California DMV - Plates & HOV Stickers

[DSA]

When I applied for the HOV lane stickers a few months ago, they arrived fairly quickly - within 1-2 weeks, as I recall. I bought the car used, so I could apply for the stickers based on the current plate, and apply for a personalized plate at the same time. The personalized plates took a full 12 weeks. If I had to choose, I'd choose to get the stickers faster, so I guess it worked out.

[dadaleus]

Yes, Tesla had a CA DMV HOV sticker form all ready for me with the paperwork and collected my $8 check right at delivery. I'll followup when I get the stickers--hoping it happens pretty fast.

I have personalized plates I'm transferring to the car so I didn't experience whether they had generic plates ready to go or not.

[dadaleus]

Just realized I never closed the loop on this: Stickers took exactly 33 days after delivery.

[MikeK]

My plates arrived by mail yesterday -- 11 days after I took delivery of the car.

Tesla filed the HOV sticker paperwork for me. I took delivery at the factory and they had it ready for me to sign and give them the $8 check. Those have not arrived yet and I was told that they had been taking up to 8 weeks (although fingers crossed that it will be quicker).

So now, a question: I have a buyer for my RAV4-EV, and it will be shipped shortly. I would like to transfer my personalized plate to the S. Is there any chance that transferring the plate will throw a wrench into the sticker process? I don't know if the stickers are tied to VIN or plate in their database, so I don't know if swapping the plate while the stickers are pending could cause trouble. I can always just reserve an interest in the personalized plates until my stickers come, then do the swap...

[doug]

I'm sure you can call the DMV and find out. If they're smart, it should be tied to the vehicle (via the VIN) since the stickers should not be transferable between vehicles.

[MikeK]

I thought about calling DMV, but I'm hesitant because I suspect that most of their employees aren't that familiar with the sticker process. They sure weren't when I got the stickers for my RAV. Maybe that's changed since the hybrid sticker programs were so popular, though.

[DrComputer]

I was just at the DMV today to pickup my personalized plates. I asked them about my HOV stickers and they said they had no way to check on the status and that I could all Sacramento (good luck) if I wanted to find out where they were.

[doug]

That's a good point, though, that the stickers have more to do with CARB than the DMV. You might try sending someone there an email.

[MikeK]

I dropped by AAA this afternoon and it took about 5 minutes to get the personalized plates de-assigned from my RAV4 and standard plates handed to me across the counter. The very nice AAA person said that he thought that assigning my personalized plates to the S wouldn't mess up the sticker process, but since the plates are paid for through June, there was no harm in waiting until the stickers arrive to re-assign them either.

[napabill]

I've applied for the HOV sticker and should get it next month sometime. How and where must it be affixed? Sure hope it's relatively unobtrusive. And I don't suspect that the CA sticker has any standing in other states?