Hi Graham,

sorry to trouble you again but I have a totally unrelated question - I have to take off my UK plates which are held on with some sort of plastic fastener and replace them with French plates which "should" be pop riveted on. I am not sure how to remove the UK plastic bits at the rear. Do I have to remove the boot lining to get to the back of the plastic piece?

I guess if I pop rivet on I will have to drill through the body

Sorry still have not found how to post a new thread

Thanks again in advance

 

The square number plate fixings can be removed by putting a self tapping screw in and pulling the fixing out with pliers but it's much easier to release the boot liner with a trim removal tool and push the fixings out from behind.

If you must have the French Registration Plate pop riveted then you really need to see what you may be drilling into and in this case releasing the boot liner is the safest way to go.

If 'Frog' sees this thread, I'm sure he'll have good advice on acceptable ways to fit French Plates.

Graham

 

Ok sorted I discovered its just a plastic cover to a screw, pulled it off and removed the screw and voila

New French plates are now riveted on

 

You guys have to RIVET plates on?!?

Thats insane. Is this required by law or just generally accepted practice?

Take care,

George

 

Yes George, unfortunately rivets are required.

Stops us making quick changes at the side of the road.

If you find a car that has had owners in several counties/departments you'll find that behind the plates looks like giant woodworm has had a go.

 

You need to install the number plate changer, ala James Bond. If for nothing else, out of principle....

Take care,

George

 

I confirm that French plates should be riveted on. However, as a point of principle, I refuse to do this on my nice cars and use extra strong double-sided tape instead. This avoids deforming the plate and drilling a hole through the boot lid.

Touch wood, no one has noticed yet, not even the policeman that stopped me this morning in my Mini for speeding

 

Time to cut the heads off some rivets and super glue them to the plate in the proper location

Take care,

George

 

I had an idea you might not be complying with this particular registration plate regulation!

Did you get away with the speeding?

Graham

 

€90 fine and a point on my French licence :-( I like the idea of gluing rivet heads on :-)

 

Ouch!

A Gendarme north of Rouen separated me from €86 last year but, of course, no points on a UK licence.

Do points affect your insurance premium in France?

Graham

 

I could have filled the tank for that €90 and had a blast, but I had no excuse really. The Mini is just so flickable compared to the Jag, that I tend to zoom around town at naughty (but not stupid) speeds.

Not sure about the insurance, TBH - I don't think it has any effect.

 

FWIW I went through the new type French trap last night.
There are two signs showing your speed in green if OK, red if not, followed by the camera.
Old Toyota, speedo reading miles high by GPS, both signs said 98 km/h on a 110 road and I got flashed!!

 

I got flashed by one of those in August, the indicator sign wasn't working but I was just slowing to 90km/h the road having changed from dual to single carriageway. As I looked at the speedo dropping below 60mph there was a flash in the rear view mirror! Fortunately I was in a UK registered car so no comeback for it.

 

One of the things I'd like to do before I die is stick on a fake plate like BO-LOX-2U and then drive through a speed camera at 140mph.