Has anyone received a CA Green HOV Sticker yet?

Yes, just the form and the $8 check (payable to DMV). No other supporting documents. The form has two pages; the second page is pretty much only a restatement of the VIN and plate number and your signature. The same form is used to get replacement stickers, so there are sections that you skip when getting the initial set of stickers.

 

If you place the state seal at the bottom, it is upright, as they show.
If you put it at the top, it would be upside down, that is wrong.

 

I really was not trying to be cute when I posted that question; for the life of me, I could not figure out how to interpret the statements in a way that made sense. The words say the position should be up; what they mean is that the orientation should be upright. And not just the seal; everything else should be upright also, so why did they specifically call out the seal?

 

I ordered my 4plugin plates in december and by the time i got my car the plates were waiting for me at the dmv. i told them i did not have my new car plates and they did something and gave me my 4plugin plates. no problem.

 

Here is where I put the decals.

 

After seeing yours I think I'll put the front ones on the outside of the lights.

 

No particular order up there in Sacto, apparently. I sent mine via regular mail on 3/9, check was cleared by my bank on 3/15. Somebody posted earlier that they seem to be handling these in batches, and that could be the reason.

When the mailman handed me my mail, I started to get excited when I saw the DMV return address, but it turned out to be the title. Nice to have, but the stickers........priceless!

 

No luck here - my dealer (Putnam) sent the sticker application together with the DMV papers on March 1st, and I haven't gotten any plates nor has my $8 check been cashed yet.

 

It appears to be a different group doing the processing of the sticker apps from the regular registration processing, at a different P.O. Box. I'm suggesting this based on the box numbers I sent my app to and the one from which my title came. So it may take extra time to get to the proper folks if your dealer included your sticker app and check in a batch of new car registrations.

 

........ which is why we did not take sticker applications to the DMV when we obtain plates. I felt it was more prudent and faster to let nature take its course!

 

So if by the time I get my registration/plates I still don't see the check cashed, I'm considering sending a 2nd sticker application - $8 doesn't hurt that much. Well, I guess we're just the guinea pigs/trailblazers who need to find out the most efficient process.

 

So it may be the old "right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" thing, or the "never the twain shall meet" bit. There is probably a reason why they say that you shouldn't submit the application until you have received (or at least have the number of) your permanent plates. If it has been put into the system, the HOV processing people can look up your car and verify that you indeed have a vehicle that qualifies. In an earlier post, someone said that he didn't wait for plates on a prior Prius, but the DMV held onto the application until the plates were issued, and then sent him his stickers. Maybe he caught somebody on a good day.

 

There are four decals, placed on the front and rear bumpers, and on the two rear quarter panels. The front decal is intended to be visible from the front of the vehicle, and I could not figure out any other place on anything remotely resembling a "front bumper" to put the front one other than where I did, next to the daytime running lights/turn signals. Anything to to the right of the lights is actually on the side panel.

 

Okay.

 

Brother yours will come about 23rd till the 26th.

 

I only used the two small ones on my last two cars, as low as possible on the left front and right rear corners. Never caused a problem; the CHP knows what to look for. I did put a larger one on a piece of magnetic sign material to have available, but didn't bother with it. If I get stopped for not having the car plastered with 'em, I'll worry about it then.

 

That's another thing about the installation instructions: they say put the small decals "on the right side of each bumper, front and rear". They apparently mean "right side as you face the bumper", not "right side as you sit in the car facing the front." As you point out, the one in the front goes on the bumper on the driver's side, which in North America anyway, is the left side.

I thought that maybe I was being a techno-geek, and the instructions were perfectly obvious to the 99%, but my very non-technical wife assures me that the written instructions are completely confusing, and she would just follow the illustrations.

At least the green stickers kind of look nice against the blue. Not like the garish gold stickers.

 

yeah, that was me. this was in the early days of the gen-2 prius, i think right after the state increased the allocation of the yellow stickers. since then the DMV clarified the rules and started sending back applications with only the VIN filled out but blank licence plate fields.

regarding sticker placement: about 4 months after i got my stickers, someone rear-ended me very lightly. i took it to the shop to have the bumper repaired, and they wanted to paint the bumper jacket since it had a small dent/scuff. not wanting to have to apply for stickers again, i told them to just replace the foam underneath and leave the jacket alone.

then a couple of years down the line, someone backed into my front fender and i had to have the front bumper painted to match the fender re-painting. the body shop wanted to discard my sticker but i convinced them to take it off with a hot-air gun. in the end i refurbished it, put it back on the bumper and covered it with paint protection film and clear tape.

keep in mind that if you need replacement stickers, you are supposed to remove *all* of the remaining stickers and send them in with your application. during this time you are not allowed to run solo in the carpool lane, and as you know it can take a month+ to get new stickers. IMHO since the bumpers are the most likely thing to be damaged in a minor crash, putting the stickers on the bumpers is kind of a lose.

so, on my leaf, i put the rear sticker on the hatchback right above the bumper and the side stickers on the fenders right above the bumpers.

of course, there's really no place else but the front bumper to affix a sticker (really don't want it on the hood) so that one i've just had to chance.

i plan on doing something similar with my PIP.

as an aside, has anyone put green stickers on the sea glass green color? how does it look? i'm worried there won't be a lot of contrast and i'll end up getting pulled over by the CHP needlessly...

 

I like Charles' placement on the front bumper and I like Roger's idea about just the 2 small stickers...

Thanks.

 

We received our plates from the dealer today. The registration is dated the 15th. Looks like the dealer sent in the HOV sticker form on the 15th or 16th.