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Dealer's name tag on my new car

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by GreenMachine, Nov 5, 2005.

  1. xbdude

    xbdude opticat

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I bought my Tacoma new off the lot, and it had the dreaded sticker on tailgate. A friend said to heat it up with a hair dryer, and it would peel right off. No such luck. It took forever as somehow EACH LETTER was separate from the others. Is there any way of getting them off easily? Sounds like for most of you, it was simply "peel it off".

    I've already told the salesman not to put a sticker on my '06 Prius. It should arrive this month (ordered in mid-September), and we'll shall see.
     
  2. lee

    lee New Member

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    Believe it or not, in many states it is illegal to use those license plate frames and you can get a ticket for it. In NY, it is illegal to cover any portion of the license plate with a frame. The ones that dealers typically use cover the words The Empire State at the bottom completely.

    Now, it's true that not many cops will write a ticket for such a violation, but once a cop did me a favor and converted a speeding ticket to a ticket for driving with an obscured license plate (I had a bike rack on the car). That's when I learned about the law, and I was able to verify what he told me when I got home.

    For any one interested, Performance Products sells a nice lightweight plastic frame that doesn't obscure the plate, except a tiny bit where the screw holes are. I use them on all my vehicles and I think that they look great.

    Turbo Frame

    You can't really tell from the picture, but the frame is thicker at one edge (i.e. wedge shaped), which nicely complements the Prius body shape when mounted so that the thicker edge is toward the bottom. I would take a picture, but my car is filthy from all the road salt they used over the past few days.
     
  3. roach52osu

    roach52osu New Member

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    I have always been told to use Isopropyl alcohol, but have also heard that WD-40 will work well... I would test both on a less obviouse location to make sure it is not going to damage the paint though, also you may need to re-wax the area after you remove the sticker.
     
  4. tag

    tag Senior Member

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    Any portion? I'd like to think the concern would be covering relevant portions of the plate and I don't know why the state motto would be all that relevant. Regardless, if that's the law, then it appears as if some dealers violate it with impunity and maybe citations written for such violations should be forwarded to them. :lol:
     
  5. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Our licence plates are unique from any other state, territory or province. Most others have two stickers that you stick at any combinations of the 4 indents on the corner of the plates right?

    Well, if you're familiar with BC plates, our decals (month/year) are at the bottom, centred in the plate with the actual date stuck in between the alphabets and numbers.

    Problem is, the dealer stuck the decal a bit too low and the dealer plates are partially covering the month/year. Haven't been pulled over yet. I know someone who has been pulled over but he argued that the frame was from the Toyota dealer itself (he drove a Celica Tsunami Edition). I guess he just bumped into an officer who has had a bad day as the officer also tried to write him a ticket for having an exhaust that's too big and too loud despite the fact that the exhaust is from the Toyota factory and is included in the Tsunami Edition.
     
  6. roach52osu

    roach52osu New Member

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    Same thing around here (ohio) you are not supposed to have a frame that covers up any information. Quite a few dealer plate frames covered the county, most have changed their frames so they can stil get an ad on your car without getting you in trouble. (I have never heard of anyone being cited for this though, Schmika is in Ohio also perhaps he will comment on this).
     
  7. lee

    lee New Member

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    Here's the NY state law. I've boldfaced the relevant portion:

    Number plates shall be kept clean and in a condition so as to be
    easily readable and shall not be covered by glass or any plastic
    material, and shall not be knowingly covered or coated with any
    artificial or synthetic material or substance that conceals or obscures
    such number plates or that distorts a recorded or photographic image of
    such number plates, and the view of such number plates shall not be
    obstructed by any part of the vehicle or by anything carried thereon
    ,
    except for a receiver-transmitter issued by a publicly owned tolling
    facility in connection with electronic toll collection when such
    receiver-transmitter is affixed to the exterior of a vehicle in
    accordance with mounting instructions provided by the tolling facility.

    The receiver-transmitter they are referring to is the external EZPass tag, and it doesn't block any more of the plate than a regular frame would, yet they have a special exclusion for it. Here's a picture:

    [Broken External Image]:http://www.ezpassmaineturnpike.com/images/LicensePlate.jpg
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Wow, the rules are stricter in NY. Here, I've seen people with licence plate covers - clear, smoked and blue. Also, our decals are where "vacationland" is, instead of the corners.
     
  9. GreenMachine

    GreenMachine New Member

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    III
    There are products which claim to coat or cover license plates in order to defeat radar guns. Perhaps that is the reason for some of that NY law? I doubt if they work, but here is a website which claims they do

    http://www.phantomplate.com/