These are what the new California temporary license plates look like.
Since the New Year rolled around, all new cars rolling off dealership lots in California need temporary license plates provided by the dealership. But, what do these new plates look like? Can someone just copy something online and place it on their car and they’re good? And how long will police wait till they start ticketing anyone WITH regular dealer plates from yester-year? Thankfully, I’ve wrangled up a couple of examples of what they look like below and will answer those last two questions as well.
Check out a couple of examples of what these new plates look like below.
Seen three of these today. As of January 1, California FINALLY has temporary license plates. pic.twitter.com/8pphHvMBYn
— Doug DeMuro (@DougDeMuro) January 5, 2019
@adamcarolla new temporary plates from the DMV may prevent you from driving indefinitely with dealer plates pic.twitter.com/WLxYYzx5vw
— Maria Montessori (@MariaMontessori) January 11, 2019
Saw my first new CA temporary license plate today! Note the QR code half-obscured by the dealer frame. pic.twitter.com/UKvhT8Muul
— Jef Poskanzer (@jef_poskanzer) January 9, 2019
As you can see in the plates above, while all of them don’t look exactly alike, they pretty much include all the information set out by this new temporary license plate law.
According to the DMV each temporary license plate will have the following information,
TLP number
ROS number (report of sale)
Vehicle identification number (VIN)
Vehicle make
Vehicle year model
Expiration date of 90 days from the date of sale
Quick response (QR) code embedded with specified validation information
And if you think you’re going to be sly enough and print up yourself a temporary plate to fool police into thinking you have the real deal and change up the numbers a bit, according to WKLaw.com and the state of California’s vehicle code, that fine will be more than you might want to risk. How does up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine sound to you? And if you’re convicted of a felon while you have these forged plates on, three years in jail and a $10,000 fine is well within the law.
Since the law went into effect, from personal experience, I’ve seen several people rolling around my city with dealer plates still on. Presumably, there’s a grace period in effect that police have at their discretion but the law is enforceable and it’s a $25 fine with proof of correction otherwise it’s a $200 fine.
If you know you’re rocking dealer plates, skirting the law, either go back to the dealership to sort things out, contact the DMV if you didn’t already register your car or just throw on the plates you’ve hidden in your trunk.
Source: DMV
