I went into our local DMV last October to transfer title on my Fiero. I ordered and paid up the wazoo for personalized plates but had to take some temporary ones at the time because the previous owner had his own personalized plates and I needed to send them back. Now...almost 5 months later the plates still aren't here. I kept thinking... well you know how slow the DMV is. I decided to call yesterday and apparently my request was "lost." They have record of my purchasing the plates just not request to have them done. So now I'm peeved.... the waiting begins all over again
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02:48 PM
PFF
System Bot
Synthesis Member
Posts: 12207 From: Jordan, MN Registered: Feb 2002
I ordered my vanity plates for my Fiero from WI the other day.... Was told it could be up to 6 months. In the meantime, I have to run their 90 day temp tags.
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02:53 PM
madcurl Member
Posts: 21401 From: In a Van down by the Kern River Registered: Jul 2003
We can buy plates online, and usually have them in 3 business days. Even "special interest" plates. Vanity plates may take longer. I don't use them, so I don't know.
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04:09 PM
$Rich$ Member
Posts: 14575 From: Sioux Falls SD Registered: Dec 2002
last time i ordered some it took under a week, but i did receive the wrong ones, i ordered Fyrhzrd and received Fryslan (whatever that is) i am sure MR and MRS Fryslan were wondering WTF Fyrhzrd was.. when i contacted the DMV, they demanded i return them (ship them) i told them i would be glad to when i received a UPS call tag, or payment ahead of time for paid shipping.
well aren't your license plates made with that 3m technology that screen-prints the characters onto the plate? you'd think it would be very easy to make specialty plates... just enter them into the computer and press print. then again, this is the government we're talking about...
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09:52 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
well aren't your license plates made with that 3m technology that screen-prints the characters onto the plate? you'd think it would be very easy to make specialty plates... just enter them into the computer and press print. then again, this is the government we're talking about...
Maybe, but you seem to be forgetting that the plate itself is stamped, to raise the letters / numbers. That has to match the printing.
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08:20 AM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
We can buy plates online, and usually have them in 3 business days. Even "special interest" plates. Vanity plates may take longer. I don't use them, so I don't know.
Same here. I ordered my super bees personalized tags on a Thursday and got them on Monday.
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08:36 AM
PFF
System Bot
dutch Member
Posts: 64 From: kansas city, mo. usa Registered: Feb 2011
i've had many problems with the Missouri DMV. lost title somewhere in the system, mis-spelled my name on one (wasn't even close), but probably the worst was when i got a title back once and just put it with my others. a couple months later, i got a letter from the DMV saying they had crossed VIN numbers with another vehicle title and that i needed to send mine back in so they could clear up the matter. i opened the title from the envelope and sure enough, numbers were not to my car. at least they caught the mistake before i did anything with the car. my neice now works for the DMV, so she can do a few favors for me.....like let me go to the front of the line!! generally takes me about 2-3 months to get vanity plates and in Missouri they are not embossed, just a flat piece of metal stamped with the Missouri logo and whatever message you ask for. Dutch
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08:36 AM
Doug85GT Member
Posts: 9474 From: Sacramento CA USA Registered: May 2003
I have had trouble with the DMV as well. Two years ago I received my driver's license renewal notice that said I had to go into DMV to renew since I needed a new photo. I did so. They had me fill out the application all over and I took a new vision test, paid the fee and waited for them to mail me my new license.
A month goes by and I don't have my new license yet and my license is going to expire in three days. I call up the DMV and after 15 minutes of being on hold I get someone. I ask about my license and I was told that my license was not renewed because the box for the vision test was not checked. Everything else was done. I asked if they could just ask the DMV worker who filled out the paperwork to check the box. They said no because it was a month ago. So I had to go back to the DMV, wait in line for another hour to take the stupid vision test again so they could check the @#$*&) box.
Minnesota plates, as of about mid-'08, are no longer stamped. Like those here at home in DE, they're all flat. You'd think this would make it easier to make vanities, because all one has to do is enter a vanity combination into a computer and push the 'PRINT' button and, voilĂ , there's your set of vanity plates.
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02:16 PM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
Flat plates are nice unless your gascap is behind it I had to make a steel plate to go behind the one on my Monte because the aluminum ones bend to easy when u pull on the corner
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06:30 PM
dutch Member
Posts: 64 From: kansas city, mo. usa Registered: Feb 2011
"Minnesota plates, as of about mid-'08, are no longer stamped. Like those here at home in DE, they're all flat. You'd think this would make it easier to make vanities, because all one has to do is enter a vanity combination into a computer and push the 'PRINT' button and, voilĂ , there's your set of vanity plates."
Missouri plates are also flat, but they do have a lot of sercurity devices in the print process so they're not reproduced in somebodies garage.. maybe that's why it takes longer to make. also, i've heard that the flat Missouri vanity plate is more expensive because orders are sent to Idaho or someplace out west to actually be made there and then shipped back to Missouri. seems the state government sould do all it can to keep jobs in Missouri instead of outsourcing. guess they're taking doing the same as the federal government though. Dutch
[This message has been edited by dutch (edited 03-21-2011).]
They went to flat plates here a year or so ago. Like them much better and its a lot cheaper for the state to make.
I've found a few articles online that say that producing flat plates is more expensive per plate than to simply emboss them.
http://findarticles.com/p/a...060305/ai_n16146578/ Colorado: "Standard embossed plates -- raised green-and-white letters and numbers against a mountain backdrop - cost $1.63 to make. Digitally printed plates cost $2.54."
http://www.leewardpro.com/a...-fonts-nam-flat.html "A 2004 analysis by the Florida legislature (PDF, 104K) for its specialty plates program noted that some states have experienced increased costs after moving to digital plates, and cited as an example Indiana, whose costs increased by 46% after they switched to digital plates."
I personally can't say I like them very much, simply because they're hard to read. Compare these two South Dakota plates and tell me which is more legible... http://www.15q.net/us5/sd00a.jpg http://www.15q.net/us5/sd04.jpg Not to mention the font they use is rather ugly. There are some good fonts (http://www.15q.net/us5/sd05a.jpg), but most states use the same ugly, hard-to-read font. It's absolutely abysmal for legibility. North Carolina recently switched back to all-embossed plates for that exact reason.
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08:01 PM
cliffw Member
Posts: 35951 From: Bandera, Texas, USA Registered: Jun 2003
Originally posted by nellieship: I ordered and paid up the wazoo for personalized plates but had to take some temporary ones at the time because the previous owner had his own personalized plates and I needed to send them back. Now...almost 5 months later the plates still aren't here.
Interesting question. Do they expire in seven months ?