Has anyone received a CA Green HOV Sticker yet?

I was sorting HOV stickers last week on requests I had mailed the 14th of March.
St Pat's day was a Monday, so nothing was issued the 15th or 16th.
The 30 cars I requested them for on Monday the 17th, earlier in the day, didn't get them assigned and we got the requests back, check uncashed. They did call and warn us. Unfortunately, most of those were for advanced models we had coming, as well a small array of base. Right now, I am grateful for my out of state deals... or for the folks calling for cars who cannot make use of the HOV sticker. They want a deal, no worry - and a 4000 rebate off the 0 apr or lease cash too! It's becoming more of a crazy free for all on green-stickered cars.

 

CA Electric-Car Incentive Update: Funds Run Out, Green Stickers Gone

 

Diane, you had advice for PiP owners applying their HOV stickers. Can you share?

 

I noticed DMV did not update the green sticker count this week. The title says the green stickers are gone but the author did not cite any credible source for the statement.

 

it says they are "essentially gone." that's not quite the same as "gone."

 

Been lurking for a while, but wanted to help update the stats from DMV
- Mailed application in on Thur Mar 27th via overnight
- Application arrived there on Fri Mar 28th morning 10:30am
- Called in Thur Apr 3rd morning to look up info with lic plate#, agent confirmed processing. I didn't get to ask how much was left.
- Checked bank acc yesterday and the check for $8 was cashed on Fri Apr 4th

The process time seems to have sped up. Also us overnighting it helped in addition to no more dealership applications overloading the pipeline causing bottle necks. I would advise anyone applying this late to overnight it only.
Good luck to all trying to make the cut.

 

Why would the state allow dealerships to essentially grab stickers to stash away knowing that the dealerships will likely play the supply and demand game to charge the consumers a premium? I'm not going to lie, that extra value was part of the decision making for my purchase and I'm glad that I have my sticker attached to my car already and only paid the 8 dollar fee. However it seems to me that this program was not intended to be a state funded program to put more money in the dealerships pockets. If I were legitimately looking to buy or just bought a PIP right now I'd be pretty irritated at the state right now.

 

Thanks for the sharing.
I did the same thing too, I mailed the application without a license plate number.
I bought my car on Mar 22, and mailed my application on April 1 without a license plate number. I
have been calling DMV every two days to check if a license plate number already assigned to my car but with no luck.
Which number did you call to inform them about your lic plate #? Did they say anything about the lack of lic plate # on your application? If you didn't call, would they still process your application?

 

The title of the article is misleading. There is no credible source that says the green stickers are gone. It is only when you read the whole article that you realized that the author wrote "essentially gone", which as you noted is not the same.

I recall you overnight your application. Do you have any update? Hopefully you still make it below the limit.

 

I guess that's why DMV decided to suspend the program on 3/17. Maybe they should have done it earlier, like when there were 5000 stickers left.

Another better alternative might have been to implement a system like for the CVRP funds. You buy the car, you go to a website to "reserve" the green sticker, then you send it the documentation. Dealerships are prevented from hoarding the stickers. With a real time update, you also can know almost exactly whether you can get the sticker or not, and then make an informed decision.

 

Dianne pointed out that going through dealers is more efficient for DMV. It also makes the dealers more effective advocates for plug-ins if they can show the actual sticker.

These are good arguments as long as there is an ample supply of stickers, and the program does continue for the white stickers. They only fall down when the supply gets tight, creating inequities.

The DMV responded appropriately, but late. But they could not have anticipated the 150% spike in demand in early March.

 

it was received (according to the tracking website) on thursday morning at 9am. i was planning on calling monday morning to try to get additional info...does that sound like a good plan or should i give it an extra day?

 

Sorry, I think what i wrote was misleading.
I meant calling in with the lic plate# to look up the status.
I already had the license plate # filled out when I sent it in.

However in your case, I think that calling in to follow up with them is a good thing to do to.
Btw I called first thing in the morning at 8:10 am, wait time for me was 1-2 mins.
You might want to take advantage of that time window to update the license plate numbers, start when those guys just come in to the office since they need to look up by VIN# and Owners Name and etc.. instead of the plate info.

 

I couldn't agree more.

True, it could have been more efficient for the DMV and to help jump start the adoption rate when we started out or dealer advocate etc.. But it could have just been for the first 15,000 - 20,000 stickers to help launch the effort.

Yep, if they had done it like the CVRB for the latter 20,000 vs the last 2,000, the stickers would have lasted a lot longer. Buyers are then free to work with any dealers they choose and Dealers are back to doing what they are suppose to do, selling cars not stickers. Once the deal is closed then you are eligible for stickers, there would still be an incentive to help dealers sell the cars nonetheless. And PiP prices would also be more stable, there wouldn't be such a price drop for non-stickered cars.

In addition, it would also have made the sticker geographical allocation more fairly distributed through out the whole state. Right now if a specific dealer has 100-150 sticker-ed ready cars on the lot, it also means that the car pool lanes in that vicinity will be more congested by that much. Unless you are ready to go out of your area to get it e.g. fly from SF to LA to get the car and drive back or pay additional S/H.

Anyhow, its obvious that the sticker # is not in sync and it very likely that they were issued in sections and not sequentially. Sticker count != sticker ID. I am still banking on crackers8199 and icesalmon to get their stickers in time. Enjoy the weekend and just call them first thing Mon morning.

