Stolen License Tag

I did a search on this topic and saw a discussion last August; however, what I needed I didn't find answered. My question is:

Where do I report the stolen plate to? It was likely stolen in Chapala this past Saturday and only just noticed.

Hopefully, it won't be too painful. Thanks in advance.

You are probably better off to go to the office in Chapala (where you renew your registration) and tell them it fell off somewhere. Saying it was stolen will probably involve a long painful visit to the MP.

Actually, that is what likely did happen. Thanks for the education!

The same goes for missing residency visa card and DL.........never say stolen unless you are certain they will be used for nefarious purposes.




And do let us know how you went about replacing the plate after you get it resolved.

All good advice. I'll let you what it takes to get it replaced.

I hate to tell you this CanuckB but I lost all of my papers French and Mexican one day and I had to have a MP report to replace the, lost or stolen is the same as the people who find them could use them the way people who stel them do.

A trip to the MP is not the end of the worl just be ready to spend a couple of hours..

Well like everything down here YMMV. I had a friend get their wallet stolen and they were advised to not say stolen so they claimed to have "lost it" and got a new DL and residency card without an MP report. This was about 3 years ago.

I lost my French passport and my Mexican Permaent visa card and I had to have a MP report.  different papers .. I lost my driver´s license several times and never had to have a MP report..

Success. I think. On Tuesday, I went to the place where we renew our car registrations and was told they need a copy of the report from the police before they could do anything. I made sure they understood the licence tag was lost and not stolen. They said it didn't matter. So I went to the police station on Ninos Heroes and told them I had lost my front license tag. They asked around and determined I needed to call 911 and give them the details. They, would then give me a report number that I needed to bring to them. I repeated this was a lost tag and not stolen. No matter.

I went to a friends house who speaks good Spanish and called 911. We reported the lost plate. He took the information down and then told me he would have someone over to the house soon. Then hung up. We called right back, got the same guy and explained again. He seemed to understand and finally gave me the report number. He said take it back to the police and they would fill out a report. He reminded me to keep the original at my house and a copy of the report in the car.

Today I took the report number back to the police station where they had no idea what should be done. One officer did come up to the desk and give the desk person 5 forms for me to fill out. Each form was different. I asked for a person who spoke English. They called someone and asked me to wait.

About 30 minutes later a nice 'older' gentleman, not in uniform, came in and asked me to explain. I did and he said he wanted to look at the car. We walked to the car and he saw where the plate was missing. He informed me I needed to go to the Public Minister on Gonzalez Gallo, across from Cristiania park, and report the missing tag. He did write down my tag number and said he would have his guys be on the look out for it. Very helpful guy.

I found the place, told my story and they filled out two forms. I signed the forms and that was it. I asked before I left if I needed to go back to the tag place to get a replacement. They said, No, just keep a copy of the report in the car.

This January, when it comes time to renew my registration, I'll see what they say. I personally, don't want to be driving around with a missing plate waiting to be stopped.

Interesting adventure.

That is what I was told , lost or stolen makes no difference..

Nope, I wouldn't want to be driving around without a plate either. That will be an invitation to get pulled over. Have you tried taking that report back to the registration office now that you have it?

There is an official looking sticker on my windshield with my plate # on it in big print. Came with the car. Also says SCT and has a bar code.

Perhaps you can do the same and not worry so much about the front plate.

Good suggestion, Mr. B. I'll give it a week and then give that a try.
Thanks for the suggestion, Trailrunner but the requirement is a plate on the front and one on the back.

Do keep us informed as I'm sure someone else will be looking for the process sometime in the future.

Not sure if they still stock them but a couple of years ago I purchased a packet of security fasteners for licience plates from Auto Zone.
You need a special tool to unscrew the screws/bolts the hold your license plate on...l

I was thinking about that but figured the odds of it happening in the first place were slim and for a seconded time even slimmer - so might be a waste... But first, I have to get one to put on. Hopefully, next week I'll have something to report.