There’s a Sneaky Way to Prevent Your Texas License Plate From Being Stolen

(Lindale, Texas) - We protect a lot of things around us. We protect our homes by locking all the doors when we're gone or at night. We install cameras at our home to keep an eye on the outside. We lock our car and/or truck to keep someone from stealing it.

Something we may not think about is our license plate. It only takes a Phillips head screwdriver to steal that off of our vehicle. Something you may not know is that there is a simple and relatively inexpensive way to replace those screws with something that makes the plate almost unstealable.

Why Your License Plate is at Risk

Starting July 1 in Texas, car dealers will no longer be able to use those temporary paper tags when someone buys a new vehicle (WFAA). That new vehicle will already come with the metal plates you had to wait a couple of weeks for. Those paper tags were too easy to fake and were being used on vehicles to commit crimes.

Police feel this will make our regular license plates more vulnerable to being stolen to put on other vehicles to commit crimes. Thieves could also use your stolen plate to run up a toll bill or you could identified in a crime by someone remembering the plate number. Getting rid of the paper tags will help but not solve the problem completely.

How to Help Prevent Your License Plate From Being Stolen

There is a simple and rather inexpensive way to prevent your license plate from being stolen, torx screws. These are screws designed with a unique bit pattern for each set. Without that exact bit, the screw can't be removed. I was able to find a set on Amazon for less than $6 that comes with the screws, the bit and some other pieces.

I believe they can be found at Lowe's and Home Depot, too. I'm talking to my fiancé tonight about getting a set for ours and her daughter's car. It's a conversation you should have in your house, too.

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