Happy Saturday!

 

Should I just call the DMV main number?
1 (800) 777-0133

 

No. You'll spend forever on hold and then they won't have the stickers in their computer.

Call 916-657-8035 which is the call center for the Special Processing Unit, among others. There's another clueful unit at 916-657-6560 but IIRC the first one is the better one.

 

From the top of this page,

it seems like the non-stickered cars are going for $4000 less. Or put it another way, the stickered cars are going for $4000 more, putting "more money into the dealership's pockets", to cite another post.

 

I'm hoping everyone gets their stickers.
I'm hoping they extend a little, but not optimistic that they will.
I have 178 PlugIns but at this tie, less than 1/2 have HOV stickers. Even with the $4K rebate AND the fed's 2500 on purchase, the CA state $1500 running dry shortly sure complicates things and makes this model a difficult sell in CA. It would take a gas crisis or huge jump in gas prices to re-balance things. It would help me a bunch to hear of a sudden glut with more green stickers. I'm totally FOR more ... professionally.. but personally, these HOV lanes are already so clogged! A few more cars on the average commute and it will become aggravating to be trapped in a diamond lane, unable to leave it when moving only as fast as the rest of the traffic is, or slower.

As for sticker tensions, we went thru this same issue in early 2008 when the yellow stickers ran dry.. and back then, one couldn't just sit at a DMV desk in a dealership and assign plates. You had to go down to DMV and pick up plates, metered out only 5 at a time. Then, you mailed the HOV sticker request and crossed your fingers. I might add, not all dealerships were willing to have their DMV managers stand in line for hours at 6-7am to get to the dealer line at DMV for plates all day, every day.

This last go-around, as I said a few posts back, it was way easier for them to do green stickers by VIN#. Less to verify, less hassle. Dealerships requesting really unclogged things for DMV. I found that it simplified things with my buyers to just have them in hand. One less thing for you as the consumer to worry about. In many cases, you have a state rebate to get done and mailed, track, and sort thru docs for. You have a brand new car with lots of new features. A plug & charging newness. Entune!! Nav! Yikes!

We as dealerships pre-ordering stickers became one less thing for YOU to do. IN my case, I even sit and do your online $1500 request for the CARB funds. Again, one less thing for you to do.

For DMV, once the doors were open to request stickers in advance, many dealerships did. Ford. Honda. Chevy. Toyota. I still send batch request 10 at a time for the EV.

Dealerships didn't clog things at all. I think the "let the dealers do it" mentality was borne from doing just what some of you are doing: sending an incomplete form. I've seen / heard of them all.
A form with no car license plate #.
Forms with the wrong or illegible VIN.
Forms with someone added to the form that's not on the registration.
Forms with the check forgotten.
These wrong or incomplete requests will be returned. You know DMV. They won't call you. They return it. And, you get it a month later...

With one easy electronic form, we as dealers were able to get 10 stickers just using the VIN#. Waaaaaaaay easier for DMV. I'm certain that's why they did it. It's a shame they didn't do it sooner. Would have been great back in 2012, end of Feb, early March...................

 

Dianne, IIRC a while back you thought more green stickers would be authorized, and I was skeptical.

We seem to have traded positions.

The way AB2013 is moving through the Assembly, I think it's more likely than not to be on the governor's desk within a month or two, maybe sooner. I can't guess whether our environmental but unpredictable governor will sign it.

If I'm right, the window of opportunity for the stickered cars to command a premium might slam shut in weeks or months.

Or not. Stay tuned.

 

OK.. I think we need to set things straight here before people start jumping on the bandwagon on the issue of: less-of-a-hassel for dmv, if it was clogging or un-clogging etc.. Also seemed like the response 2 posts above was more geared towards my post earlier.

I think the point was missed and we are on a red-herring here.

The point was, the dealerships caused a bottle-neck at the DMV process line for people who actually bought the vehicles and requested for the stickers on their own, this was from my stats, compared with the others in this thread before me. Since the ban on dealerships filing sticker applications, the process went a lot faster compared to when 20+ dealerships were trying to get 10 stickers a day back in March. That was the point. Obviously having the dealers file the applications didn't clogged things up between the dealerships and the DMV at all. Yes thats very true because sticker were literally flying off the shelves.

Also the point of errors in filing out forms can happen to anyone. I find it hard to believe that there was not a single mistake in the paperwork filed by all the dealerships to the dmv.
- Duplicate VIN#
- Wrong VIN#
- VIN# for a vehicle that was Already issued a sticker

My 0.02 cents..
Not everyone is lucky to run into a dealership that does everything for us or help us do less like that was stated above. But making the assumption (generalizing we as dealerships as a whole entity) that all the dealerships in CA have this same mindset is plain ignorance. Some other dealership in the Bay Area which will not be named tried to charged us +$350 msrp for a car that was already stickered. I highly doubt that they will even file the CARB for me. As you mentioned.

The reason I posted in the first place is to give the other forum members, who are also waiting for their stickers, insights on how the frontline looks like right now. IMHO even this late in the game I still think there is a chance for them to make it in time. They sent it in not long after I did and the process took roughly a week to when the check was cashed. So yes we will know soon.

Cheers!

p.s. re:icesalmon 916-657-8035 is the same number I called as bill posted. Try it in the morning, the lines open at 8:00 am PST.