DMV-DIRECT Newsletter July 2016

Scenario: Your customer is excited about the vehicle they’ve purchased/leased from your dealership — but upon delivery, they object to the license plate number. Now what? WHAT TO DO WHEN A CUSTOMER REFUSES THEIR LICENSE PLATES

This may seem an odd case to have to prepare for. But believe it or not, dealerships get in serious trouble with the DMV for mishandling such instances. A customer may refuse delivery of a vehicle because they have a particular superstition or cultural preference that makes them wary of certain numbers or letters or sequences of either. It’s a sensitive situation — the dealer wants to complete the transaction, respect their customer’s beliefs, and avoid violating any DMV rules all at once. With a little patience on both ends, these requests can be accommodated, if the dealer and customer work together. The cardinal rule (no matter what) is this: You must issue your license plates in numerical order. You cannot simply put them “back in the box” and issue the next set of plates. If you have another customer requesting new plates that are being delivered at the same time, you can offer to swap those between customers. You will still need to bill out these vehicles in the proper sequence , but at least there’s no delay in delivery to either party. If the next set of plates (or the next few sets) within the currently open box also contains an offending digit, you cannot open a new box and give the customer a plate from that batch. But here’s what you can do: • Recommend that the customer apply for customized plates. This is the cleanest solution to the dilemma, as they get to decide what numbers and letters will go on their plates. • If the customer doesn’t want to apply or pay for customized plates, ask them to accept delivery the next day; by then, you’ll have presumably issued the problematic plates to other customers. In most

cases, they will happily agree to this, particularly if it means getting a plate they can accept. • If the customer doesn’t want to wait until the next day (or if waiting won’t do any good — i.e., no number in the entire box is usable), send someone from your staff to a registration/titling service like DMV-DIRECT— or to a local DMV office — to get new plates issued, after all paperwork is signed. (Check to make sure they’re not issuing plates containing letters or numbers your customer is seeking to avoid.) Issuing license plates, in-transit permits, etc. in an order other than the sequence in which they were sent to you by the DMV is a serious violation of DMV rules. It can result in major fines and expulsion from the Plate Issuance program, therefore causing business interruption. More questions? Call DMV-DIRECT at 718.747.0400.