According to a law passed by the New York City Council last spring, the sale of anything that obscures a vehicle license plate is now banned in the five boroughs. But that hasn’t stopped some of the biggest names in auto parts from cashing in on plastic plate covers.
On a shopping trip for vehicle accessories, the I-Team found clear and even tinted plate covers openly sold at city retailers including AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, and AutoPlus, the company that stocks shelves at Pep Boys.
"People are trying to beat the system," said Council Member Robert Holden (D-Maspeth), who authored NYC Local Law 22, which he says outlawed the sale of anything that covers vehicle tags in New York City.
Holden said he decided to draft the legislation after his vehicle got stuck behind another driver using an elaborate retractable curtain to cover the tag on the back of his SUV.
"He had one of those 'James Bond' type curtains that would go over his license plate and we said — how is this happening, who’s buying these, where are these?" said Holden. "And then we started looking and we found Amazon is selling them."
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Amazon has since come to an agreement with the Eric Adams administration to stop selling plate covers to NYC residents. But the I-Team found plenty of brick and mortar stores continuing to stock their shelves with plastic bubbles that screw on top of license plates.
After contacting the companies about their continued sale of the products, Advance Auto Parts responded by pledging to immediately rid racks of the plate covers.
“All New York City Advance stores will have all license plate covers removed from shelves by the end of the day,” wrote company spokesman Darryl Carr.
The other companies did not immediately respond to the I-Team’s inquiry.
Holden said it’s hard to keep the companies honest, partly because the law only calls for a fine of between $300 and $500 for stores caught selling plate covers in the city. He now wants to increase the penalties and is also calling on the police that monitor city bridges and tunnels for anti-terror purposes to pull more vehicles over for other reasons.
"We should put the State Troopers to work not only just monitoring bridges and tunnels," Holden said. "They should actually be looking for these plates."
Last year, the MTA held a news conference pleading with drivers to stop using plate covers as they cross tri-state bridges and tunnels. The agency blamed covered, altered or defaced tags for something close to $50 million in lost toll revenue last year.
MTA Bridges and Tunnels President Daniel DeCrescenzo also emphasized a misconception drivers have – that see-through plate covers are OK to use. Because some tolls and speed cameras use flash photography, that burst of light can create a glare on plastic, making it difficult for cameras to make out letters and numbers behind even plastic that is not tinted.
"Even a clear cover is illegal," DeCrescenzo said.
