latest # of HOV stickers issued?

Nightmare is over...

I finally got the stickers yesterday 555XX... today I drove on the car pool lane.

Bought the car the first week of January. Quickly sent for the transponder and once i git it, I sent for the stickers.

The check was cashed on Feb 8. After weeks of waiting I called the DMV and was told that it could take up to 6 weeks. Called again after the six weeks only to be told that my car did not qualify. What? A 2006 Prius not qulifying? The authoritative source at the other end of the phone mentioned that not all Priuses are Hybrid and that she know better because she worked for the "government." at that point I fugured I wasn't goign to far with her and finished the conversation.

A couple of days later I went to the local DMV office and told them about the problem. Three DMV operatives quickly started looking into big three binders, and after a while one of them pulled a cople of sheers from one of them. She read it and authoritatively said the according the directive in front of her, the only vehicles allowed to get stickers were pulrely electric ones. Hybrids did not qualify. I proceeded to tell her that ther ewer thousands of Hybrids on the road with stickers. One of them asked "are you sure the're hybrids?" It was difficult for me to contain my rage but it did occur to me to ask if ther ewas a date on the sheets they were referencing... the answer: "It was published in the year 2000!"

I asked them that they should check with Sacramento and their their act up to date. One of them who may have realized that there might be some fact in what I was telling them, told me that she would call Sacramento after her shift was over and get back to me. I said thanks and I left.

A couple of hours later, to my surprise, I got a call from the lady at hte DVM. She told me that I was right and that I need to go back to the DMV and change the registration of my car.

Back at the DMV the took my registration and gave me a new one. the new one has a Q instead of a G and the power source. This was the problem all along. Apparenty, someone -not me- had made a mistake and entered a G instead of a Q (for hybrid) and as a result, the sticker office could not issue me the stickers.

Long story... the moral of it being, make sure your registration has a Q and not a G.

it was nice flying down the car pool lane after all these weeks of anxiety.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusmero @ Apr 11 2006, 12:07 PM) [snapback]238121[/snapback]</div>

Sounds just like the CA government to be 6 years behind with their data sheets. Congrats on finally getting your stickers, by the way.

 

My nightmare continues...

I applied on February 17 and my check was cashed on March 7.
I called the DMV and they told me to call the Special Processing
Center in Sacramento. I called them on April 5th and they asked
me to fax them a copy of the cashed check. They said they would
send in an inquiry to the sticker processing unit (which is not
directly reachable by phone) and that someone would contact me
in the next 72 hours. Well nobody contacted me so I called again
last week and spoke with another operator who had me fax a
copy of the cancelled check again and told me the same thing
about the 72 hours. Again, 72 hours elapsed and no one contacted
me. So I called today and spoke with a third operator and she told
me all she could do is send yet another inquiry to the processing
unit.
I'm about to give up on those stickers even though they would help
my 100miles/day commute. Should I restart from scratch and
re-apply? Any suggestions?

Thanks

-Adriano

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(elmofongo @ Apr 13 2006, 10:48 AM) [snapback]239213[/snapback]</div>

I would suggest asking for a supervisor.

 

I hope I'm not being insensitive to the people with the nightmare stories, but here's an update:

Purchased vehicle: 2/25/06
Mailed application: 2/27/06
Check and application returned for no plate: 3/21/06
New application mailed: 3/22/06
Check cashed: 3/31/06
Title received: 3/31/06
License plate received: 4/04/06
Sticker received: 4/07/06

So it looks like it helps to mail a second application if they reject the first one. For me, the license plates hit the DMV's computer system by time they had received the second application. It saved me a week or 2 by randomly mailing the second application before knowing my license plate number

 

And here is my timetable so far:

Purchased vehicle: 3/4/06
Mailed FasTrak hybrid account application: 3/4/06
Received FasTrak transponder and documentation: 3/16/06
Mailed DMV sticker application with FasTrak documentation: 3/16/06
DMV sticker application returned for no plate number: approx 3/31/06
Obtained plate number by telephoning DMV (916.657.8035): 4/11/06
Mailed DMV sticker application with FasTrak documentation: 4/11/06
Received title document: 4/13/06

 

My timetable so far:
3/24/06 Bought car
3/24/06 Went into FasTrak office in SF, exchanged transponder
3/25/06 Mailed application

This is where things differ from others' experience.
4/8/06 Received mail, postmarked on 4/4, from the DMV, saying:
"DMV has RESERVED your carpool lane stickers for you!
Please submit the item indicated by the checked boxes, in order to complete your application.
- Vehicle License Number and Vehicle Identification Number
Mail all required item(s) in the envelope provided"

The $8 check was stamped with the DMV "For Deposit Only" stamp.
Application was stamped with the received date of 3/28/06.

4/13/2006 Still waiting for plates.

 

02/09: Purchased Prius
02/09: Mailed application
03/03: Check Cashed
03/25: Received Certificate of Title
04/12: Received License plates and registration
04/14: Still waiting for HOV stickers. I'm guessing they should arrive soon.

 

Finally got my sticker (HE056237)

Here's my timeline.

