I assume the dealer must have applied for the stickers without my authorization. Is this legal? Has this happened to any of you? I did not need the stickers and was waiting in case I needed them in the future to extend the expiration date. There are also income restrictions where above a certain income you have to choose between the state clean energy rebate and the HOV stickers. The rebate has been phased out for high incomes entirely for BEV and PHEV, but I think it still applies for Fuel Cell. It would suck to lose the rebate just because a dealer decides to apply for HOV stickers on your behalf.
Yes, our dealer also collected $20 at time of purchase and automatically applied HOA sticker without telling us. We didn’t know and applied again on our own with a check for another $20. DMV received both applications and cashed both, then sent us a notice that we applied twice. No refund is given on duplicate application. Lesson learned: check to see if your dealer already applied on your behalf and save yourself $20 on application fee. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Some dealers will pre-order the stickers as soon as the car VIN is available to them - usually while in transit. They put the stickers on the car while on the lot to entice people to take a look at this benefit. My dealer routinely does this and I had to ask them that I did not want them pre-ordered as it was the end of 2018 and start of the 2019 year which impacts the sticker color and conversely the number of years the sticker is good for. They were receiving the red HOV stickers that I did not want in 2018. So my dealer found an incoming VIN that they did not pre-order the sticker. So I bought it on 1/1/2019 to qualify for the new year's incentives. At F&I, they had me fill out the form and pay $22 for the stickers and got the new purple HOV stickers that has 4 years of use on them. I got the purple HOV stickers, $1500 CA CVRP, and $1000 utility rebates.
If you have never seen California HOV stickers in person they are a sight to behold. They are large and there are four of them that they have to place on all four sides of their car. If the color clashes with the color of your car, oh well. And yet from what I understand people would be willing to sell a close relative to get them, they make that much difference in the daily commute.
Yes, the HOV stickers are worth gold in some people's commute. Your red stickers are real - they have the background reflective hologram and the DMV issue number. Have you seen replicas (copies) being sold on eBay and Etsy for under $100? These fakes are a bargain but getting caught by law enforcement may be the risk.... Here's a fake one sold for $60:
If the dealer ordered them and you did not pay for them - then it's a bonus for you. As for the expiration date - they all expire at the same time no matter when you apply for them. The red stickers expire in 2022 and the purple stickers expire in 2023.
From what I understand, the only restriction on an application for the stickers for an ARB CAV eligible car is that it hasn't previously been issued a set of them. For instance, if you bought a 2010 Tesla from out of state that was never issued California white carpool stickers, you could apply for them now and receive a purple sticker good until 2023. So if the OP didn't need the carpool lane access right now but anticipated wanting a future sticker that expired in 2029 or something, he would be free to apply for them when he needed them instead of being stuck with a 2022 or 2023 expiration date (they could also discontinue the sticker program too).
I get the general sentiment but it's a lot of what-ifs. I think most people appreciate the dealer ordering the stickers before the car arrives because then they get them sooner than if they ordered them themselves. Scenario 1 - Owner needs and wants stickers right away. Thank you dealer! Scenario 2 - Between now and the end of 2022 they want to start using the stickers, and purple is still the current sticker. Thank you dealer! Scenario 3 - In 2021 the new teal colored sticker is issued which expires at the end of 2024. In 2022 the owner wants to start using stickers, but instead of being able to order a nice new teal sticker they have to use their sucky purple sticker until 2023, then purchase a teal (or whatever color is current then) sticker. Dealers probably just don't think about scenario 3 and think they are doing the owner a favor.
