I lived in SF years ago and it was bad then, but impossible now. The city and their contractors generate chicken-shite tickets by the bale. The nasty little secret is the impetus for all this comes from the third-party collection agency to whom the city sells your data if/when you don't pay promptly. They'll hound you to the ends of the earth.
FWIW, my wife feels vulnerable to police attention when the required front plate is not installed, so on her cars, I give in. When a parallel-parker-bandit crunched the plastic front fascia, we had it replaced for $400, but I kept the front plate and bracket under the floor in the trunk. So far, so good.
Same but different, she bought a new used Audi. The rear license plate bracket is flimsy plastic crap with four captive steel nuts to receive the license plate screws. The nuts are only good for the initial installation. If the plates come on and off and the screws are tightened at all, the nuts pull out of the plastic. Dealer-Service-Department installed, a new bracket is $250. Across the counter from the Parts Department, it's $160. Even more ridiculous, the front bracket only has two captive nuts; however, they don't align with standard US license plate holes. The dealers run self-tapping screws through the plastic.
jack vines
