For those of you wondering... It's $30 PLUS a $55 "Processing Fee" assesed by the county for a total of $80.

I know this because I got a speeding ticket yesterday (ARGGHHHH!!!) so I checked the fines online. The cop didn't mention my missing front tag... and he most definately saw it...

Also for your information Fairfax County Police motorcycle officers have a doppler radar on their bikes that will clock you while both vehicles are in motion in opposite directions. He was driving towards me when he got me.

 

Sounds like California. I guess the cops want to see you coming or going.

 

I got a speeding ticket and a $40 fine for the british tag on the front on BW Parkway, around Laurel.

the guy was a total ***, pointing out how the exhaust was TOO loud, and blah blah.

Havent had any problems in VA

 

Sure glad I live in a state that does not issue front tags nor does it have the most up-to-date radar guns

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd swear that 90% of the UK MINIs I see in GoMINI have a tag bracket that mounts up under the front lip of the lower grill. Any holes would be totally out of sight. If I had an MCS, I'd sure want to hunt something like this down 'cause I wouldn't want to drill into the front of my MINI either...but life is so much easier w/ a tag up there.

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'03 IB/W Cooper

 

>>For those of you wondering... It's $30 PLUS a $55 "Processing Fee" assesed by the county for a total of $80.
>>
>>I know this because I got a speeding ticket yesterday (ARGGHHHH!!!) so I checked the fines online. The cop didn't mention my missing front tag... and he most definately saw it...
>>



Ahhhh man, I feel for ya - sorry to hear about it. . I still need to call about my fine...

Thinking I will be using my Colgan bra more frequently now, I put some velcro on it and attached the plate (reluctantly). But now I can take it off whenever I want very easily and take the whole ball of wax off for cleaning, events, etc.

- Mike

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'03 Cooper S JCW Pure Silver/Black - PP, CWP, Space Cloth, Fogs, 16" R90s, K&N, 35% tint


'02 S2000 Spa Yellow/Black - HKS exhaust, OEM hardtop, Infinity rears

 

Every Cooper I've seen has a cutout for the euro front tag in the bumper. In states that require a front tag there is a bracket that pops in there with a mounting for a US front plate that has a piece that matches the shape of US tags, the entire piece is quite ugly. However it is very easily removable. I pulled mine off and but a eurotag on there.

Now the S is a different story, that doesn't normally have pieces for quick and simple front plate mountings.

 

>>I know this because I got a speeding ticket yesterday (ARGGHHHH!!!) so I checked the fines online. The cop didn't mention my missing front tag... and he most definately saw it...
>>

Aha! So I attend a meeting with you for 3 hours and no mention of this!!! And you are supposed to be the responsible one..... Or is that your wife

 

We actually did briefly mention it. Mike W even said he had some connections in Fairfax County who might be willing to assist me...

If I was going to fight anything... it would be the $55 processing fee Fairfax County tacks on to their tickets!

 

VA has had full tags for over 25 years ( I think, it at least as lng as I can rember anyway) it shouldn't be much of a surprise to get a ticket for not having one. SOrry about the speeding ticket tho I know the nova cops are real aholes adn forget abtou fighting anythign in Fairfax.. the judges there are the meanest I've ever seen.. I actually went once and he only took guilty pleas for the first 3 hours.. he actually was talkgin to people whiel there were walking to the stand... they didnt even have time to get up there to talk .. totoally outragoues abuse of our system if you ask me..

 

I actually didn't get a ticket for the tag which stunned me. I wasn't even planning on fighting the fine... I just think the "processing fee" is a major rip off. Though I doubt there's anyway around there, and I wouldn't bother going to traffic court over a "processing fee"

That fee is actually assessed independent of the fine for the violation...

 

Maybe they should rename the processing fee: The "Bend Over and Take It" fee!

Again, so glad to live in a state that does not issue front plates. Keeps my MINI front-end looking so clean and nice

 

Michael, Michael, Michael - you should know by now about them VA boys - they can't catch bank robbers but they sure can catch speeders! I think the processing fee is pretty high myself, but you as a tax payer - have to pay for all that red tape...

 

So how bad was the speeding ticket?

 

$110

I used to drive past a million cops on the Fairfax County Parkway, never once got a ticket, but one spin on Pleasant Valley Drive in the middle of nowhere... BAM!

 

$110...Ouch. I'm just waiting for my ticket day to arrive. It's really amazing to me that I have not recieved one in the 21 months I've driving The Beast.

I also do not (and refuse to install) have a front tag, and I'm a VA resident. My theory is that I'm not very likely to get pulled over just for that. They save that one for an excuse to pull over some poor teenager in a rice-burner. I just refuse to ruin the beauty of my MCS front end with that monstrosity of a plate holder - And you have to create holes in an otherwise unblemished bumper as well!!!

 

I think there has been a proposal floating around the VA legislature (probably stuck on somebody's desk) for sometime now to eliminate the front plate, but...

I've driven the S2K (a bright yellow one at that) for more than 2 years with no front plate and the cops have never given me grief about it.

In the case of the MINI, I guess the combo of no front plate, dark windows, the front bra, and leftover #7s from the Charlotte event (now removed) were just TOO MUCH for the cop to resist .

 

Funny that you mention this...............

I just got a ticket for not having a front tag last week!!! (Yes, California requires them.)

I was parked in a parking lot!!! The cop waited for me to come out and get into my car, then motored over and asked me for my license, registration, and insurance. He then asked me where my front tag was! I said on the floor in the back seat! I lied and told him that I just got it out of the body shop after having the aero kit painted and installed and they didn't re-install it. He said he would give me a break and "just" give me a fix-it ticket.

What really got to me was that all during the ticket writing, he kept asking all kinds of questions about my MCS!!! (I guess the "WORKS S" plate didn't help!)

Fortunetly, it's only a $10 admin fee!

But mounting the fron tag is going to KILL ME!!! (any ideas?)

 

You could try magnets, like dealers use, see if the law will let you mount in the inside the window

 

We had considered strapping it to the outside of the passenger's sun visor originally. The plate's a little bigger than the visor, but it's better than drilling the bumper.

On the Coopers it's not an issue, the bumper's are drilled and molded for the Euro plates already...

 

>>You could try magnets, like dealers use, see if the law will let you mount in the inside the window

well that won't work with the plastic bumpers...

 

I bought small suction cups with hooks and attempted to mount the Honda's front plate in the windshield. It worked well although I am told you can only have the insp sticker and county sticker on the windshield and nothing else but I dunno if this is true

 

Can't be... or if it is, there's selective enforcement on that...

The military REQUIRES their registration stickers to be on the front windshield, DoD in particular need to be in the center at the roofline. I've never heard of anybody with a DoD or DOT(now DHS) sticker on their windshield getting a ticket for it in any state....

That said, my sticker is driver's side on the front bumper... Breakin all the rules!

 

I'm tellin' ya...check out UK MCSs. They have front plates and it looks to me like the bracket mounts w/o drilling visible holes.

 

I've got one of those brackets, it's the universal Euro tag bracket available online from multiple sources. The back of the bracket looks like swiss cheese lots of holes so that it's compatible with a wide variety of mounting configurations, the screws are behind the plate so all you see is the frame around the plate and the plate itself. It's a very clean looking installation. But I've only seen it for Euro tags