My reason for holding off is for this scenario 3 since I don't anticipate needing the carpool sticker for the next couple of years. That means the purple sticker I received will expire at the end of 2022 and I may get minimal or no usage out of it. I was hoping to defer the application until a later date like 2021 when the new teal sticker is out with an expiration of 2025. I would be okay with your outlined scenario 3 where I can apply for a teal sticker in addition to the purple sticker, but from what I have read, that is not the case. You are only allowed one set of stickers per car, so once you get the purple sticker you lose the eligibility for the teal sticker. This is why I am not happy with the dealer applying for the stickers without asking. This car did not come with stickers. The dealer applied for the stickers 2.5 months after I bought the car. The other potential concern of dealers doing this is there are cases where getting the sticker makes one ineligible for the state rebate. This is not a concern for BEV and PHEV due to the income limit matching the ineligibility limit, but it is a valid concern for the Fuel Cell Clarity. Beginning January 1, 2018, buyers or lessees that have a gross annual income above $150,000 for a person who files a tax return as a single person, $204,000 for a person who files a tax return as a head of household, and $300,000 for a person who files a joint tax return are eligible for a consumer rebate from the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project or a Clean Air Vehicle decal for HOV lane access from the California DMV. So a single person making over 150K who bought a Fuel Cell Clarity is eligible for a $5000 rebate, but has to chose either the HOV sticker or the rebate. I think anyone would be angry if they lost the 5K rebate due to a dealer applying for stickers on their behalf.
I didn't realize you only get one set of stickers and they cannot be renewed. That change seems to have started last year although they gave a one-time reprieve to people who had green and white stickers issued in 2017 and 2018 they were allowed to purchase red stickers. All of this points towards the program winding down by 2025 as they seem to want to get the lanes back to being only for HOV and toll-paying users, sort of like the tax credits which are seen as something temporary to get plug-in sales jump started rather than a permanent subsidy.
I am hoping the legislature will extend the HOV stickers when the red/purple come to expire.... As for the toll paying HOV users - I am not happy that this year the FastTrak Express toll users were told that they do not get a free ride on their lanes as the white / green stickers enjoyed. When driving solo in the HOV FastTrak Express lanes, I only get a 30% discount off full toll rates. Not happy with that recent rule...
In the Bay area we get 50% of the toll (still wish it was free like before.) I commute across the San Mateo or Dumbarton Bridge daily Where in California are you located @4sallypat?
I bought my Clarity (today) for only one stinkin' reason .. The Stickers! I could care less about EV mode or anything else. The Stickers will take 30 minutes off my 1 hour commute. I had a Ford Fusion Energi last year with Green stickers (was a lease takeover that's been turned in), and it was a godsend! Yes, I was willing to sell family members to get those stickers back! I really tempted fate a lot by driving the diamond lane w/o stickers, and it raised my blood pressure by 20 points every time I did it. But during non commute days, I will be back in my gas-hoggin' Ford F150 with the 3.5L Ecoboost haulin' my a** down the freeway, shoving those other BEV/PHEV cars aside
I hope you'll report back after driving your Clarity for a few months and tell us if your experience with this car was as bad as you expected.
Southern California. I use the FastTrak Express toll system and they used to allow HOV stickered cars to pass for free with single occupants but now they changed the rule and said single occupants w/ HOV and FastTrak transponders get 30% off the full rate. Very bummed here... @jennifer everett you get 50% off....
How does that work, do you set your transponder to multi-passenger (which normally means free) and then the camera sees a single occupant but also sees a sticker and thus you get billed 70%? Or do you set your transponder to single (which normally means full rate) and then the camera sees the sticker and gives you 30% discount? Or is this all an undecipherable mystery and you just pay whatever they tell you that you owe without trying to figure it out.
It's a bit of a half thought out mess -- apparently for the Metro Express Lanes you are now supposed to set the switch to the actual # of passengers (instead of the previous 3+ for a CAV) and register online that the car has stickers to get the discount (https://www.metroexpresslanes.net/en/about/clean-air-vehicles.shtml). But they didn't bother to coordinate with their partner transponder agencies -- the Bay Area Fastrak site's How to Use (https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/guide/doINeedFlex.shtml) shows that you set the switch to 2 or 3+ if you are in a CAV. Neither site makes it clear that their instructions don't apply statewide.
Agreed - this is correct - the Metro Express and other toll operators do not work the same and it's a mess between agencies. In Metro Express FastTrak users, the transponder is supposed to be set for the correct number of passengers but after years of driving in the 3+ mode, it's a hard habit to break. So the charges only happen if you set the transponder to 1 passenger with the HOV sticker but will also charge you if you are 2 passengers with HOV and during prime time rush hours. Very confusing indeed - so my wife who drives that route daily has kept it in 3+ mode because she is so used to "setting it and forgetting it".... Will see if CHP (state police) stops her for "forgetting" to set the correct number of passengers - oops..
