Rental car license plate mistaken as stolen

A family on their way to a doctor’s appointment from Yuma to Scottsdale is traumatized after an Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) traffic stop that included officers pulling a gun.

The Quijano family says the troopers followed standard procedures and were only doing their job.

On Thursday morning, they were pulled over by DPS because the license plate on their car rental was reported stolen in 2015 by Sonora Nissan in Yuma. The same company that issued the car rental. DPS says Nissan Sonora owns the plates allowing them to reuse it and assign them to another car.

“But I don’t think Nissan understands that the liability was there,” Alexander Quijano, who was driving, told 13 On Your Side, “That plate was stolen years ago. It came up again stolen, because it’s still stolen. You know you never really understand everybody’s situation and that situation could have went bad,” Quijano said.

Sonora Nissan says the license plate was legally registered to the vehicle that was rented.

In a statement they say, “It appears that confusion occurred between the computer systems of the MVD and highway patrol division, even though the plate was re-issued as “clean and clear” by the MVD.”

However, the family is angered because this could happen again to another renter.

“I don’t think Nissan understands that the liability was there, that yeah that plate was stolen years ago… it came up again stolen… because it’s still stolen. You know you never really understand everybody’s situation and that situation could have went bad,” Quiano said.

The family believes the system needs to change so that car rental companies don’t reuse plates that are reported stolen.

Sonora Nissan says they are offering to work with the Quijano family, Arizona MVD and local law enforcement to help in any way that they can to fix this glitch in the system.