No veteran plates for Teslas in AZ

[Hoosier-Daddy]

No Forum seemed like an exact match for this topic but this forum comes closest.

When I purchased my new Model 3, Tesla told me their system only let them request Alternative Fuel plates but that I could exchange those for Veteren plates after those arrived.

Nope. Numerous chats, phone calls and a visit to Arizona MVD to exchange the plates all confirm the only plate legal for a Tesla is an Alternate Fuel plate. If you are a veteran, first responder, medal of honor winner, gold star family, state university alumni, etc., well tough. The fact that you use alternative fuel is much more significant than any other aspect of your life.

And nobody seems to know why this is. All accept it as "just how things are". Can't wait to find out why. Gotta be a real doozy like some state senator got an HOV ticket in a Tesla with some specialty plate. It's one thing to qualify for a specialty plate such as Alternative Fuel, but quite another to declare one trumps all others and is mandatory.

Is this the same in any other states, or all states?

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Got moved to a regional forum. Guess someone thought my ONLY question of does this happen in other states would be seen by more owners in other states in a regional forum.

Update: Despite numerous humans, including the counter person at the DMV and her supervisor saying I can not get ANY other type of plate on a Tesla except Alternate Fuel, I went on line to order a veteran plate and payment was accepted. Off course it would also accept vulgar wording. Remains to be seen if the order gets processed. Finges crossed but not holding my breath.

Hard to believe people at the DMV counter are refusing to even try just on a lark.

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

Plate arrived yesterday. Sorry about reflections of garage door hinges, etc..

 

[DAHTcom]

I've tried over the last two months since buying my Tesla to get a new, non-AFV plate, online. I always run into the error "Plate cannot be used for a vehicle with this fuel type". I've tried multiple types of plates. I even went to a third party retailer to see if they had any luck, and they get blocked with the same error.

Curious if anyone else has figured out the magic trick to ditch the blue cloud plate?

 

[Hoosier-Daddy]

I've tried over the last two months since buying my Tesla to get a new, non-AFV plate, online. I always run into the error "Plate cannot be used for a vehicle with this fuel type". I've tried multiple types of plates. I even went to a third party retailer to see if they had any luck, and they get blocked with the same error.

Curious if anyone else has figured out the magic trick to ditch the blue cloud plate?

Wish I could say how I accomplished it. Had similar refusals on-line and at a DMV office. I contacted my representatives, and a few offered to assist me. but another on-line attempted went thru before I could get back to them.

I would not be surprised that certain types of plates may be getting green lighted as complaints roll in. Possibly based on govt hierarchy of significance. Medal of Honor winner trumps green; loves their pet, doesn't trump green in govt eyes.

 

[DAHTcom]

Wish I could say how I accomplished it. Had similar refusals on-line and at a DMV office. I contacted my representatives, and a few offered to assist me. but another on-line attempted went thru before I could get back to them.

I would not be surprised that certain types of plates may be getting green lighted as complaints roll in. Possibly based on govt hierarchy of significance. Medal of Honor winner trumps green; loves their pet, doesn't trump green in govt eyes.

The best I can think of to explain it, is the veteran plate requires a special status of ones account to even get to the screen to customize/select. So the error I get with that one, is different than every other plate I have tried (I am not a veteran, so that's the error I get on the website).

The only option it seems I have right now is to get the $600 digital plate option (with yearly subscription on top of that). Even then, it's still the cloud plate, but at least it's in black/white or white/black.

Reddit is useless, all the threads are from people in Phoenix who find it confusing that someone wouldn't want the AFV plate for HOV lane access. Which that old plate program doesn't exist anymore, and there are no HOV lanes in Tucson, so... lol.

Never thought I'd be this disgusted by being forced to use one (ugly) plate.