Woohoo, looks so much better with license plates. Not going to be like those playas that never put plates on their vehicle (usually something like a Hummer). Ever seen the types that drive around for good with no plates on the car? Funny how they get away with it.
Front license plate ruins the look of the car. Fortunately, I was able to stop my dealer before they could drill holes in our Lexus. I wasn't so lucky with the Prius so I opted for the whale tail plate as white plates on black cars stick out like an eyesore. The Lexus has never been pulled over for not having front license plate so I guess they don't pay attention unless it's a look at me car.
Great news on the plates! When did you purchase your Prius? I'm still waiting for my plates (bought my car in Nov. from Toyota Sunnyvale in CA). The wait sure is taking forever!
Congrats on the plates - must feel nice to have the car "complete"! Not sure why it is that it has to take so long to get plates in some states - when I lived in CT, MA, NC, you took your bill of sale, insurance card, etc., to the DMV, stood inline, paid your money, and walked out with either new plates, or stickers to put on your old ones. In CO, you wear a temp tag for two months before you get a card in the mail that says, "come in, pay up, plate up". Very strange...
Yeah, and it's no fluke - the Prius is the 4th car I've owned in this state, and it's that way every time!
Does CA still have permanent plates that stay with the car rather than with the owner? I remember visiting my aunt in Lompico back in the 60s and my dad and her struggling to remove the old black & yellow plates from her International Travelall to put on the newly issued plates.
That's what they like to say, but I call BS on that as you can still get a photo ticket in the mail if you lack a front license plate. They take photos of both the front and back. In fact, my wife received an illegal right turn ticket and her car didn't have a front license plate at the time. Not having a front license plate once saved me from getting a speeding ticket. I was caught speeding and tried to talk my way out of it. Some cops don't like to let you go without giving you anything so I got a fix-it ticket for the front plate instead.
That is true down here in Georgia too. They often use the NO SEAT BELT ticket for that purpose. Once I was riding with someone that was speeding. After he talked with the officer, turns out they were both Masons or something so the officer wrote him a no seat belt ticket. As we were pulling away, I commented that he was wearing his seat belt, his answer was that a no seat belt ticket is $15, speeding is a $150.
In New Jersey, it's a form of a scam. One can honk into the DMV with all the papers from the dealer and walk back out within a half hour with the plates. However, the dealers hate that. They pick up somewhere between $100 and $500 from the buyer as a "vehicle DMV processing fee" and do their level damndest to try and convince the buyer that this is some kind of law that they have to do it. There is a separate window at the DMV for dealers, sure, but (a) there's never anybody in line over there and (b) the lines for the other windows are either empty, or short but moving. A few years back a ton of people in NJ got a $50 gift certificate against their next car as a result of a class action lawsuit against the practice. Of course, the lawyers got millions, but the dealerships are back to their scam. Next time I buy a car I'm not going to accept it - and, if they balk, I'll walk. KBeck
In Georgia we get our own plates because we have to get them from our own county office. It would be a nightmare for a dealer to have to deal with 159 county tag offices.
I'm keeping my plate from my old car, and it's beyond my understanding as to why I couldn't just run to my local DMV and get a new sticker. So today I just flipped over the dealer's placeholder plate to where it's white. I love the dealership and all, but they don't need free advertising from me. Of course, even sillier is that my insurance company has yet to send me my new policy. I bought the car on a Saturday morning and my agent refused to answer his phone. They got in touch with someone and they faxed me a temp policy number, but I've heard nothing from my agent. I'm about to go back to the one in my parents' hometown. At least with her the only time I hear from her isn't to try and sell me junk I don't want.
I use a really large insurance company that uses a small reptile for a mascot/spokesperson. I added the vehicle at the dealership and the insurance card, declaration page and new policy information was on my iPad literally in minutes. I then emailed the card to the dealership who printed two copies one for me and one for them.
I use another large insurance company that's a coop for farmers (My dad was a rice farmer growing up), and I always got good service from my parents' agent, but moving to a larger town meant that I got a new agent, and in the 2.5 years I've been here, I've never heard from the guy. Granted, I'm just trying to insure a car and not several million in farm implements, but it's pretty low. I can handle the government being slow and ignoring me--not private business.
