I am pretty upset with the dealer and my brand new 2024 Prius XLE AWD. They attached their license plate frame and their dealer name plastic plate with two big silver hex head screws directly into the plastic above the factory slots already there on the rear of the car. If I had my choice, I would love to have used a $7 universal bracket from Amazon with machine screws, washers, and nuts in the already existing holes and avoided the ugly screws and holes in the plastic rear panel.
First new car? (or first in a while?) They all do this now, it's not worth getting heated up about it. Congrats on the new wheels and enjoy!
So here are the photos. The two giant self-taping screws they used just screwed right into the plastic. I put two 8mm spring clips in the slots that were already on the rear bumper, attached a license plate adapter, and now I have 4 nice machine screw threaded sockets to attach my license plate to. 20241222_125203 by NavyLCDR posted Dec 22, 2024 at 2:55 PM 20241222_124956 by NavyLCDR posted Dec 22, 2024 at 2:55 PM 20241222_125131 by NavyLCDR posted Dec 22, 2024 at 2:55 PM
And did they use god awful huge hex-head screws too? It wouldn't be so bad if they used a modest sized, decent looking screw.
I remove ours right away, then a few years later noticed the license plate, rear in particular, was peeling. In the old days license plates were just painted I think, whereas nowadays they're some sort of applique film, joy. I know, replace dealership frame with something personal. But I'm cheap.
Here in Virginia, the white background starts cracking and always appears dirty. In Virginia, the license plates move with the driver but I got a new set for my Camry because the ones from late 2016 looked pretty bad.
PSA, for members in BC, Canada, and it may be more generally applicable: if you have a license plate that's deteriorated to where it's undreadable, ICBC (Insurance Corporation of British Columbia) will give you free replacements. I've mentioned this to a few people, and as often as not they're unreceptive, OCD about keeping their current plate, who knows why.
I plan on getting free replacements later this year in Virginia for my 2000 Tundra that still has its original plates. Does British Columbia normally charge for replacement plates? Mine are still readable, just ugly.
I think they need to be missing bits of the text/numbers, illegible. Help them along a bit, pick at the peeling bits?
