It is simple LOL do not chase MP - do not buy a 4MP camera that is anything other than a 1/1.8" sensor. Do not buy a 2MP camera that is anything other than a 1/2.8" sensor. Do not buy a 4k camera on anything smaller than a 1/1.2" sensor. Unfortunately, most 4k cams are on the same sensor as a 2MP and thus the 2MP will kick its butt all night long as the 4k will need 4 times the light than the 2MP... anything else will do very poor at night unless you have stadium quality lighting (well a lot of lighting LOL).
With few exceptions, the only way to get plates at night is with IR to bounce off the reflective plates. And you do not need 4K or 4MP for plates. A 2MP works just fine. Many still use analog for plates...
You have the wrong camera for plate purposes. The camera you have is great, but a great camera being used wrong does not result in satisfactory results. You are seeing the limitation of an all color camera without the ability to see IR, so even adding an external IR would be useless.
Regarding a camera for reading plates (
LPR) - keep in mind that this is a camera dedicated to plates and not an overview camera (which your fixed lens is) also. You will need two cameras - one for overview and one for LPR. For LPR we need to zoom in tight to make the plate as large as possible. For most of us, all you see is the not much more than a vehicle in the entire frame. Now maybe in the right location during the day it might be able to see some other things, but not at night.
At night, we have to run a very fast shutter speed (1/2,000) and in B/W with IR and the image will be black. All you will see are head/tail lights and the plate. Some people can get away with color if they have enough street lights and slow moving vehicles, but most of us cannot. Here is a representative sample of plates I get at night from 175 feet with the 2MP Z12 camera: