Is anyone able to order Custom Plates in CA?

[mtndrew1]

Alright pardon the slowness but I'm fighting a cold...I don't get it? What's Elon late to? I'll probably regret posting this once I hear the explanation..

I mean...everything? Model S, Model X, Model 3, autopilot...

“Three months probably, six months definitely” ring a bell? ;-)

 

[HandleX]

I ordered my legacy plates in early July and received the pickup card in mid-October. Went to the DMV 20 minutes before they closed and had my plates in 7 minutes.

 

[Pluto]

I get an unusual number of people in traffic taking a photo of the back of my car.

I’ve had that too. A few times on the freeway I’ve had people one lane over slow down to take a picture of my plate and actually hold up traffic temporarily. Mine skirts the DMV rules about what plates are allowed so I don’t post it online, but if anyone listens to Ryan McCaffrey’s podcast it was highlighted in one episode.

The coolest plate I’ve ever seen on a Tesla was just “OH” — for the next 5 minutes I couldn’t get away with saying something and thinking of the plate lol.

 

[jaredcasper]

Old thread, but @Glamisduner did you ever figure out what the issue was? I'm having the same problem trying to order custom plates in CA.

 

[emotiveeng]

If you're getting "The Special Interest License Plate Internet Ordering System is currently unavailable." it's often because the personalized plate is already taken. The DMV site is terrible at error handling.

These are all the restricted combinations and you cannot have the number 69 (NICE!) unless your car is a 1969 model year.

 

[jaredcasper]

If you're getting "The Special Interest License Plate Internet Ordering System is currently unavailable." it's often because the personalized plate is already taken. The DMV site is terrible at error handling.

These are all the restricted combinations and you cannot have the number 69 (NICE!) unless your car is a 1969 model year.

Thanks for the response, I've looked at that page and tried a few different plates that should be okay given those rules. I get passed the screen you get when the plate is already taken, and after putting in payment information, the plate is removed from the shopping cart with the message:

In accordance with DMV policy, some items have been removed from the cart and will no longer be part of your transaction. Driver's License, Identification Card Renewal and Duplicate Driver's License items will be removed after 24 hours of inactivity. After 30 days of inactivity, all items in your cart will be removed. In order to return the item(s) to your shopping cart, you will need to re-add the item(s) by clicking on the "Continue Shopping" button below.

I've tried a few different plates with valid configurations according to that page (that get past the initial check for duplicates) and get the same issue. :/

 

[mr-dmitry]

Worked only after switching to a sequential license plate number. I guess you can file a form on paper for those numbers that do not work.

 

[wwu123]

Does anyone know, if you previously had a personalized plate, but didn't renew it yet didn't transfer to new owner (often in CA plates go with the car), are you still able to re-claim it, or does that combination go back into the pool after a while?

In our case, the car was a trade-in to Tesla, they said we could keep the personalized plate if we wanted to use it on the new car. Before delivery, they said they would be able to register the new Tesla with the personalized plate; however, at delivery they couldn't because the car purchase was in my name, while the plate was in my wife's name.

But they let us take the plates, so we still have them. It's been a few years, but I can't go to DMV to inquire by myself, and my wife just hasn't found the time for us to go together.

EDIT: And oh, come to think of it, I had a set of personalized plates as well, but that car got totaled. Same question regarding those, except I never got to take the personalized plates off the car.

 

[outtacharge]

Does anyone know, if you previously had a personalized plate, but didn't renew it yet didn't transfer to new owner (often in CA plates go with the car), are you still able to re-claim it, or does that combination go back into the pool after a while?

In our case, the car was a trade-in to Tesla, they said we could keep the personalized plate if we wanted to use it on the new car. Before delivery, they said they would be able to register the new Tesla with the personalized plate; however, at delivery they couldn't because the car purchase was in my name, while the plate was in my wife's name.

But they let us take the plates, so we still have them. It's been a few years, but I can't go to DMV to inquire by myself, and my wife just hasn't found the time for us to go together.

EDIT: And oh, come to think of it, I had a set of personalized plates as well, but that car got totaled. Same question regarding those, except I never got to take the personalized plates off the car.

I found this thread because I had the same problem as OP and Google led me here. I also see that the last reply on this thread (yours) is also the same question I have about personalized plates going back into the availability pool after the annual fee is goes unpaid.

Both OP's problem and your question go hand in hand with what I'm facing right now. I am trying to order personalized plates through the California DMV website and when I go click on payment method, I get a message in a yellow box at the top that says "In accordance with DMV policy, some items have been removed from the cart and will no longer be part of your transaction..."

Coincidentally, the personalized plates that I'm trying to order were not available previously. I had checked the availability on those plates 6 months ago when I had recently bought my car, but unsurprisingly they weren't available as it was a very short and common word. So when I tried again after 6 months and saw that they were available this time, I couldn't check out fast enough, but was so disappointed by the error message I was getting and being unable to check out. I tried to check out on 4 different devices with different browsers each just to make sure, but still keep getting that error message.

I have been able to successfully check out before (6 months ago) when I first ordered personalized plates. However, I got a letter from the DMV about a month after I placed my order saying that they denied my choice of personalized plates because it was very similar to an already existing plate. About a week ago, I finally got refunded on my credit card for the $50 plate fee (refund took about 5 months from the date of the denial letter). I figured since I got my refund, I should try again, but now I'm here with this check out problem.

I wonder if there is a glitch with the DMV website that shows you that a plate is available despite it already being taken. If during the checkout process, the system double checks availability with another database, this would explain why I get an error when checking out.

But they let us take the plates, so we still have them. It's been a few years, but I can't go to DMV to inquire by myself, and my wife just hasn't found the time for us to go together.

EDIT: And oh, come to think of it, I had a set of personalized plates as well, but that car got totaled. Same question regarding those, except I never got to take the personalized plates off the car.

Can you check to see if your old personalized plates are available to order on DMV's website: Special Interest License Plate
Or if you don't mind to tell me what your old plates were, I can check myself. This would really help answer our question and I'm sure many others who find this thread in the future.