How long did it take to get your CAV stickers in California?

[mikeandrie]

First, that's John's choice. Financially, 2 people can make 2 very different decisions in life. That's not the burden of society, that's the burden placed on the person who decided to make those decisions. Both are afforded the same opportunity and the same income, so therefore it is apples to apples. Would it have been better if I said that John has a gambling addiction and squanders all of his money? Or how about if John and Rodrigo have the same exact situation but John purchased a home 2x the value of Rodrigo and can barely make ends meat after his mortgage?

But I can just as easily insert all kinds of irrelevant factors to make the comparison biased in favor of Rodrigo. Maybe he has a special needs kid he has to take to the learning center 50 miles away every day. Not good enough? OK, he has FIVE special needs kids, and he has to drive them all to different places hundreds of miles apart every day. Not only that, but he adopted all five special needs kids from an orphanage, thereby saving society from spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funding for the children.

Look, I'm being flippant, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but it seems to me if you have to bias the comparison to make one person sound more sympathetic, you're not really addressing the main point of the debate.

I will readily concede, however, that CAV stickers do not solve the problem of burdens imposed by elderly parents.

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[DevSecOps]

I understand your larger point, but would just quibble about this phrasing. I didn't wake up this morning feeling entitled to an HOV sticker anymore than I felt entitled to the $7,500 tax credit or the home owner's deduction. But, since it's there, I'll take advantage of it.

I'd be surprised if the HOV stickers are renewed, tbh. I think it has outlasted its usefulness as a means to grease the wheel of EV adoption.

Not everyone is the same. But there's plenty of threads on this forum and other EV forums where people flip a lid over the tax reduction, get extremely political and threaten to buy other cars.

I also see this sense of entitlement in EV parking spots and charging etiquette. Again, there are a lot of people who don't do this.

Personally, I'm on my 3rd EV and haven't qualified for the rebates and never elected to get an HOV sticker. I purchased an EV because I love that I can "refuel" at home, I love the instant torque and the fun factor with the cars.

 

[devmach-e]

I agree. I drive over 30k a year in my EV. I DO NOT pay my fair share on the roads.

At least the state is starting to charge people now. Progress.

There are some EV owners out there that were very upset when the white sticker program expired. They thought they continued to deserve to get special treatment because 10 years prior they jumped on the clean air vehicle bandwagon.

When the white sticker program ended, and then the new rotating color program started, there was an exception for CAV owners who bought in 2017 and 2018 to get a new sticker that extended their access for a few years. I had a 2017 Bolt that had the white sticker. But I ran into a quirk of the law. Even though the car was bought and registered in 2017, my sticker was actually issued in 2016. The dealer had applied for it on my behalf once a VIN had been issued and the car was on the way to the dealership. Date of the issuance of the sticker? December 16th, 2016. I called up the DMV and they told me there was nothing they could do. Did I whine and wail about how unfair the DMV was being? Did I demand that my dealer compensate me? The dealer had no idea that a year later the law would change and I would become an edge case. I accepted my fate and dealt with it.

 

[Rory]

Another way to look at this is that the people with more disposable income are funding the development of EVs for the rest of the population. There’s a big initial risk and cost to starting up a new energy source for transportation: including fueling infrastructure, large capital costs for new manufacturing capabilities, and power train optimization. It’s hard to get companies to take the financial risk without 1) helping to guarantee a market (e.g., rebates and other incentives) and 2) helping build out the infrastructure (e.g., funding charging stations). The goal is to make evs practical for everyone, and it does appear that we’re on the verge of that happening. You are also seeing means-testing and upper price limits being added to the incentives (e.g., California has an upper income limit after which you are no longer eligible).

So we go through phases of adoption, and I see the income inequality that initially exists as a feature, not a bug. Those with more income can more easily share in the risk.

Critical to this all is the long-term goal of removing the income inequality. And it looks like we’re taking those steps. The Federal inflation reduction act includes a lot of this plan.

 

[Bhwzz]

As in the title -- if you recently (say in the last year) ordered the CAV/HOV stickers from California DMV, how long did it take you to get them?

About 3-4 weeks. Ordered April and got it pretty quick. Ugly green stickers received.

 

[mikeandrie]

About 3-4 weeks. Ordered April and got it pretty quick. Ugly green stickers received.

Lucky! It's been 6 weeks since I mailed off the form and I still haven't received mine. The $22 check cleared a few days ago, so hopefully they're on the way soon.

 

[mikeandrie]

Just to update: I mailed off the form on April 19, as soon as I got the permanent plates. The $22 check cleared my bank on May 30, but still no decals.

I called DMV twice, and they said the decals were "issued" on May 20, but I can't get a straight story on when (or even whether) they were actually mailed. I talked to the "special unit" in charge of processing applications both times. One time the person implied they were mailed already and suggested I resubmit the application. Another person basically said they don't know whether the decals were mailed because "it's a big building."

Super frustrating. Any advice? I did resubmit the form to request replacements, marking the decals as "Not received".

 

[leehinde]

Another person basically said they don't know whether the decals were mailed because "it's a big building."

They're not wrong.

I did a chat on the DMV website to check on my status (check hadn't cleared at that point.) They said they couldn't find any sign of my application and suggested I reapply. Which i did. The original application stickers showed up a week later. A week after that my second application was returned as 'already fulfilled."

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