Community Rules

PlateVault is a community-driven archive for spotting and cataloguing vehicle license plates from around the world. It is a non-commercial public space where users can upload photos of spotted plates, browse by country, and engage with other enthusiasts.

The platform is operated by PlateVault and moderated by a team of administrators and moderators appointed by the owner. The moderation team reserves the right to make final decisions on all matters relating to the platform.

PlateVault strives to maintain 24/7 availability but does not guarantee uninterrupted service. Maintenance, technical issues, or other circumstances may cause temporary downtime.

Registration is free, personal, and voluntary. Only natural persons may register — registering on behalf of a legal entity, organisation, or government body is prohibited.

Each person may hold only one account. Creating multiple accounts is prohibited. Attempting to bypass a ban by registering a new account will result in a permanent ban of all associated accounts.

Usernames must not impersonate another person, be offensive or derogatory, or be so similar to an existing username as to cause confusion.

You are responsible for keeping your account credentials secure. Any action taken through your account is your responsibility, whether or not it was authorised by you.

To request account deletion, contact the administration. Uploaded content may be retained in accordance with ourPrivacy Policy.

A spot is a photo of a real vehicle bearing a real, legitimate license plate. The plate must be clearly legible in the photo.

You may only upload photos that you personally took, or for which you have explicit written permission from the original photographer. By uploading, you confirm you hold the necessary rights.

The following are prohibited from being uploaded as spots:

Each upload must include the correct plate text as it appears on the physical plate, the country of registration, and a broad location (city + country at minimum — see Section 6).

Plate text must be entered exactly as it appears on the plate, including spacing and separators where they are part of the official format.

Standalone photos of a plate not fitted to a vehicle are permitted only when no photo of that plate fitted to a vehicle exists in the archive. The plate must occupy at least one-third of the frame, be photographed straight-on, and be clearly legible.

Minor image adjustments (brightness, contrast, colour balance, crop) are permitted. Compositing, heavy filtering, or any alteration that misrepresents the original scene is not.

The license plate in the photo must be fully visible and all characters must be readable. Partially obscured, blurry, or unreadable plates are not accepted.

The vehicle must be substantially present in the frame. A photo showing only the plate with no visible vehicle body will be rejected unless submitted as a standalone plate photo (see 3.6).

Photos must be taken in adequate lighting. Extremely dark, overexposed, or heavily pixelated images may be removed.

Photos must be in landscape or square orientation. Minimum resolution is 640×480 pixels.

The moderation team may remove or hide low-quality photos at their discretion, particularly when a higher-quality photo of the same plate already exists in the archive.

The following content is strictly prohibited on PlateVault in any form, including uploads, comments, and profile information:

Any upload or comment found to contain prohibited content will be removed immediately. Depending on severity, the responsible user may be permanently banned without prior warning.

Every spot upload must include a location indicating at minimum the city and country where the photo was taken — for example Berlin, Germany or Tirana, Albania.

The location must reflect where the photo was taken, not where the vehicle is registered.

Street names, house numbers, precise GPS coordinates, or any information that could identify a private address are not permitted in the location field.

Providing a false or deliberately misleading location is a violation of these rules and may result in removal of the spot and sanctions against the uploader.

All communication on PlateVault — comments, profile information, and any other user-generated text — must adhere to basic standards of respect and decency.

The following are prohibited in comments and all other user-submitted text:

Comments should be relevant to the spot. Off-topic discussions, flame wars, or attempts to provoke other users will be removed.

Disputes with moderation decisions must be raised through appropriate channels (contact form or direct message to an administrator). Publicly attacking moderators or administrators in comments is prohibited.

The administration reserves the right to remove any comment at any time without explanation.

The moderation team (administrators and moderators) is responsible for enforcing these rules. Their decisions are final unless successfully appealed to an administrator.

Sanctions range from content removal and warnings to temporary bans and permanent exclusion, depending on the nature and severity of the violation.

The following violations may result in immediate permanent exclusion without prior warning:

Temporary bans typically range from 3 to 30 days depending on the violation. Repeat violations result in escalating sanctions. Malicious repeat violations may result in a permanent ban.

Users may appeal a sanction by contacting an administrator directly. Appeals must be made in good faith and within a reasonable time after the sanction is imposed.

The administration may update these rules at any time. Continued use of the platform after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised rules.

By uploading a photo to PlateVault, you grant PlateVault a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to store, display, resize, and distribute that photo on the platform and in connection with it.

You retain your copyright. The licence granted in 9.1 does not transfer ownership of your photos to PlateVault.

You confirm that you own or have the right to use any photo you upload, and that uploading it does not infringe any third party's rights. You bear sole responsibility for any claim arising from content you upload.

Uploaded photos are retained by PlateVault unless you request their removal and the administration approves it, or the administration independently decides to remove them. See our Privacy Policy for details.

PlateVault's name, logo, and visual identity are its exclusive property and may not be reproduced or used without written permission.

PlateVault is provided as-is. We do not guarantee that the platform will be available at all times, free of errors, or suitable for any particular purpose.

PlateVault is not responsible for content uploaded by users. Users are solely responsible for the legality and accuracy of the content they submit.

PlateVault is not liable for any damages — direct, indirect, or consequential — arising from use of or inability to use the platform.

Links to third-party websites are provided for convenience only. PlateVault has no control over and accepts no responsibility for third-party content.