HOV Stickers added value please help

Umm, forgive my ignorance (maybe) but, what's an "HOV" sticker?

 

HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicle aka carpool lane sticker. In California, hybrid cars can drive in the carpool or diamond lane even with only one occupant.

Clean Air Stickers - High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lane Usage

 

Yes, used Prii with HOV stickers have commanded a premium on the used car market. But you can't document it.

So at best, you'll get the $8.00 you paid DMV for them.

 

I don't know that it's entirely a lost cause; I believe that you can find resale values of comparable cars with and without the stickers, and show that the stickers would have increased the sale/replacement cost by a certain amount.

How much would that be? I suspect you could claim 2k$ and be more than fair.

(I've thought about selling my 2005 #9 w/ 55k miles + HOV stickers and seeing if I can't go straight across to the latest and greatest, but it never quite seemed the worth the effort...)

 

Several years ago my wife got t-boned at high speed in her Expedition and rolled it on it's side. The insurance company totaled it out. They came back with a low number and I told them I wanted fair value for what I could replace it for. They instructed me to rip out several examples of similarly equipped vehicles from the local auto trader and they would offer me more. I did, and they offered me a fair value after that. Was I lucky? Probably... but figured I'd pass that experience on to you in case it helps.

Mike

 

PEOPLE!

They are $8 bucks at the DMV! Why are we having this conversation?

When you buy a new or used prius you can replace them for EIGHT DOLLARS!

Everybody wants more from the insurance companies when we get hit.
(after all they milk us, why shouldn't we milk them)

But they are not stupid! They know what they are worth. EIGHT BUCKS!

It is not like they are hard to get or you win them in the lottery!:loco:

 

I'm not sure how it is in Nevada. Here in AZ the stickers are still available so it's no biggie. My cousin just bought his '08 Touring a couple weeks ago and got his stickers... I got my a few months ago and got stickers... BUT, in California the stickers haven't been available for some time. Combine this with the fact that they have some of the worst traffic in the nation is why supply and demand dictates higher prices for used vehicles with these stickers in place. If you take this into account we're no longer talking about $8.

Mike

 

Edit seems to hang for me so I'll post a follow-up 'cause I forgot to add something...

...this HOV sticker could mean a 3 hour commute in L.A. turns into a 1.5 hour commute... Now you can see what all the fuss is about. Do I agree with it? No, I think it's ridiculous and folks are taking advantage of the system.... but, hey, it's simple supply and demand.

 

Actually the CA carpool stickers are quite hard to get. They no longer are being issued except as a replacement necessitated by theft or accident damage. If a car is totaled as was the case with the OP, the DMV will not issue carpool stickers for a replacement hybrid vehicle that is subsequently purchased.

The OP is seeking a premium to compensate her for no longer being able to drive solo in the carpool lane. I recall that the value had been estimated at $4K in an LA Times story when the program began. Now that the program is halfway through its life, a reasonable estimate of the value might be $2K. However I am sure that the OP's insurance company will not be eager to recognize any value for the lost carpool privilege.

 

The OP is from SoCal, where the stickers are no longer available , so yeah, either they get replaced (not possible since they are tied to the VIN) or the insurance should offer a more than a fair value for them. I would say fair value would be:

hours saved on commute per year * hourly rate at current job * number of years that the stickers are available for

I think the stickers expire in 2011? right?

 

MY BAD. Had no idea. When i got them for my electric (not hybrid) they were only available in white. I just went in and asked for them. Never heard of a yellow one until tonight. Sorry for the ignorance.ray2:

 

In California, the first 85,000 (Prius, Insights and Honday Hybrid Civic) that applied got the HOV sticker allowing single person to go in the carpool lane (personally saves me 1 hour each day)- until 2011. That ran out about Jan of 2007. Thousands of Prius have been sold since then, here in California.

The sticker stays with the car , so anyone selling a used prius with an HOV sticker sometimes gets as much as $4,000 over book value.
Check all the ads on Priuschat for people desparate to get one.

Check autotrader.com for used prius with and without. Check all the craigslist.com ads for used Prius with HOV stickers and how much they are charging for them.

There were a couple of articles in the San Jose Mercury news about the extra value.

 

HOV stickers of CA worth about $3K for a 2005. My friend sold his a while back.

 

We cannot give solid value of the value of HOV stickers, --- but, in 2007, we sold our HCH. It was a 2001 model with 43000miles, in very good shape. It is the 1st time we have ever sold a vehicle and gotten asking price. We bought the HCH Mar 2001 for $18500, and sold it for $17K, with HOV stickers. We were very pleased b/c we had more than 3 anxious buyers, and sold the HCH within a week's posting in Craigslist.

 

May be in Nevada they are $8. They are not even available in MD. VA I think sells licence plates at a premium of a few bucks a year. I read in CA they are no longer available as was already posted.

Look at the for sale section here - a guy bluntly asks $3K over market value, primarily for the stickers ...

Totally unfare proposition IMO - stickers should stay with the person who originally got them (for use on applicable other vehicles they own of course), not the car and not be transfereable IMO. Arnold, are you listening???? Flex some muscle on this

 

1) When we bought out 2008 in January the salesman showed us a 2004 or 2005 with a sticker on it. He was offering it with a $3000 premium for the HOV sticker.

2) I wouldn't pay a dime for an HOV sticker for two reasons.
a) Only about 1 out of 20 times I've been in an HOV lane has been beneficial. Most of the time the HOV lane is going the same speed, or a little faster, or a little SLOWER than the fast lane to the right. Rarely have I experienced an advantage in the HOV lane through Los Angeles. In addition when driving in the HOV lane many people want to drive 15-20 mph over the speed limit and they are often sitting right on my tail as I'm going ONLY 5mph over the limit.
b) LA is going to be converting the HOV lanes to pay lanes. (Reason Foundation Commentary: Convert Los Angeles' Carpool Lanes to Toll Lanes) There are already experimenting with this change over. This means the taxpayer money spent to implement HOV lanes to force people to be more efficient will be sold to anyone who can afford to pay. This will negate the reason for the costly HOV lanes and exclude low income people. Your sticker will be useless.

 

On the wrong coast they sell the car with the plates on it, the sticker should go along with the car. If people are stupid enough to pay big bucks for a car with the sticker, then hey, so be it.

I think they are ugly as all get out, and wouldn't put them on my new Prius!

 

when my 04 with HOV stickers was totaled, I got the initial cost of the stickers added to my value. a whopping $8. Even though the market value is MUCH higher... and we did send them TONS of proof on this.

Your insurance company will try to give you the least amount possible.

When we got my replacement prius, we asked the DMV about the stickers... they are dead along with the car.

good luck

 

You might want to double-check this. I'm pretty sure I've seen others manage to get replacement stickers in the case of accident (but maybe that was more of a "replace the fender on the same VIN car" than "replace the whole car").

The idea behind the quota was to limit the number of cars driving solo in the HOV lanes; since you were already in the 85k limit, it seems that you should be allowed to get new ones for your replacement car (assuming it meets the emissions/milage requirements, of course). Then again, logic vs. DMV...

(Says the guy who has the stickers for his 2005 ... sitting in the glove box, and now I live in NM. )