All Tesla loaner cars in Fremont, CA have the same dealer license plate: why does this matter?

[frog8]

Tesla offers loaner cars when your vehicle is being repaired at the Kato Road, Fremont CA facility, the closest Service to the factory . I took advantage of that courtesy when my brand new Y (Fremont-made, 11 miles on the odometer) was repaired for severe cosmetic defects.

I found out the hard way that ALL the loaners in Fremont have the SAME dealer license plate. I walked around the Kato parking lot, and I can confirm that the same plate has been used on Model S, 3 and Y with various colors Black, Red and White. The only difference from one car to the other is a small green tag 45mm x 25mm (mounted on the top-right corner of the license plate) that is specific to each car because of its unique 5mm-high number.

Why does this matters ? You and a dozen other 'clone' cars with the same license plate are cruising the Bay Area, collecting toll/bridge FastTrak fees, getting Parking citations and speed tickets, etc. Because neither FasTrak nor the cops or parking maids note the small tags (and seldom the color and model) you might be on the hook for fees and tickets –or worse- collected by your fellow Tesla drivers.
My experience: FasTrak asks you to register your temporary license plate: DO NOT do it, you would be charged like myself for 2 weeks of tolls/crossing made by the other loaner ‘clone’ cars, for a total of several hundred dollars. FasTrak uses the license plate when the transponder is not present, and its cameras show indeed the large variety of models/colors but still charge the unfortunate –honest- driver that registered the License Plate.

So be aware !

 

[EasyPal]

Interesting observation! I took a FasTrak toll tag from another car and used it for the Tesla loaner.

 

[frog8]

I made the mistake of 'registering' my FasTrak with the license plate XXYXX of the loaner per FasTrak rule 'If you are using a rental vehicle and have an existing FasTrak account and toll tag, you can simply log into your account and add the rental vehicle license plate number to your Registered Vehicle list' < see FasTrak web site. Then I crossed the San Mateo bridge with my transponder as usual.
Unfortunately, the repair of my Tesla Y took some time, and my account was now linked to the XXYXX license plate that is featured on all the loaners. My FasTrak account got 300+ charges per week (mostly for Express toll on 880/237/101 and Dumbarton) for hundred of dollars. Charges are based on the license plates; problem is that FasTrak cameras does not see the difference between the loaners featuring the same main license plate XXYXX, even though these 'license' clones have different tiny green stickers (with unique 5mm-high numbers) and these cars are of various models S/3/Y and colors black/white/red.
When I realized there was an issue, I called FasTrak and they told me that 'registering creates a contract' and that I was on the hook for all these charges. It took me 3 calls to finally find a smarter FasTrak agent that noticed 'Something is wrong' then 'Oh, there are different cars with the same license plate'. From then on, I was able to ask for a full review of all the charges, and eventually a 'credit'. FasTrak is quite dumb and does not have a warning for 'fraudulent or exceptional' event: it did not flag the fact that my account went suddenly from 4 charges a week to 300, or that the same plate XXYXX was linked to different models and colors. I guess that FasTrak does not know yet about AI ;-)
My advice: do NOT 'register' your loaner, always use your transponder and check your FasTrak account like a hawk ! Some of your fellow Tesla loaner drivers assume that 'Tesla is going to pay for it' but you might be on the hook for their toll and crossings.

 

[frog8]

To give an idea of how dumb the FasTrak software is: it could not even detect that 3 cars with the same 'main' dealer license plate XXYXX were crossing two bridges (San Mateo & Dumbarton) and activating the Express Toll on 237 at the SAME time. All these charges went into my account because [1] I was the only 'registered' fasTrak user with the XXYXX plate [2] the FasTrak cameras cannot resolve the small green stickers that personalize the XXYXX 'main plate'.
I just hope now that none of these 'clone plates' loaners got parking- or speeding-tickets, as the cops/parking-people very seldom note the model/color of the cars, and never the 'green sticker' numbers.

 

[ThomasD]

If you didn't have a transponder the Bill would go to Tesla?

 

[frog8]

FasTrak in the Bay Area uses 2 ways to identify the vehicles and charge the users. It always take a picture of the front/back license plates.
- If FasTrak detects a transponder, it charges the account linked to the transponder
- If FasTrak does not detect a transponder, it uses the license plate number [1] if the license plate is linked to an account, it charges that account [2] if the license plate is not registered to an account, it send a 'violation notice' to the owner of the vehicle.
Three comments:
- My experience is that my transponder is only detected 50% of the time , maybe because it is old; FasTrak will then issue a 'violation' when I use my valid transponder in a different car e.g. a work car or a Tesla 'loaner'.
- The license plates are easy to spoof ; it is well known that FasTrak lost $M because people used for years 'dealer plates' that could not be traced to any owner, until the DMV forced the Car Dealers to issue personalized plates, see articles in the San Jose Mercury News.
- The license plate automatic reader only look for the main plate number, and this can be abused. For example, it cannot distinguish between the Tesla loaners that all use the same 'dealer' main plate number, with the only difference being a small green sticker on the RHS top of the main plate. To separate the 'license clone' cars, the FasTrak operator will have to visualize the car model, color plate and decipher the small green sticker.

 

[frog8]

Re 'If you didn't have a transponder the Bill would go to Tesla?'.
In theory, FasTrak will send a 'violation Notice' to the owner of the license plate, in this case Tesla, then Tesla in turn will ask the driver of the loaner to pay for the 'violation'. It happens with everybody renting a car, but I do not think it is happening with Tesla -or as a matter of fact with any 'dealer' license plate. FasTrak (and we the tax payers) might be losing money in the process until that loophole is closed.
In my case, I made the mistake to register my 'loaner' plate (not knowing that the very same plate was also used by a large number of other loaners) and was on the hook for all the charges made by these loaners. Within a month and many calls/emails later, FasTrak refunded me all these extra charges after reviewing the cameras for model/color/green sticker, so I am good ;-)