This Beijing policeman has a hard look at this BMW X1. Not because it’s extremely dusty. A few days parked outside in Beijing, and any car looks like that. No, this car has no license plates. The plateless car has been gathering dust for a while on Beijing’s streets.
So the policeman has the X1 towed. In America, that would be that. But this is China. To maintain a harmonious society, the owner needs to be notified of the towing. Now, the policeman has a problem: There is no license plate on the car, so how should he know the owner?
A fast thinking member of Beijing’s Finest whips out a piece of chalk, kneels and writes (translation courtesy Carnewschina: )
“To the owner of the BMW X1 car. Please contact the local police station for information concerning your property.”
It looks like it hasn’t been raining for a while. The chalk may still be there when the owner comes back.
Tagged as Beijing, Bertel Schmitt, Carnewschina, China, Police
Why can’t they cross reference the VIN??
From what I understand, and it may be off, is that the VIN is pretty much a USDM only product. I don’t believe other countries use it.
VIN’s are used worldwide, and as far as I know, the number of digits and decodification is the same for the rest of the world.
Authentic BMW or Chinese copy?
haha, I thought the same thing. Maybe the dust is really unflattering, but damn that car looks cheap.
I hope you are being facetious. Rampant and widespread cloning is not as common as most people think. Not even close.
There’s no Chinese clone of an X1. If there was, I would’ve heard of it. You’ve heard of it. Pretty much the whole world would’ve heard of it, like it happens with any Chinese clone.
No rain but the dust will cover it up I’m sure : )
Something’s scrawled on the hood. Does it translate to “Wash me?”
“Y U NO WASH ME?!!” to be precise.
This is done in Japan, that’s where the idea came from. If they pull your car your reading of Japanese had better be excellent.
It’s not like using jdict.org takes that much effort. Just take a picture of the asphalt and decode it at home.
Pocket Nelson FTW!
Sure beats the process in Russia, where they often just crush it.
“You have 30 minutes to move your car,” “You have 10 minutes,” “Your car has been impounded,” “Your car has been crushed into a cube,” “You have 30 minutes to move your cube.”
I’ve heard horror stories about the air in Beijing, but in all seriousness, how many days parked outside would it take to have your car covered in soot like this? Or, for those who have lived there, how often do you have to wash your car? Is the dust worse because of pollen (last spring my car was covered daily, parking under a tree of course), or is it year round?
It is not soot. It is desert dust
Here in the US, they’d just tow your car without leaving any kind of note. You would have no idea whether your car was stolen or towed until you manage to find the number for the city tow yard, which would probably be closed for the day by the time you call.
When my car was stolen, I reported it, and kept calling the city tow yard. It turns out it was abandoned on the freeway that day (they shorted the electrical system hot-wiring it) and the CHP had it towed to a state-contract tow yard the day after. The CHP didn’t notify me for two months because their office staff had been laid off, and the troop commander brought in all his officers to work in the office when the paperwork piled up. The storage fee was more than I had paid for the car.