3 ms·

>I suppose you could just go without plates like Steve Jobs did and pay the fix-it tickets you end up getting. A minor note, but he never paid any fix-it ticke

>I suppose you could just go without plates like Steve Jobs did and pay the fix-it tickets you end up getting. A minor note, but he never paid any fix-it tickets. IIRC, there's a clause in California's vehicle laws that gives you up to 6 months from the date of purchase to affix plates to a vehicle (although it must still be registered). Jobs just traded in his MB S500 every 6 months for a new one to avoid ever having to put plates on. It's not exactly feasible for the non-billionaires among us.

codezero 13y ago
Ah yeah, I think you are correct, very clever. I still think that going with the fix-it ticket route would be feasible for the normal folks. Though I am not sure if they end up raising the price if you repeatedly get the same fix-it ticket, that might be a problem.
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  "Strategies" that involve throwing around lots of money, like buying a new car every 6 months, never seem that clever to me.
  - codezero 13y ago
    It depends on what you are optimizing for. In his case, I presume it was privacy.
chaz 13y ago
I keep hearing this near-urban legend about him trading cars in frequently (even citing a former Apple security guy), but I'm pretty sure it's not true. You're correct about the plates, but it's 90 days. However, in the Bay Area, there are so many new vehicles that there's no reason to think that a reasonably shiny late-model car isn't within that 90 day period. I drove my new car up and down CA-101 for almost a year without bothering to put them on. You can press your luck for as long as you'd like. The fix-it ticket is a bit of a hassle since you need to find a cop to sign you off. Or you can just pay the significantly higher fine (several hundred I think). Also, for a man who parked in any open handicapped space in the parking lot whenever he wanted, I'm pretty sure he didn't care much about staying strictly within the law. One additional point worth noting that the MB SL55 he drove was last produced in 2006. Yet, here's a photo of his car in 2010 -- an SL55: http://gizmodo.com/5503004/steve-jobs-and-eric-schmidt-spotted-together-again-photos http://gizmodo.com/5503004/steve-jobs-and-eric-schmidt-spott.... Surely he would have traded up to an SL65 if he bought a car from 2006 onward?
- redthrowaway 13y ago
  You may very well be right. The story certainly has the air of one of the fetishistic tales told about him following his death.
  - daniel-cussen 13y ago
    Not just following his death...before it too.
- jcrites 13y ago
  The mainstream news reported on this: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-car-apple-ceo-license-plates/story?id=14834608 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-car-apple-ceo-li...
  - dubyah 13y ago
    While it is claimed that he rotated similar leased vehicles, if we were to look up the VIN (WDBSK72F67F124082), we would find that it was registered as a personal vehicle with only one owner for a number of years. http://blog.peschfamily.com/2011/08/steve-jobs.html http://blog.peschfamily.com/2011/08/steve-jobs.html

codezero 13y ago

Ah yeah, I think you are correct, very clever. I still think that going with the fix-it ticket route would be feasible for the normal folks. Though I am not sure if they end up raising the price if you repeatedly get the same fix-it ticket, that might be a problem.

sliverstorm 13y ago
"Strategies" that involve throwing around lots of money, like buying a new car every 6 months, never seem that clever to me.
- codezero 13y ago
  It depends on what you are optimizing for. In his case, I presume it was privacy.

chaz 13y ago

I keep hearing this near-urban legend about him trading cars in frequently (even citing a former Apple security guy), but I'm pretty sure it's not true. You're correct about the plates, but it's 90 days. However, in the Bay Area, there are so many new vehicles that there's no reason to think that a reasonably shiny late-model car isn't within that 90 day period. I drove my new car up and down CA-101 for almost a year without bothering to put them on. You can press your luck for as long as you'd like. The fix-it ticket is a bit of a hassle since you need to find a cop to sign you off. Or you can just pay the significantly higher fine (several hundred I think). Also, for a man who parked in any open handicapped space in the parking lot whenever he wanted, I'm pretty sure he didn't care much about staying strictly within the law. One additional point worth noting that the MB SL55 he drove was last produced in 2006. Yet, here's a photo of his car in 2010 -- an SL55: http://gizmodo.com/5503004/steve-jobs-and-eric-schmidt-spotted-together-again-photos http://gizmodo.com/5503004/steve-jobs-and-eric-schmidt-spott.... Surely he would have traded up to an SL65 if he bought a car from 2006 onward?

redthrowaway 13y ago
You may very well be right. The story certainly has the air of one of the fetishistic tales told about him following his death.
- daniel-cussen 13y ago
  Not just following his death...before it too.
jcrites 13y ago
The mainstream news reported on this: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-car-apple-ceo-license-plates/story?id=14834608 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/steve-jobs-car-apple-ceo-li...
- dubyah 13y ago
  While it is claimed that he rotated similar leased vehicles, if we were to look up the VIN (WDBSK72F67F124082), we would find that it was registered as a personal vehicle with only one owner for a number of years. http://blog.peschfamily.com/2011/08/steve-jobs.html http://blog.peschfamily.com/2011/08/steve-jobs.html