We have to display plates on both the front and rear here in Illinois. I use a frame from my son's college in front but have kept the dealer frame on in the back. When purchasing the car I requested that a decal not be affixed to the rear and the dealer said they don't do that because so many customers don't like them.
I'm considering just a neutral frame for the trunk but the dealer's frame doesn't really bother me.

When I ordered my car I put it writing that I would not have to accept the car if there were any stickers/ads on it.

Sure enough, when I came to pick it up the prep guys put the sticker on- and I refused to accept the car. The salesman had to stand out in the snowy weather with a hair dryer at 7pm in the dark and pick it off. I'm sure that he had a nice few words with the prep people.

Former 1998 Camry LE owner, Current 2007 Camry Hybrid Owner

I've kept my dealer plate covers on, but I get free washes and oil changes for life, so I'm getting something for it.

Hmm... Not only did I leave the plateholder and ad on both ends of the car till I finally got my vanity plates almost five months later, but I carry business cards from the AUTO Broker that I got me the car. My DH and I were so pleased with Mike that we used him a few months later to get my DH's Prius and a good friend of ours has used him too.

Oh... the best part of all was that while our friend and I were car hunting for her car, we stopped in at one of the Toyota dealers that had tried to sell me every TCH but the one that I repeatedly stated that I wanted. We parked my TCH with the Autobroker ads on their lot for about an hour. Several sales people asked me if I would be moving my car soon. I replied when we are done looking for cars for my friend. They were happy to see us go!


Karen

I took the plate off but left the sticker on. I have the Blue Ribbon TCH and the sticker is black. It's hardly noticeable unless you are standing next to the car...

License plate frame ONLY. The dealer sticker was a deal breaker (the sales guy said that they are the first thing that goes on when the car comes off the truck -- and if they have to swap a car with another dealer it's sort of a 'game' to see if the sticker is removable from the other dealer)...

...so I put the fear of god into the sales guy... when I picked up the car he said that he "stood out in the street and watched them unload it and followed it through the prep-process to make sure it wasn't put on"... now, he wasn't the brightest sales guy on the lot -- but there is NO STICKER, so he must have done something right.

Haha...nice.

What purpose does this serve?

Never having lived in a state where this is required, it strikes me as kind of quaint -- why stop at two (2)? Imagine if they were required on the sides as well - ha!

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Back on topic, I skinned most of the rear decal off, leaving the "YO" just for fun...

New York is the same. I wish they would no longer require the front one -- it's ugly.

Minnesota also requires front and back. I agree that a plate on the front detracts from the looks of the TCH.