Yeah, I Bought A Digital License Plate.....sigh.....

[MAXXX Q]

I purchased a Digital License plate from Reviver in July 2018 for a total cost of $1150 including installation and a 3 year service subscription. 9 months later, the plate screen became detached from the license plate frame making it not road worthy. On April 24th I returned the faulty plate to the Reviver offices in Foster City, CA and in May 2019 I registered for a "free" RPlate upgrade. As of this date not only have I not received a replacement for the defective plate, I was charged $6.99 for their monthly service for a plate that isn't even on my car and despite the fact that I purchased the 3 year service plan.

This entire experience has been a FIASCO from beginning to end. I would not recommend purchasing this product.

 

[Bill Foster]

Am I missing something here, when did regular metal plates become not enough?

 

[JulienW]

I purchased a Digital License plate from Reviver in July 2018 for a total cost of $1150
This entire experience has been a FIASCO from beginning to end. I would not recommend purchasing this product.View attachment 420692

I LOVE tech toys but paying more for a license plate than an iPhone???? Don't worry I didn't need your "not recommended" to keep me from buying.

Today I went to the DMV today and spent $60 on an EV tag (yearly subscription but do get to use HOV lanes) and felt like I was getting ripped off. Your post has changed my mind on that.

 

[silentcorp]

Yeah, these are not ready for prime time as displayed by both the quality and pricing. Also, a frickin subscription for a license plate?!? That's gonna be a no from me dawg.

 

[Andy_STL]

I'm so confused. Why is this necessary in any situation whatsoever?

 

[wtfuzz]

Someone actually bought these things?

 

[GooseSerbus]

What is the subscription for?

 

[usafakid09]

What is the advantage to these? Does it mean you don’t have to pay registration? Or do you have to pay registration, plus the $1150, plus the subscription service?

 

[wtfuzz]

What is the subscription for?

The cellular connection so the DMV can track, log and sell your data to 3rd parties. They can also put the word “stolen” on the plate remotely.

 

[wtfuzz]

https://jalopnik.com/nobody-wants-700-electronic-license-plates-because-tha-1826399701

 

[G78M3]

I truly want to know what is the selling point here.... being able to change your personalized text often? if yes eventually all the good ones are taken... still at $1000 you can change every year for more than a decade... seriously... why?

 

[Dan123]

The cellular connection so the DMV can track, log and sell your data to 3rd parties. They can also put the word “stolen” on the plate remotely.

So the thieves won't realize that they need to remove the digital plates and sell them on Craigslist?

 

[GooseSerbus]

It's got a SIM in the plate? Wow!

 

[jjrandorin]

Lets not all jump on the OP. The digital license plate frame is a pilot program here in california. If I remember correctly it was supposed to allow registration remotely / via app. It also was something like a e-ink type display if I remember correctly, which allowed for some customization options planned in the future.

The subscription was for the wireless service that was required for the updating etc.

Here is a link to the MFR website

Reviver | Home

Unless you live in this state (which it appears none of the current responders to this thread do) you may not know that in california, we have to register cars yearly (unlike some other states I read) and that the cost of registering a car here yearly is fairly expensive. Like my model 3 performance was probably $650 or so? It goes down a bit every year, but its pretty expensive to register cars here, and you have to pay by mail and wait for the tags, or go to dmv, or do something like go to AAA for new tags since its not as bad as going to dmv...

I think the digital tag is expensive but thought about it when I read about it.

The OPs point is, even if one was willing to spend the money (and its a lot) the product has not been good.

@OP thanks for the update. Sorry you are going through those issues. Hope it works out for you

 

[JulienW]

Lets not all jump on the OP.....you may not know that in california, we have to register cars yearly (unlike some other states I read) and that the cost of registering a car here yearly is fairly expensive. Like my model 3 performance was probably $650 or so?....

So it is $1150+$650 for the first year? How does that make it a better choice? If anything that makes it worse IMO.

 

[SMAlset]

Lets not all jump on the OP. The digital license plate frame is a pilot program here in california. If I remember correctly it was supposed to allow registration remotely / via app. It also was something like a e-ink type display if I remember correctly, which allowed for some customization options planned in the future.

The subscription was for the wireless service that was required for the updating etc.

