When a cop looks up your liscense plates what comes up? If my buddy stole a car and found the same color and model car and switched the liscense plates could the cop tell the plates dont belong to that car? I know people might notice there plates are different but who the fuck checks

Perhaps if the cop is smart he could tell the distinction between the two models. I am not a cop so I don't know what exactly pops up on there magic screen but I know for one when a cop runs a scan on a license plate and its reported its going to pop up regardless as stolen so your busted there. Second it will find the background information on the person whos plate it belongs to so your busted there.

That about does it and I am sure cops have about a half dozen other ways to tell. Stolen license plates are only good for about a week w/o being stopped of course.

If he runs a scan on the stolen plates and the person who originally owned them hasnt reported anything and doesnt have any shit on his record to get pulled over for my bud should be in the clear?

It would be better than driving around with the original plates. Seriously whens the last time you looked at your liscense plates?

Not sure, but don't they attach the VIN number to your license plates when you register for them in the system?

Yes, which is why if the cop suspects anything suspicious he will go more in depth and the VIN # doesn't lie.

Unless you are really really shady, most cops won't be fucked to look at the VIN on your stolen car. It's possible to re-create a VIN plate.