How to post a picture safely.

[MichaelR]

We spend thousands on garages, insurance, CCTV and more to help protect our cars but the protection shouldn't stop there. Thieves have been known to scan forums on the look out for a giveaway in location and car and away they go.

If you post a picture on here make sure you:

• Mask the number plate - Simple one really, can be done in 2 mins on photoshop. Link: Tutorial
• Be careful where you take your pictures! Someone knowing the area where you live will easily be able to work out what street you live in if the sign is directly behind the car! Nice backdrops make the pictures so much better anyway!
• Enable privacy on photobucket and other web hosting sites

Obviously there is always a risk and this will just help online but it's better to be safe in the first place. A little common sense in pictures goes a long way.

If you have some more tips i'll add them to this post.

Stay safe
Michael

[Horatio]

Enable privacy on photobucket and other web hosting sites

[xjay1337]

While you post good advice, more people see your car on a daily basis than the amount of people who would ever likely see it online.
After all cars are recognized for their features and rarely for their numberplate.

You never go to a show and say "Ahh man, yeah that Mk2 that had the registration A418 KJU..." - You're gonna say "That Mk2 on 3 piece BBS splits and custom interior with an R32 engine"

We have insurance, alarms, trackers and what not for a reason.

If we spend all our time worrying about who sees our photos than actually just enjoying the forum and user environment then we may as well not bother posting photos without Photoshopping the wheels, interior, etc. As people recognize cars from their appearance.

A poorly edited numberplate removal can completely ruin a picture.
Ultimately the choice is yours but a registration plate on it's own gets you nothing.

[Marc-5-GTI]

Really good advice and there's been a few horror stories of late...

I always thought that taking the plate off was so nobody can use it on a stolen one... I don't take mine off because of the fact those facts above... I drive it daily.. And pass 1000's of cars a week.. On the flip side it does only take one k*head to have a look in here...

[jonm]

For the world my Numberplate is J10NMM and I drive a black golf..

I could walk outside and round the corner and find 3 more black golfs and note their numberplates down... if people really wanted to clone plates they can do it by quicker means...

[doylebros]

When they clone plates their preferred method (according to our police force) is using out of the area plates for forecourt petrol scamming and going to concerts,which requires a few hours motorway driving!

[jonm]

Enable privacy on photobucket and other web hosting sites

you you do this then you cannot share the photos on sites like this.   

[Horatio]

Enable privacy on photobucket and other web hosting sites

you you do this then you cannot share the photos on sites like this.   

if you right click on the picture then click properties on the photo, copy the image address and copy them into your browser, delete the photo file name, it'll take you to the person's account album. If the album is not set to private, other people will see all of your photo's. I have a photobucket account and is set to private and can post pictures safely.