License Plate warning!

ctvpa

ctvpa

Senior Member
Greetings,

I just bought another car and was looking for Year of Manufacture plates. I saw one advertised on eBay. It was quite expensive, but looked great, was a low number 3 digit plate; and he said in the posting the it cleared the RMV for ROM plates. If all else failed he offered a 14 day money back guarantee.

I got the plate and went to registry to find out the plates were no good, and had not been for years.

He refused all my emails.

I finally got eBay involved, they threatened to close his account for excessive negative feedback. But it was 2 weeks of hell waiting at the RMV for 2 hours, emails, and eBay forms.

I finally got my money back. He has now changed all his auctions to "All sales final, no returns or refunds"

Please do not buy anything from License Plate King from Castleton, Vermont.

He has had many complaints, and is noted for doing this sort of thing.

Please beware.
 
I'm curious what you mean by the plate was "no good and hadn't been for years." Does that mean that someone else had already registered that number or something else? Here in Utah I was able to go to the DMV with just a number to see if it was available without even showing the plate. That may be one way to avoid this for others - get the plate number from the seller and check with the state to see if they would let you register that number plate for the year of your car. Might work.

Oh, and here in Utah they would not let me register the one plate I had for years because I didn't have two. Had to find a matching pair.
 
Good advise to watch out especially with the three day Stowe car show and flea market coming up this next weekend. This guy may well set up a spot there.
 
I used to sell (in the dawn of the computer age) original, vintage NYS license plates. One set I sold had the same number as plates issued to a snowmobile in Utica, NY and the DMV did not allow the fellow that bought my plates to register his antique car with them. He contacted me and I offered either another set of plates or a complete refund and, of course, my apologies for any inconvenience.

Nowadays, one can easily access the NYS DMV website, enter a particular plate number and see if it's in use. With a smart phone, one can do this right at the Vendor's table at the swap meet ! I would guess most states have a website set up in a similar fashion.
 
If a seller had a lot of negative feedback why would you buy from them? You can check the feedback before you bid.
 
With the instant info that the internet provides, personal plates and especially YOM's have become somewhat difficult.. I have a couple of vehicles with YOM plates, and a couple with personal plates, or as some people call them "vanity" plates.
For YOM plates I prefer small number/letter combinations, i.e. 00A000, with just six numbers, there will usually be a space between the letter and second set of numbers.. The plate is easier to read, than if it has seven figures..
The problem with six or less figures is that the six or less figures are typical for motor cycles, etc., that require small plates..
I travel between California and Idaho on on regular basis. I own property in Idaho.. I recently thought I would get personal plates for my road outfit, I thought "IDAHO' would be neat, then when I was in Idaho most people would think my CA vehicle was from Idaho, so they would be reluctant to sic their dogs on me...
I went onto the CA DMV web site, clicked in Vanity Plates, then IDAHO.. The number/letters were available, I clicked on pay, entered my credit car number and the deal was done... I sat back very proud of myself, to await the arrival of the letter from the DMV to come pick up the plates...
In about four weeks I got a letter from the DMV that my request for IDAHO had been denied and that a credit would be issued to my card... Hmmmm? I was very surprised..
I called the DMV.. After talking to several people I finally found out that my request had been denied because of the "racial slur" attached to the wording.... Get ready for this... I-DA-HO... Of course my request did not contain any spaces between any of the letters, of course that did not stop the DMV sensors from reading something into the letters that was not there..
 
over here in the u.k it works differently ,you can transfer a number from one car to another owned by anybody to anybody,some numbers are worth a fortune ,example RR1 would be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, I saw a lovely one on a bently,it was 130 OND, squeezed together to read BOND,(should be on an aston martin) slightly illegal but great,on a bike I saw which made me laugh ...K 155 MAS,,,pushed together reading KISS.M.***, all good fun but the police don't like it ,some of the early numbers can be rude ...a well known naughty lady had F U 2 on her jag , the modern numbers are now scrutinised to make sure nothing rude or naughty can be made of them before they are allocated , cheers jim.
 
How on earth can one state make a statement that the name of another state is offensive??? Jeez.

Anyhoo.. (Again here in the UK) A fellow at the Austin factory had the plates 4 KOF on his Mini which made me chuckle.

Mart.
 
