JUST FIX THEM PERMANENTLY IN PLACE

+ Click to Enlarge PERMANENTLY FITTED: New regulations will make it compulsory from January 2009 to fix number plates to vehicles using only security screws or pop rivets, not more than 20mm away from the corners of the number plates.

January 21, 2009

Panicking over today's stories in the print media that you'll be paying R800 for number plates? Don't - here's why...

This morning's article threw an unnecessary scare into SA drivers by saying that new cars registered since January 1 and fitted with acrylic number plates are "unroadworthy" and could land their owners with big fines.

Or even see their vehicles booted off the roads.

It said that only embossed aluminium number plates were now legal on new registrations and that they would cost about R800 a pair compared to about R200 for acrylic plates.

In fact, the regulations promulgated on May 4 2007 (see our story at the time), and which came into effect at the beginning of 2009, state only that from January 1, 2009 the number plates on all new registrations must be mounted "within 20mm of the edges by means of 4mm rivets or 4mm one-way, self-tapping screws", like those used on burglar bars.

Double-sided sticky tape or clip-in holders are no longer legal because the number plates are too easy to steal.

They also lay down minimum sizes for number plates, which are the same as previously but now also allow a smaller size (250 x 165mm) for motorcycles.

Nowhere do the regulations stipulate that the number plates must be made of metal.

The number plates of vehicles registered before January 1, 2009 are not affected.

However, an amendment to the National Road Traffic Act, promulgated on November 19, 2008 stipulates that "the licence number of all motor vehicles licensed in the Province of Gauteng shall on 1 November 2013 be displayed on a metal plate".

Embossed aluminium numbers plates cost, a platemaker said, the same as acrylic (R175 a pair) but on some vehicles it is necessary to mount them using a metal-reinforced frame, hence the extra cost – although R300 each for two simple, sheet-steel frames seems rather expensive.

A Cape Town number-plate provider told motoring.co.za he thought the story had come from a manufacturer of aluminium number-plate blanks to boost the sales of its products.