
California DMV Loophole Allowed Jobs to Drive Sans-Plates - davethenerd
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/california_dmv_loophole_allowed_jobs_to_drive_sans-plates/
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zach
So basically, Steve got a new Mercedes more often than I get new shoes. Now
that's what I expect out of a multibillionaire. Good to see he at least kept
himself in new-car smell on a regular basis, and certainly kept a local dealer
quite happy.

~~~
gcv
Oh, chill out. The article says the car was leased. He probably had to pay
some kind of premium to keep his leases down to six months at a time, but it's
not like he was buying a new $120k car twice a year.

~~~
zach
I'm not upset about it or concerned with the financial arrangements, I'm just
kind of amazed by the concept.

On top of the self-expression of never having license plates, he got one of
the finest cars in the world delivered to his driveway, brand new, twice a
year. I'm guessing not only did he never have car trouble, he never needed to
take it in for maintenance either.

That's hard to beat as far as perks of being a really rich guy go. Not my
personal taste, but I can't deny its appeal.

~~~
nlh
Don't overly idolize the concept. The SL55 is, relatively-speaking, a fairly
modest car (brand new, the SL55 was a bit over $100k vs. the SL65, which
looked the same but had a bigger motor and was almost _double_ the price).
Among car nerds, Jobs' choice of the 55 model showed a lot of restraint.

It's a nice car, but far from one of the finest cars in the world.

And lastly, I'd bet that he didn't actually get a brand new one every six
months -- leasing companies generally don't do that without requiring a
massive chunk of money up front (i.e. $20k each time), and given the restraint
he showed with the car selection, I doubt he'd be so, well, inefficient.

It's MUCH more likely, as another commenter suggested, that the actual
loophole they used was for him to "sell" the car back to the leasing company
and immediately re-lease it every six months.

~~~
felipemnoa
>>It's a nice car, but far from one of the finest cars in the world.

I'm not trolling and this is a sincere question. Which car would you consider
among the finest in the world?

Edit: Thanks for the replies.

~~~
blhack
There are certainly cars that go above this one, but once you cross the $100k
threshold, you're basically in the "I don't care what it costs" territory.

(Personal dream cars that cost more than this):

Ascari A10

Koenigsegg CCX

Ariel Atom V8

~~~
veyron
There's a whole class of cars in the 100-250K class (more expensive
BMW/Mercedes/Porsche) which are a notch below the 350-450K range
(Bentley/Rolls Royce)

That first range is generally for the rich professionals who do care, to some
extent, about price. I would say the "I don't care what it costs" territory
starts at around 400K

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andrewacove
I guess he'd have a good answer for the "Tell us about a time you hacked a
(non-computer) system to your advantage" question on the YC application.

~~~
icebraining
Before that, he and Woz used the Blue box[1] the latter had built to make free
calls.

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_box>

~~~
philwelch
I assure you, the telephone network back then was still a computer system.

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jellicle
Except there's no loophole. Registering the vehicle at purchase (or at
beginning of lease) is required. Cal DMV will then send you plates. At which
time your paper stickers expire.

Besides, his vehicle wasn't displaying the temporary plates either.

Look, MacObserver and all the rest of you fanboys: Steve Jobs just decided to
disobey the law. There's no loophole. There's just a guy who thought the lines
of his car were spoiled by license plates and who decided that, fuck it, he's
a billionaire and the laws didn't apply to him.

Jobs was an asshole and a scofflaw. He'll be remembered for doing great things
with Apple. Quit trying to whitewash the rest of his life. By the time you
people get done with him, his Wikipedia page will talk about how he spent four
hours every day feeding puppies and orphans. Sheesh. Knock it off already.

~~~
rtrunck
Disobeying vehicle registration laws does not equal being an asshole. I doubt
anyone actually makes it through a day without breaking at least one law. Quit
being an asshole yourself and at least provide a legitimate reason why he was
an asshole.

~~~
damncabbage
Parking in disabled spaces[1][2]. :)

    
    
      [1] http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Handicapped.txt
      [2] http://www.cultofmac.com/2613/steve-jobs-still-parking-in-handicapped-spaces-the-pictures/

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mikeryan
Can anyone explain the advantage to driving without plates? It seems that
being the Mercedes AMG would be just as easy to identify as the Mercedes with
the APPLE1 plate.

~~~
liber8er
Anonymity. Silver SL's, even AMGs, aren't exactly uncommon in the area.

Plus, you don't have to worry about red light cameras.

~~~
icebraining
Anonymity? How many plate-less Mercedes are there in CA?

~~~
hugh3
If I'd had a silver SL55 I would have de-plated it, in the hope that Steve
Jobs would have got blamed for everything I did.

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liber8er
Approaching 4 years of driving with no plates on the same car here in
California. Just leave the paper dealer plate(the one with the dealership
name/logo on it) on the car. Cops wont ever pull you over for lack of plates,
even if youre missing the front plate as well, as I am.