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blucar said:
With the instant info that the internet provides, personal plates and especially YOM's have become somewhat difficult.. I have a couple of vehicles with YOM plates, and a couple with personal plates, or as some people call them "vanity" plates.
For YOM plates I prefer small number/letter combinations, i.e. 00A000, with just six numbers, there will usually be a space between the letter and second set of numbers.. The plate is easier to read, than if it has seven figures..
The problem with six or less figures is that the six or less figures are typical for motor cycles, etc., that require small plates..
I travel between California and Idaho on on regular basis. I own property in Idaho.. I recently thought I would get personal plates for my road outfit, I thought "IDAHO' would be neat, then when I was in Idaho most people would think my CA vehicle was from Idaho, so they would be reluctant to sic their dogs on me...
I went onto the CA DMV web site, clicked in Vanity Plates, then IDAHO.. The number/letters were available, I clicked on pay, entered my credit car number and the deal was done... I sat back very proud of myself, to await the arrival of the letter from the DMV to come pick up the plates...
In about four weeks I got a letter from the DMV that my request for IDAHO had been denied and that a credit would be issued to my card... Hmmmm? I was very surprised..
I called the DMV.. After talking to several people I finally found out that my request had been denied because of the "racial slur" attached to the wording.... Get ready for this... I-DA-HO... Of course my request did not contain any spaces between any of the letters, of course that did not stop the DMV sensors from reading something into the letters that was not there..
Click to expand...
I guess our gov'ment better get that state to rename itself. BTW, couldn't "flathead" be some kind racial slur to a tribe of American Indians? Call your congressman now they need things to do!!
 
TJ said:
If a seller had a lot of negative feedback why would you buy from them? You can check the feedback before you bid.
Click to expand...

You are correct, but I was using my phone that does not show all the info as easy, and I had to do it while at work.
I should have waited until I got on my home computer. eBay is blocked from work. I thought if I did not buy, I would lose it.
I should have checked more, but I just bought a 36 with a V8, and when this 3 digit plate that was listed as checked and available.
Lesson learned.
But I want to warn others not to deal with him.
 
Frank Miller said:
Blu car, please tell me you are joking.
Click to expand...

I am sorry to say that what I wrote was the whole truth...
I guess the state censor committee listened to the recent country western song, "when a hoe was hoe", etc..
 
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Must be that Ebonics is a recognized language, now, at least by the DMV and the Ford Barn, as well. I first typed in "ebonics" with a lower case "e" and got a spelling error mark (red underline). When I changed it to a capital "E", the red mark went away.

Go figure..............
 
It is actually an old joke. Well I heard it about 15 years ago. Two potatoes are standing on a corner, which one is the prostitute? The one stamped I da ho.
 
I have a friend who got a California license plate for his Thunderbird...
Ford Limited Production Thunder Bird... FLPTBRD.
He had to fuss with DMV, but he kept the plates on the car
 
Not completely related, but I collect 1940 plates. Looking for Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, & Mississippi at a reasonable price. usually shop ebay & try to stay around $25-50
 
Blucar,and others....I too thought I had a good plate slogan for my car...MTNWUDY..
Same as you four weeks later ,,,got a letter back saying it was Obscene,and offensive....They said I could contest their decision.....SO.....I did what my wife called a "Mini Rant"...I wrote them a long hand letter stating I paid them way too much Tax on the car I bought and was told by my friends to tell them I paid $500.00 Bucks for it....I told them I belonged to Woodie Clubs,Go to Woodie Car Shows...I told them I have a Motorhome with MTNMOHO,,,and VW convertible with MTNVERT.......That I was 65 years old ,not a pervert,,,AND that if they have ever listened to the way young people talk these day it would be hard to offend them....This all started last September ,,and,,,I haven't seen the plate yet....they took my $$$ twice....sent back half Six Months later...The renewal notice showed up a week ago......No Plates Yet !!!!!!!! If you ran a business like that,,you'd be outa business........There I'm done.....Boy I feel better!!!! Carl
 
I have been trying to purchase a good or restored pair of 1934 plates for my car here in New Zealand but the dealers I have emailed dont reply all other US companies are great to deal with MACs Speedway Motors reds Headers H&H but the plate traders avoid me anyone got any ideas?
 
When I had a `29 Ford pickup I found a 1929 T-XXXX West Virginia truck license plate on eBay. Perfect! I took it the DMV to use on my truck and low and behold someone else had that number~on a trailer! Made a wall hanger out of it..
 
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