Looks like my license plate has arrived at DMV. I am supposed to assign it to a car in 30 days or notify the office if there is going to be a 'reasonable' delay. I will wait until the event Tuesday and see what they tell us before giving the DMV my estimate of when the car may be registered. Since my current insurance expires May 31st it would be nice to have everything wrapped up by then but I'll just have to see how things play out.

 

Yeah, mine came in too. But since it doesn't look like I'm getting the car, I'm now out $40.

 

I just ordered this personal license from the CA DMV



and also plan on attending event in LA May 5th

 

Did your notification from the DMV come by mail? Just curious - I haven't heard anything yet.

Do we apply online for HOV stickers? Do we need the VIN to do that? I could go online and check. Just being lazy.

Lots of questions for the meeting tomorrow night.

 

Not sure about HOV stickers, but DMV allows online registration of a personal car license with instant approval. Sent in my contract to CFCI last week and have not heard back about an e box installation date.

 

Yes I got a postcard informing me that the plates had arrived at my local office.

I guess I'm reading between the lines of the last newsletter- it sounds like Mini is working with the DMV to ensure that the Mini E ends up on their list of approved models for the HOV stickers. That way when the cars are delivered the forms can be submitted.

 

KNOW GAS

 

Greetings from Sunny Carlsbad Ca,

Cheers
Peder
http://electricmini.blogspot.com/

 

Well yesterday I got my generic plates in the mail, so today I was able to pick up my personalized plates at DMV and put them on the car- very nice! At the same time I tried to submit the HOV sticker request but was told that it had to be mailed in so I sent that off. Has anyone else done this yet? Any idea how long it takes? I commute on surface streets so it's hardly urgent- I just want my stickers

Thanks! - Scott

 

Ok I couldn't resist posting the photo, hope this works:

 

Very nice Scott! I'm not as clever and couldn't think of anything good, so I've ordered a custom license frame instead. I'll post a pic once it is on the car.

 

Here's our new plate for MINI E #003

 

I applied for my clean air vehicle sticker on June 12th when I picked up #224 and received the stickers in the mail today. The bad news is that two of the locations that you are required to place the stickers on the vehicle do not exist on a MINI i.e behind the rear wheels. Improv anyone?

 

Questions have arose about where to apply the stickers....I put one of the large ones on the rear bumper, passenger side....slightly bending around the bend. I put the smaller one in the rear window, passenger side, bottom corner and put the other large sticker in my file. Today on my first drive in the carpool lane the CHP shot up behind me on a motorcycle....he came out of stopped traffic dropped behind me for a minute, then pulled beside me and then zipped off. If my sticker placement was good enough for him, than hopefully I'm a-okay.

 

Peder #183

Got my Clean Air HOV Stickers on August 1st as well.

Looks like the DMV is starting to figure it out.

Peder

 

The DMV is hit or miss on the hov stickers. I had to go to San Clemente DMV for verification on Friday. Inspector was very nice and had heard about the MINI E. He signed me off with only a cursory inspection.

Greg
#124

 

The effiencies of the California state government.

Hit or Miss sums it up well!

Cheers
peder

 

Mini E-Roy's blog had a tip as to why the inspection might be required by California. If you car was properly registered by the dealer you should see an 'E' in the field on your registration card marked 'MP' (stands for motive power.) If there is something else there, the DMV might want to inspect your car to verify that it is indeed powered by electricity.

Since I only sent my application a couple of weeks ago it sounds like I still have several weeks of waiting for my stickers. Those with stickers, I'd be curious to see pictures of where you placed them!

 

Here is where I placed the HOV's on #183.

Cheers
Peder

 

What are those stickers for?

 

They allow you to drive in the car pool lane even with only person in the car. It is a big advantage when freeway commuting here in S. California! I'm still waiting for mine.

 

Oh that's pretty cool. We don't have carpool lanes in Kansas City...

 

Well, to be honest we don't have them where I live either. I'm getting them mainly for the few times I have to go to the dealer as the last 30 miles or so of freeway has carpool lanes. Every time I've gone the traffic has been horrible! I would have saved a lot of time if I could have used the HOV lanes.

 

I'm looking forward to getting mine here in Orange County, as I have a carpool lane available to me for about 80% of my commute, and I often look jealously over as I'm sitting in the regular traffic.

Of course, the average speed of the carpool lane is about 80 mph, so there will go my range!

 

I've had carpool lane stickers on one car or another since 2000 (see my sig below) and I have to say I'm a bit addicted to them. It was tough at first to go without them, but the pleasure of zipping around in the E has easily made up for the loss of convenience

But boy can those stickers be a life saver.

One of the issues in recent years has been that the DMV office up in Sacramento would get confused with applications and think people were applying for stickers for their hybrid Prius or Civic -- that program of course ran out of stickers a couple years ago now. So people with legitimate alternative-fuel vehicles were being rejected by the office despite actually having a vehicle that qualified. Glad to see that's been cleared up now and they're sending out the stickers for the MiniE. Finally got my plates few days ago and promptly sent my application and $8 out. Hope they process it quickly!

By the way, the "E" in the "MP" field is also important for another reason. If one actually had to renew registration in a couple years for some wonderful reason (boy wouldn't that be nice?), if it has something else other than "E" you would have to get a smog check! Of course, that's ridiculous and the DMV would usually fix the mixed up entry in that field.