I just spoke with the California DMV, Hermansylvester is 100% correct. The sticker goes with the VIN #, not the person. The DMV will only replace the sticker where the car was damaged and requires it's replacement, but it needs to have the same VIN# the sticker was first assigned to.

And before you ask, the sticker maximum has been reached. No more will be issued on newly purchased vehicles.

Yep. That's my understanding.

The rumor also is that having the HOV sticker is worth about 4,000.00 on the resale of the car.

It just might be. It all depends on the buyers motivation.

One after thought, what if you total your car and your insurance company has to pay out on it? Will they compensate you for loss of that sticker? If so, what is the value of your time by not being able to use the HOV lane? This should be a fun dilema!

Not for the insurance co.

In actuallity, it is going to be a challange for them.

It is an arbitrary figure. Buy that I mean, a car is worth what it is worth to most individuals. But the HOV sticker may be much more valuable to one person as to another. It is not a constant variable to consider.

I've never been in the position of having to total a car, but my guess is that it's going to be irrelevant because the insurance co is going to make its decision. My guess is that it will take little note of value (if any) of the car pool sticker.

Remember, I said it was a rumor. Now how would one value that sticker?

And in that question lies the dilema I speak of.

There is an argument that the sticker adds value due to it's rights of usage. But what if you bought the car for it's minimal carbon footprint and could care less about lane usage? I can just see the writing on the wall....

We're talking a used car here. But, I bought my Prius in Feb '06 (and got the sticker) because of its purported gas mileage. To me it seemed a no-brainer to stay out of the the car pool lane and crawl along sucking up those miles on battery.

But, came a morning on the new 22, also known as the Garden Grove fwy when I was running late for a bike ride in Orange. Well, I jumped into that CP lane. Since then, that's what I've been doing because the 22 always jams up. So, the 22 jams up and I head into the CP lane.

So, what happens on resale. Do I say like, 20,000.00 and by the way another 6 grand for the CP sticker?

When researching to buy my car, i noticed that the HCHIIs w/ the sticker were about 1.5-2K more than those w/o. Centrider: If you are placing an ad, mentioning that you have the HOV stickers will encourage people to pay more.

Right. If I were selling, I would mention that fact.

Remember, I cited a rumor. But like anything, its value is determined by whatever a buyer will pay.

And by the way, that was the HCHIIs, not the Prius.

Thanks