Fake plate/No plate experience and advice

[Mistertoms]

I just bought an R9 without a license in wudaokou where I will reside until July. Before this thread gets filled up by comments on how this is wrong and I'm gonna go to jail, I know the best situation is to legally apply for a license and I know the risks involved and regardless I've decided to take a chance. I know this isnt the most ethical thing to ask online however, I would really appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice regarding license plates.

As most of the readers here probably know, no license = no gas. The sales lady at the bike store told me to buy a fake Hebei plate on taobao which is approximately 300 RMB. From what I've read in online forums, there are also fake jing A and jing B plates and I was wondering what the differences are between these fake plates? Are there more benefits? Will they all work to get gas and are any of them going to get you to be more or less likely pulled over by the police?

From what I've read online as well, some people think having a fake license plate on is by far worse than having no plates because if the police catch you it's an additional offense and apparently you get in a lot more trouble? Others think that driving without a license plate at all is just waving a red flag in the polices face askin them to catch you which I agree with as well. However I live in wudaokou and out of maybe 50 r9s or other motorbikes I see, maybe 45 of them don't have plates. Can anyone shine a light on this? Or plainly speak out of logic or experience?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Jonsims]

Mister Toms
There are stupid things to do and then there are simply well... I don't even want to use that language on this site.. The law is now that if you have no license you are guilty of a crime.. This is a minimum sentence of six months.. If you injure or maim you will be paying compensation for the rest of your life.. If you kill you will (hopefully) get a bullet in the back of the head.
Mister toms.. It also shows you have absolutely no respect for the people of this country or it's laws..

[zhu]

Mister Toms
It also shows you have absolutely no respect for the people of this country or it's laws..

personally i give the people and laws of this country all the respect they deserve

as for the original question
if you are going to have a fake plate. might as well get a jing a plate
"as well to be hung for a sheep as a lamb"

[td_ref]

it depends, in large developed city the law enforcement may be stricter than others, while in small places if you were king in that monkey hill, you were good to go.

[Barry]

It also shows you have absolutely no respect for the people of this country or it's laws..

What he's doing is more like following the herd. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but that's what it is. The people (majority) of this country don't even respect the traffic rules/regulations/laws, again I'm not saying that justifies us do the same!

[Lao Jia Hou]

heh heh ... what could possibly go wrong?

But, yeah, I've heard the stories about "fake plates" being worse than no plates. There are also a few examples of this in Beijing ... big, expensive bikes being seized because they had fake plates, whereas unplated bikes were left alone.

[td_ref]

or show the plate only when in gas station?

[bikerdoc]

The question is... would you consider riding an unlicensed/unregistered motorcycle in your home country. Or put another way, if a foreigner visiting your country did the same as you are contemplating, how would you feel about it, and what would you expect the authorities to do about it? While we are dealing in supposition, then migrate a step further and suppose hypothetically that, that same foreigner riding an unlicensed motorcycle was involved in a collision with a vehicle being driven by you or one of your family, now how would you feel about it? Being that the rider is riding an unlicensed vehicle means they are also going to be uninsured, as you would be here. No real plate = no insurance which is not a good situation to be in anytime.

As answered above, unlicensed motor vehicles used to come under the traffic regulations & laws, and breaking them while somewhat serious it meant that the penalties were not considered so severe. This changed back in March-April 2011 where applicable violation of the relevant laws fell under criminal law, with an increasing level of severity. This includes any type of tampering with license plates. A word of caution too, some of the CCTV cameras used on the roadways are for enforcement (aside from red light and speed cameras) and utilise number plate recognition technologies. Also, traffic police can and do use small hand held portable data links whereby they can type in or draw using a stylus imputing license plate details in real time, which can provide a screen full of data about the plate, vehicle & owner. These are being used more frequently around the area I live in. Just yesterday while at a controlled intersection (traffic lights) I observed 3 traffic police, with a police officer standing on each side of the intersection plus 1 standing by the police car, each officer was running checks on plates using the hand held devices as vehicles came to a stop at the traffic lights. That meant there were 3 date terminals being used to check plates at the time.

I watched what they did for some time through the different light phases, before I got a green light and then proceeded through the intersection. I noticed that as I rode past one officer and got to see the rear of my motorcycle, he input the details of my plate - no worries there everything 100% legal.

There have been compulsory stops as well, and in unusual places e.g. small side streets and other miscellaneous short cuts I'd never have expected to see police, that I've used hundred's of times, and never seen police at these locations before.

All this aside, recently a foreign woman riding an e-scooter allegedly on the wrong side of the road at an intersection, hit or was hit by 3 wheeled motorcycle taxi, and her injuries were fairly serious with significant trauma. Unfortunately, the motorcycle taxi was deemed to 100% at fault, why? because his taxi was illegal. Despite the police stating that the foreign woman was riding through the intersection on the wrong side of the roadway. The taxi operator, had to put up a CNY10000 bond at the hospital, where the woman was hospitalised for 10 days, and he lost his motorcycle, even though I still see hundreds of the same type of motorcycle taxi on a daily basis.

I guess the moral of the story is...

No plates+get caught = pile bull faeces+bike confiscation
No plates+no insurance = bigger pile bull faeces+bike confiscation
No plates+no insurance+accident = your fault no matter what+huge pile bull faeces+bike confiscation
Fake plates+get caught = pile bull faeces+bike confiscation
Fake plates+no insurance = bigger pile bull faeces+bike confiscation
Fake plates+no insurance+accident = your fault no matter what+huge pile bull faeces+bike confiscation

But worse than all of that is your actions also have ripple affects for all those riders (especially us foreigners) who follow on after you. Where perhaps an official may have helped, they may hinder. Where a police officer may have let a small transgression slide with a warning, not this one...
So my advice, please think before you decide, and decide carefully for all of us other riders before you act. Don't fall victim to being part of the herd, only to be the one singled out and made example of. Ignorance has no excuse.

Since you have been contacting Taobao motorcycle sellers, have you tried to see if any can help you out by getting a set of real plates & documents and not just fake plates for CNY300? I believe the going rate, is around CNY2500 for a set of plates and documents for a 250cc registration...

[Lao Jia Hou]

What bikerdoc says ... +1

MC riders/owners all share one common belief ... it will never happen to me.

I am also curious about all the people who tell me "I never see the traffic police, or get stopped, or whatever" ... damn, I must look like a clown with flashing neon lights yelling "pick me, pick me", because I see the police all the time, and have frequently been stopped. Of course, I live closer to the central part of Beijing. Mind you, back in the day, the police never bothered any riders ... but it seems they started working inside the 2nd ring road .... then moved out to the 3rd ... and are now moving enforcement out towards the 4th.

Of course you can ride with no plates or fake plates ... you can also ride with bald tires, no brakes, no mirrors, no helmet, and a t-shirt & flip flops ... just be aware of the consequences when "it" does happen to you.

I've noticed that the new term for the traffic police over on the Chinese boards is "tour agent" ... offering 14-day "tours" for those without a DL or fake plates.

Again, what could possibly go wrong?

[euphonius]

I'm a little worried that Mistertoms' engagement with MCM lasted exactly one post. Maybe he was disappointed with our friendly but straight talk.

...Again, what could possibly go wrong?

I hope nothing went wrong.

Mistertoms, you still with us? How about an update?

cheers