~~~
lanstein
You must not live in SF then. After four fix-it tickets for no front plate, I
caved.

~~~
there
in chicago the meter maids are strict about no front license plate, so when i
moved here i quickly got a ticket for it (which was $50, i think). i had gone
6 years with no front plate and didn't want to put one on.

i had a personalized license plate on the back that i no longer cared about
and i discovered that when i told the dmv that i lost the front plate (which
was true, since the car had no front plate for 6 years outside of chicago)
they gave me a temporary plate while the replacements were being made, which
cost me all of about $10.

the temporary plate expired in 6 months, so for 6 months i was able to avoid
having a front plate. if i had kept the car for longer, i would have just told
them the plates never came in the mail or something, paid the small
replacement fee again, and gotten another 6 month temporary plate.

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Eyalush
I don't really consider this a DMV loophole. It's just constantly driving a
new car. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to "uncover" this loophole, it
just takes a wealthy individual to be able to afford the the lease premium to
do this if they are motivated enough.

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mattheww
I'm told by a family friend who was Jobs' neighbor that his license plates
were stolen regularly by his fans. This was probably how he chose to solve
that problem.

~~~
avree
For what it's worth, I lived near Jobs' growing up, and not once heard of his
plates (or anyone in that neighborhood's) plates getting stolen.

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ugh
His decision to go with the lettering on the car (“SL 55 AMG”) seems much
stranger to me. At least if you buy the (much cheaper) C-Class you can
actually decide whether you want lettering or not. (I don’t have a car and
don’t want one but my dad recently asked me whether he should go with or
without the lettering. I told him to go without, that seems much classier and
better looking to me.)

~~~
nlh
That's actually not an option from Mercedes. All MBs come with the lettering
-- however the lettering is attached basically with a dab of (pretty strong)
glue, and to remove the badges requires nothing more than a concentrated heat
source, a pair of pliers, and some solvent to clean the residue.

It's more of a "mod" (albeit a simple one) than an option - and most people
actually consider _removing_ the lettering to be quite tacky. Why? Because the
people who often remove the badges are the ones with the less-expensive model
cars (i.e. the SL550 vs. the SL55) and who want others to think they have the
more expensive version :)

~~~
ugh
My parents bought the car from an official German MB dealer and it was an
option.

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sev
It states:

 _The permit the dealer provides for display on the passenger side of the
front window is valid until the plates and stickers are received by the
customer, or for six months from the sale date, whichever comes first._

Assuming he received them a month after purchase, since another clause states
that one would no more than 45 days after purchase, how is that a loophole?

~~~
X-Istence
He leased his cars ... didn't own them.

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pavel_lishin
I wonder if this also applies to used cars; if you don't mind driving a bit of
a clunker, you could do this affordably. A twenty year old car does not
depreciate in value significantly over six months.

edit: hm, looks like it only applies to cars sold by a dealer.

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jamesbkel
I'm curious to see what options he chose for the interior such as the
stitching and leather.

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gcb
that's the most moronic thing anyone can do.

pay extra to the dealer. pay registration of a new car every 6mo. hassle of
dealing with it.

i imagine how many iphone prototypes the dealer found in the glovebox of
hundreds of returned sl55 over that time.

~~~
dangrossman
4 years / 6 months = 8. 8 cars, not hundreds.

~~~
gcb
you paid the 30% 'out of dealer' devalorization, of a SL55 AMG, plus leasing
profits which shouldn't have been easy for this kind of arrangement, times 9,
to have 4 years of car without plates.

do that math for that, smart guy, and i dare you to disagree it was moronic.

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ck2
Now explain why he liked to use handicap spots and find the DMV loophole for
that.

Or how he seeded Apple by selling something that would have landed him in
federal prison today.

~~~
falling
Your first claim is false.

~~~
Natsu
[http://www.switched.com/2008/08/26/steve-jobs-is-alive-
and-p...](http://www.switched.com/2008/08/26/steve-jobs-is-alive-and-parking-
in-handicap-spots/) [2008]

Note that he might have had or qualified for a handicapped sticker, given how
sick the cancer made him, though no one appears to know for sure. And I could
_definitely_ see him not wanting to put the sticker on his car if he had one.

It appears to be the same car, though, right down to the missing license
plate.

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davethenerd
I think it's beautiful. This let him buck authority _and_ beat the system at
the same time. There was a monetary cost involved (and it could be argued that
the system beat him out of fresh registration fees every 6 months), but...
still. You gotta admire the gusto. ;)