2/10/06 bought car
2/13/06 got Fastrak
2/14/06 mailed application
4/15/06 got stickers

BTW, the title and plates all arrived before stickers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bsd43 @ Apr 13 2006, 11:46 PM) [snapback]239613[/snapback]</div>

Note to anyone who is "waiting for plates" to mail their application.

Calling the DMV does no good! Go to the dealer where you purchased the car. Ask them (very nicely) to run a DMV report by your VIN. Their system shows your Plate weeks before the operators on the call in line have it.

I did this...and just received my stickers a few days ago. Still have not received the plates, and if I call the DMV, they still have "no record" of my VIN/Plate transaction! At least I found a way around them!

Sticker #55939

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(altdel @ Apr 16 2006, 01:18 PM) [snapback]240541[/snapback]</div>

your timeline looks close to mine except that I'm still waiting for my stickers.
when did they cash your check?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(elmofongo @ Apr 16 2006, 10:06 PM) [snapback]240763[/snapback]</div>

My check was cashed very early on 2/27/06.
I called them on 4/8/06 they told me that it was processed on 3/17/06 and I should expect the stickers by 4/17/06. And they were pretty close this time.
BTW, there is a peice of paper titled "Clean Air Sticker Certificate" that came with the stickers, which showed a "Date Issued" of 4/11/2006.

 

-Purchased in Feb 16, applied FasTrak Sticker the next day online.
-send in sticker application Feb 18
-DMV rejected application for lack of plates, March 6
-got a letter from DMV on registration: got plate number (w/o the plate)
-resubmit the application with plate number, March 31
-DMV rejected application 4/15 - lack of ORIGINAL receipt for FasTrak.
now why the heck did they not TELL me that before??????? for me to waste another month!

-getting ready to burn a day to drive to the city to get transponder exchanged... the online FasTrack application i filled out did not have such option. it turns out i got screwed by the stupid process.

stay tuned!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(highroute @ Apr 13 2006, 07:26 PM) [snapback]239526[/snapback]</div>

 

what a mess! I can't wait to find out what lame excuse my application
has been turned down...


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yuanja @ Apr 17 2006, 12:32 PM) [snapback]240971[/snapback]</div>

 

02/09: Purchased Prius
02/09: Mailed application
03/03: Check Cashed
03/25: Received Certificate of Title
04/12: Received License plates and registration
04/17: Received HOV stickers. Yahoo!! :lol:

 

Received my stickers #56330

Here is my timeline:

3/3/06: Purchased vehicle
3/3/06: Mailed carpool application (with plate info left blank)
3/17/06: Check cashed
4/17/06: Received stickers (with plate # on my certificate)

Carpool lane here I come!!! :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dpeezie @ Apr 5 2006, 11:23 AM) [snapback]235377[/snapback]</div>

4/17/2006 - Application and check returned with a note saying that the application was incomplete because "Other: Vehicle License Number is Required".

What kills me is that just above that written in requirement it says, "Please provide license plate number OR VIN with payment." I did provide the VIN, and know that several others got their stickers with only the VIN. It looks like an after the fact requirement that license plate numbers are required; the error forms themselves say that either license number OR VIN are appropriate. Additionally, they had already endorsed the returned check and they sent me a self addressed envelope with the wrong address on it. They addressed it to the general DMV address rather than the Special Processing Unit.

It sort of feels like they try to make this process more difficult than necessary. Especially since my application contained my phone number and they could have called to get the license plate # I've had for the last week.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dpeezie @ Apr 18 2006, 10:50 AM) [snapback]241573[/snapback]</div>

I suspect DMV is changing their Hybrid HOV sticker processing procedure as the 75000 limit is fast approaching. They need to standardize on a procedure so that the last batch of stickers can be given out in a first-come-first-serve basis.

Judging from my own experience and those of others posted recently, it appears that if they have assigned a license plate number to your car when they received the sticker application, you're in luck. You'll get your stickers in 2 weeks. If they haven't assigned a plate number when they received your application, you're out of luck. You'll get your stickers in 2 months (as in my case).

Anybody cares to guess when the sticker will run out? My guess is late summer, maybe.

 

Finally got my stickers yesterday!!!!!!

02.13.06 Bought car.
02.17.06 Picked up Fastrak in person.
02.17.06 Sent HOV application (using VIN only)
03.07.06 Check cashed.
04.07.06 - 04.17.06 Bitched & Moaned.
04.17.06 Received Stickers.

So exactly 2 months from the day I mailed the application.

 

Updating my timetable so far:

Purchased vehicle: 3/4/06
Mailed FasTrak hybrid account application: 3/4/06
Received FasTrak transponder and documentation: 3/16/06
Mailed DMV sticker application with FasTrak documentation: 3/16/06
DMV sticker application returned for no plate number: approx 3/31/06
Obtained plate number by telephoning DMV (916.657.8035): 4/11/06
Mailed DMV sticker application with FasTrak documentation: 4/11/06
Received title document (includes plate number): 4/13/06
DMV $8.00 check cleared my bank account: 4/18/06