Here is a link to the MFR website

Reviver | Home

Unless you live in this state (which it appears none of the current responders to this thread do) you may not know that in california, we have to register cars yearly (unlike some other states I read) and that the cost of registering a car here yearly is fairly expensive. Like my model 3 performance was probably $650 or so? It goes down a bit every year, but its pretty expensive to register cars here, and you have to pay by mail and wait for the tags, or go to dmv, or do something like go to AAA for new tags since its not as bad as going to dmv...

I think the digital tag is expensive but thought about it when I read about it.

The OPs point is, even if one was willing to spend the money (and its a lot) the product has not been good.

@OP thanks for the update. Sorry you are going through those issues. Hope it works out for you

I agree with you @jjrandorin . Give the guy a break. He posted not to get piled on but to give a PSA to anyone who might be considering this company's product and what they might encounter. I saw a display for these in a detailers shop here in California a number of months ago when California made them legal. For some techy people with disposable income the plates do get your car noticed on the road, and that's why I'm assuming to some degree people here do modifications on their cars. But the vehicle registration fee savings may appeal to a wider base, especially given the fee based on the % of value of your car (new cars whacked the most). I personally never saw the appeal of digital plates and as with so many things electronic you can run into all kinds of issues so could be more of a headache. But then we drive an electric car based on a lot of electronics don't we.

I guess I'm more interested in hearing from OP what that means as far as the car not having a front plate here in Calif. again. That sucks. Has he been ticketed yet?

BTW digital license plates have been approved for use in other states as well so not just a California thing! These Customizable Digital License Plates Will Be In 8 States By Year-End

From 5/16/19 (legal in Calif, Michigan, Arizona): Digital license plates now in 3 states, with more on the way

Just today: Digital license plates could be coming to Maryland

And here's the reasoning behind digital plates and cautions:

 

[Glamisduner]

I would buy one if I could remove the 4 ugly giant carpool stickers and my front plate. I do wonder how they are dealing with the curvature on the tesla 3, most license plate frames have seen have an issue with the 3's curvature, unless you don't care about it rubbing your paint.

 

[JulienW]

I would buy one if I could remove the 4 ugly giant carpool stickers and my front plate.....

In Atlanta (GA) we have Alternate Fuel Vehicle plates that are our HOV "stickers" (see pic above). This looks 1000x better (understatement) than those stickers and it is just a licenses plate. Wonder why doesn't California just do this instead?

I guess the only disadvantage (I can think of) is you can't have a vanity EV tag.

 

[SMAlset]

This may shock some people who aren't familiar with California vehicle registration/license fees. But went to the State's calculator (lots of factors depending where exactly you live and type of vehicle, etc) and I plugged in a new 2018 electric vehicle for Santa Clara County (no city) and this is what it would run.

Current Registration: 55.00
Current California Highway Patrol: 25.00
Current Vehicle License Fee: 404.00
Current County Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies Fee: 1.00
Current Fingerprint ID Fee: 1.00
Current Abandoned Vehicle Fee: 1.00
Current Air Quality Management District: 6.00
Current County Transportation Projects Fee: 10.00
Alt Fuel/Tech Reg Fee: 3.00
Current Vehicle Theft/DUI 2: 2.00
Current Transportation Improvement Fee: 175.00
Use/Sales Tax: 5,580.00
Reflectorized License Plate Fee: 1.00
Total Registration Fees: $684.00

At least electric vehicles don't have to go in for smog inspection, which I believe is the only inspection required by our state. I know some states use this as a time to check for other things on your car and charge you for the inspection.

 

[SMAlset]

In Atlanta (GA) we have Alternate Fuel Vehicle plates that are our HOV "stickers" (see pic above). This looks 1000x better (understatement) than those stickers and it is just a licenses plate. Wonder why doesn't California just do this instead?

I guess the only disadvantage (I can think of) is you can't have a vanity EV tag.

Well in California they went the sticker route for HOV lane use (cheaper than printing a different kind of license plate for alternative fuel vehicles due to the volume of cars in California). As auto technology has improved they've been able to invalidate stickers for less efficient vehicles with not as stringent air quality and make room in the HOV lanes for cleaner more efficient ones. They sure could have designed something nicer to put on your car IMO. They also want the police to see your lane usage privileges from different angles of the car as they patrol the lanes of traffic so displaying something on the rear and/or front doesn't cut it. Big fines if you are found in the HOV lanes illegally, so revenue source as well.

It won't matter soon as they are building out Pay-to-Use Timed express lanes and try to get people switched over to a transponder. So you could effectively be tracked by that or your digital plate in the future.