California DMV - Plates & HOV Stickers

[Ditpixs]

I didn't shell out the $3500 for the paint/body armor, but was wondering how that works exactly.

i am mainly asking b/c I'm excited to get my HOV Sticker but it breaks my heart to put the stickers on the bumper.

I imagine these stickers are probably impossible to take off (otherwise people would steal them).

do these stickers damage the bumper paint?

And would installing HOV-sticker-shaped body armor underneath solve this problem?
does anyone know where I could buy some of this said body armor (without having to she'll out $3500 to do the whole car)? I'd likely only need 100 square inch (just estimating) sheet of it.

If there are any better/smarter solutions I'd be excited to hear them!!!

I just put mine on and used a sheet of screen protector film for a tablet device. Found some clearance sheets at BestBuy for $8 each. So far, so good!

 

[alexkiritz]

They're very brittle and break up into small pieces when removed. I'd be more worried about the paint weathering differently than from the adhesive. You probably won't ever be taking them off so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[gaswalla]

The white HOV stickers do expire, so we will be looking to take them off sometime. (Those Prius's with the expired yellow stickers look lame).

There's a discussion here: California DMV - Plates HOV Stickers

 

[scriptacus]

"...does anyone know where I could buy some of this said body armor (without having to she'll out $3500 to do the whole car)? I'd likely only need 100 square inch (just estimating) sheet of it."

I can't guarantee it but I have a suspicion that XPel is the same material as the Zagg Invisible Shield (iPad/iPhone screen protector)... if you look at the texture, self-healing properties, etc... they are appear to be the same thing. You could pick one of those up and do a test (apply a 1/2" square somewhere inconspicuous) for a few days and see what the results are like. If it works you can just stick the HOV sticker on the remainder of the material, cut it to match the shape and apply it to the car.

 

[alexkiritz]

As I said, you probably won't ever be taking them off. They are set to expire in 2015 but they will probably be extended at least until 2018. The only people still driving around prii with yellow stickers on them are those too busy to bother to take them off.

 

[goaliemanshark]

Tesla took HOV paperwork for me. I'm not a Sig...

 

[napabill]

Factory delivery on 11/29, received stickers on 1/23.

 

[smd]

I have a service appointment at the Fremont factory in a couple of days. They will give me a few scraps of the paint armor from the factory installs. I plan to put the HOV stickers on those and then attach to my car. If I ever want to remove them in the future, it should be pretty easy.

I believe they send you 4 white stickers. Is anyone going with less than all 4, and where is the critical location if I want to go with just one or two?

 

[Jason S]

You get 3 stickers. One for each side of the rear and one for the bumper.

The stickers have, afaik, unique numbers as well. If anybody is riding around with only a couple, I bet they could easily verify the stickers are at least on the correct car.

 

[rbergquist]

The stickers have, afaik, unique numbers as well. If anybody is riding around with only a couple, I bet they could easily verify the stickers are at least on the correct car.

DMV sends you sticker & new registration paperwork that contains the sticker number. I suspect you could get ticketed if you display a sticker & your registration doesn't match.

 

[StephRob]

Exactly the same as Napabill but one month earlier. Factory delivery 10/30, got stickers on 12/24.

 

[MikeK]

Tesla took HOV paperwork for me. I'm not a Sig...

Yes, I am not a Sig, but Tesla took the paperwork and $8 fee and submitted it for me so that the process would be as quick as possible. I'm certain that the delay is all within the DMV.

 

[josh]

Stickers remove pretty easily with a blow dryer.

They do have unique numbers but I would seriously doubt anyone would ever check. It's pretty obvious the car deserves (or not) to be in the lane, the whites are unlimited, and it's $8, why would you lie?

I ran a single sticker on my roadster and never got hassled, same on my leaf. I put em all on both of the prius, what the hell, it was ugly to begin with.

 

[MikeK]

I was looking at my bank statement online today, and I noticed that my $8 check to the DMV was cashed on 1/23 (I wrote it on 12/6). I wonder if that means that the stickers are coming soon.

 

[goaliemanshark]

Got my stickers in the mail today (1/30)

Delivery was on 12/5

 

[MikeK]

Woo-hoo! I took delivery of my car 12/6. These arrived today.

 

[josh]

Woo-hoo! I took delivery of my car 12/6. These arrived today.

Exact same. They must have done a batch. DMV finally back from Xmas vacation.

I just put one on the back and skipped the sides. Hopefully can get away with it. Worked ok on my roadster and leaf

 

[DrComputer]

Darn, everyone has gotten their stickers but me I gave Tesla my $8 check when I picked up my car in October and when I didn't receive them by December I sent in another form with another $8 check. I called the DMV yesterday and said that I had sent in the form twice and neither check had been cashed. They said they didn't see it in the system and that I should send in another form and check, this time registered mail. I did that yesterday. Maybe the third time is the charm. It wasn't this hard with my Roadster in 2009.

 

[Fedderman]

Picked my car up at the factory on 9 Dec... so based on the trends above (goaliemanshark, MikeK, josh) I expect to receive mine within the next week. The $8 check hasn't been cashed yet though...

 

[MikeK]

Done! I ended up not using paint armor film behind the stickers -- these are just directly applied. I used a laser level so that I got them on nice and straight. It would be pretty hard to do by eye given the various body lines and curves that are not level to the ground.

Man, my car needs a wash. I cleaned where the stickers go, so it's really obvious now. :tongue: