Prince Edward Island (CA) | Total 26.997.253 photos | DK: 41.212

last | AB 76522 | EK 16566 | AL 26.337 | AL 26.337 | DR 81008 | EJ 48078 | EJ 48078 | BE 26988 | ED 86933 | YX 44984

Extra information

  • Make: MERCEDES-BENZ
  • Model: VITO, 115 CDI AUT.
  • Model Year: -
  • Colour: Ukendt
  • VIN: WDF63960513478500
  • Engine: 2148 cc, 149 HP, Benzin
  • Status: Afmeldt, 2018-02-09
  • First Registration: 10. oktober 2008
  • Mileage: 262000 Km, 2016-09-01

Comments (7)

ValskraaCapo 2021-09-17 00:07:38 | #1

What is the purpose for these fake plates?

+1

Tasty 2021-09-17 03:05:24 | #2

In the vast majority of cases, these plates are found on vehicles that have been normally retired, a procedure that involves the return of the plates for destruction.

The cars are then sold for export by shady dealers to equally shady foreign buyers (mostly in Ukraine.) Both parties are aiming for maximum profit and have little regard for rules and regulations. If sold without the knowledge of danish authorities, the seller doesn't have to pay taxes of the profit and can therefore sell the car at a cheaper price, which the buyer is very interested in.

The problem now is, that this way you can of course not get proper, legal export plates, but this isn't really a problem, since the buyer has no intention of playing by the rules anyway. The cars leave Denmark unregistered on trailers or car transporters, then, once arrived in the new country it's time to put plates back on.

The original danish plates have been destroyed, of course, but the buyer knows the old number so makes a new set of plates with that exact number and sells the car to yet another shady person: the new owner, who gets a cheap car and doesn't have to pay taxes, because the sale takes place on the black market.

By using the original number, you gain the advantage, that you know for sure that the number matches the model and that the car is not reported as stolen. If law enforcement in the new country is weak you can get away with this. A casual license plate scan will report, that the number belongs to a non-stolen car of the correct make, and that the plates are danish. I very much doubt that the police officers will check deeply enough to discover, that the car is no longer supposed to be registered.

Very often the fonts and spacing on these plates are completely wrong and they almost always get a Euroband, even if the original didn't have one. I suspect this may sometimes be on purpose, since the Euroband will instantly tell any law enforcers, that this is a danish car. Without a Euroband, they may have been tempted to stop the car and check, where the plate is from.

This particular car was deregistered in Denmark in 2018, no damages listed and never officially exported. To the danish authorities, it is "seen" as still being in Denmark and waiting either for a new owner or for scrapping.

The scrap flag has only been used regularly for a short time in Denmark - until last year, it wasn't mandatory to fill in an electronic scrap form, so there are thousands upon thousands of cars that have been retired years ago, but officially they're still listed as existing, although most of them have been scrapped.

+2

lulzyboy 2021-09-17 13:46:38 | #3

Tasty (2021-09-17 03:05:24)

Tasty


Fairly sure this car was sold at a dealership here with these remade plates and it's just waiting re-registration. There is no reason not to register cars in Estonia, the road tax is 0% and the registration fee is capped at €192.

+3

Tasty 2021-09-17 15:30:32 | #4

While I agree that it's rare to see these fake plates in Estonia, and your information about road taxes and registration fees underlines, that there's not much reason to do this type of fraud in Estonia, there's also a couple of things that seem strange:

1) The car is not flagged as exported from Denmark. If it was sold in a legal, "white market" way, the export flag would be activated.
2) It was retired in Denmark in 2018, your photo was taken over 3 years later... that would be a pretty long processing time.
3) The photo doesn't seem to be taken at a dealer - looks like a housing parking lot, which would mean that the dealer allowed the customer to drive the car home on a set of illegal plates. As long as an import car is owned by the dealer and is stored on his property, he can equip it with any type of plates he wants to, but as soon as it leaves the shop and enters traffic, it's a completely different matter.

So while we can only guess at the motives and exact procedures, it's fairly obvious, that some rules have been broken, like the danish seller failing to report the car as exported.

+2

ValskraaCapo 2021-09-17 17:23:16 | #5

Tasty (2021-09-17 03:05:24)

Tasty
In the vast majority of cases, these plates are found on vehicles that have been normally retired, a procedure that involves the return of the plates for destruction.

The cars are then sold for export by shady dealers to equally shady foreign buyers (mostly in Ukraine.) Both parties are aiming for maximum profit and have little regard for rules and regulations. If sold without the knowledge of danish authorities, the seller doesn't have to pay taxes of the profit and can therefore sell the car at a cheaper price, which the buyer is very interested in.

The problem now is, that this way you can of course not get proper, legal export plates, but this isn't really a problem, since the buyer has no intention of playing by the rules anyway. The cars leave Denmark unregistered on trailers or car transporters, then, once arrived in the new country it's time to put plates back on.

The original danish plates have been destroyed, of course, but the buyer knows the old number so makes a new set of plates with that exact number and sells the car to yet another shady person: the new owner, who gets a cheap car and doesn't have to pay taxes, because the sale takes place on the black market.

By using the original number, you gain the advantage, that you know for sure that the number matches the model and that the car is not reported as stolen. If law enforcement in the new country is weak you can get away with this. A casual license plate scan will report, that the number belongs to a non-stolen car of the correct make, and that the plates are danish. I very much doubt that the police officers will check deeply enough to discover, that the car is no longer supposed to be registered.

Very often the fonts and spacing on these plates are completely wrong and they almost always get a Euroband, even if the original didn't have one. I suspect this may sometimes be on purpose, since the Euroband will instantly tell any law enforcers, that this is a danish car. Without a Euroband, they may have been tempted to stop the car and check, where the plate is from.

This particular car was deregistered in Denmark in 2018, no damages listed and never officially exported. To the danish authorities, it is "seen" as still being in Denmark and waiting either for a new owner or for scrapping.

The scrap flag has only been used regularly for a short time in Denmark - until last year, it wasn't mandatory to fill in an electronic scrap form, so there are thousands upon thousands of cars that have been retired years ago, but officially they're still listed as existing, although most of them have been scrapped.


Thank you for the information! I will be on a look for these deregistered plated cars being towed. Just because it's interesting too think that car could potentially be exported to Eastern-Europe and will never be on a Norwegian road again
 :)

0

lulzyboy 2021-09-17 17:54:37 | #6

Tasty (2021-09-17 15:30:32)

Tasty

1. The car might not be flagged because the person lived in Denmark and brought it to Estonia. Not every vehicle will be de-registered or marked as exported. This is common, it doesn't mean it's a black market sale, it means somewhere someone made a mistake.
2. I found the ad for it when it was for sale a few weeks ago, it was recently sold.
3. My photo was indeed taken outside an apartment building. There is nothing to say that 1. this person isn't selling the car from their home 2. this person bought a car and is driving with those plates and Estonian insurance on the vin (a completely legal thing to do and something I've done with plenty of imports) 3. used car lots generally do not own any stock, the people who bring the car own them and pay them a percentage for selling it on their behalf. any licence plates put on are usually of the original plate in the document and are so you can drive the car to get registered.
4. Just because something is illegal in Denmark doesn't make it so anywhere else. There is nothing illegal happening here, the only thing is that the plate is remade.

+1

Spotted_in_CA 2023-09-02 20:28:21 | #7

now registered as 500 JPN (EST)

+1

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