making a duplicate

There is another way, which is a spoiled number. Its essence is to make duplicates. You can easily find several companies that will take on this matter, and within the framework of the law. This method is much more convenient than the first and faster (the work can take about half an hour), but it all comes down to cost. One duplicate will cost at least one and a half thousand rubles.

If you decide to take the easier route and not think about how to tint the car’s license plate, take the documents for the car and go to one of the offices that provides similar services to the public. In some cases, this particular method of restoring a registration plate is the only one, but not in our situation.