Dealership ads on cars

[fan-of-fans]

I remember when dealerships used to put an advertising plate on the front bumpers of cars they sell. Sometimes they even did this if you brought a car not bought from them for service. I haven't noticed this practice lately, maybe due to a lot of cars not having a front plate mount. (Front plates aren't required in my state).

But car dealers these days typically put their vinyl advertisement sticker on the back of the car and their license plate frame.

One thing I've seen some dealerships doing which to me looks silly, is adding huge white letters with their website address across the top of the back window, which stands out against the black tinted area at the top. I think this looks really gaudy and tacky and surprised they do it. Apparently the lettering must be difficult to remove.

I don't mind the license plate frames or little sticker on the trunk lid, but those big letters are just too much.

Remember when dealers used real metal emblems on car trunks, or stamped their name in the metal bumpers? I still see cars with those from time to time, getting rare to see now though.

 

[yogitunes]

if a dealer isn't offering a price drop for the advertising...at least 500.00 TO 1000.00...

MAKE THEM TAKE IT ALL OFF!

a few times, I took to discount, and then removed the stickers myself...

either way, you wont find a dealer emblem on any vehicle I own....

 

[abcomatic]

I am with you Marting, Here either, no advertising on my car at all.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

It’s sometimes hard to tell if that’s the dealership’s name or the model or even make of the car...

I like the city & sometimes state to be listed, as for out-of-towners, or more-over if the car is unfamiliar territory, then it’s hard for onlookers to know where such-and-such roads/streets are...

(But my new car, from the dealership named by the named from the city it’s in, (a local status symbol) is guilty of that, too!)

Otherwise in our 20-+-year internet-age, every dealership ends it’s trade-name w/ Dot-com...

—Dave

 

[justjunque]

I don't know if they're still doing it, but there's a dealership around here that put their name in huge letters across the top of the windshield; like a sun strip.
I was told they had a deal where they would replace tires free, for as long as you owned the vehicle, as long as you kept their name on there.
Maybe that's a good deal, but I thought it looked terrible.

Barry

 

[vacerator]

Yes, they still do it, and

a metal frame around your plate protects it from being bent up or stolen as easily.
No one is forced to advertise for a dealer for free. Many use vanity plate frames.

 

[philcobendixduo]

Most Dealers in California....

.....still provide front and rear license frames with the dealer name which I always remove when I get my plates. I am not advertising ANYTHING without compensation!
I remember when we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, my Dad bought my Mom a new Ford Falcon Futura Sports Coupe at Bob Carter Ford. That dealership stuck a metallic sticker on the rear of the car which my Dad promptly removed when we got the car home.
The only cars I've seen in California with big letters on the rear window advertising a car dealership are dealer service loaner cars.

 

[ea56]

Thats right Bill, and in California its still the law that you MUST have a front license plate affixed to your car, and can be cited for not having one, although I see lots of cars without them. These scaflaws take them off so they can avoid paying tolls on bridges that use Fast Track and scan the front license plate to bill the driver of a car without a Fast Track transponder.

I don’t necessarily object to the dealers license plate frame, provided that they haven’t pissed me off. But if the relationship with the dealership gets bad, off goes that license plate frame.

If they were to afix a metal plate or anything else to my car without my permission, hell hath no fury! I would immediately contact the owner of the dealership and demand that THEY remove them and repair any damage that resulted from the unauthorized application of this advertisement.

Eddie[this post was last edited: 11/5/2018-11:59]

 

[philcobendixduo]

One of my "pet peeves"....

.....is the fact that SO many cars and trucks in California display NO front plates.
Dealers and manufacturers don't even install brackets or provide holes to mount plates on the front bumpers for cars sold in California.
WHY?!? If front plates are REQUIRED by code, then ALL cars sold in the state of California should be REQUIRED to have mounting facilities on the front bumper when sold.
If the police and highway patrol issued $100 "fix-it" tickets for missing front plates, California would be ROLLING in money!
I have heard all the excuses, too - "I don't want to ruin the look of my car", it destroys the aerodynamics", "the DMV only issued me one plate", etc.
Then, there ARE those trying to evade tolls, etc......

[this post was last edited: 11/5/2018-12:40]

 

[firedome]

dealer name plates

of the old pot-metal chromed type are considered a nice accessory asset on vintage cars, 1970s and back, and I've always left them on older cars, but not on anything being driven nowadays!

 

[ea56]

One of the other things that really peeves me is the large number of vehicles in California that belong to permanent residents of Calif., who came here from another state, and they still have their prior state of residence plates on their cars. This is because auto registration is more expensive in Calif. than most other states. But they use the roads, and all the rest of us honest vehicle owners are paying their way.

I’m always tempted to report these people, but I just can’t bring myself to do this to a neighbor. I only hope that they will eventually get caught up with. Right now, for most of the past year my next door neighbors girlfriends car has been parked in front of our house with Missouri plates, and I guarantee you, that car will never see Missouri again. As Belle Watley said in GWTW, “It just ain’t fitin”.

Eddie

 

[firedome]

to elaborate a bit on the last post...

such a dealer name plate is considered part of the car's original provenance, if you will, and being that many dealers are now long gone, it's preserving a bit of automotive history unique to that particular car and to the one-time existence of a dealer for that marque.

 

[xraytech]

in Pittsburgh I haven’t seen a recent dealer advertising plate in a long time.
However there are still some older cars with plates from now-defunct dealers such as William Kelley Olds-Cadillac, Suburban Buick, West-Pointe Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth, Jeep, and Eagle, John Naretto Buick, Staffolino Chevy, and P&G Chevy-Olds, tonsme a few.

Most places use a small decal on rear bumper or rear license plate frame.
I try to only buy at places that don’t use decals, last one I had a decal from wax now defunct Matway In Brownsville.

My Park Avenue has nothing from dealer on it, as I wasn’t very happy with them.
However, my Enclave still wears its license plate frame from Rohrich Cadillac, as I’m very happy with their service, and they are the most premiere Cadillac dealer in the region.

 

[countryguy]

Dealers here used to always put their sticker on the lid of the trunk or tailgate. I haven't seen that done in years. Sometimes the rear license plate will have a frame with the dealer's name and phone number. Front & rear license plates are mandatory here in Ontario.

Gary

 

[wayupnorth]

Its not just ads on cars, my propane company tried to charge me a tank rental fee and I immediately charged them with an advertising fee for their well labeled tanks on MY property. I do have a small sticker for the dealership on my truck but they are great to deal with so I'll advertise a little for someone that works with me, not a company like my propane one that are jerks to deal with. They own the tank and they can only put gas in it. But I dont pay a rental fee, just an excessive amount per delivery. You do have to have a licence plate on front and back in this state

 

[askolover]

I don't have dealership stickers on our cars either.  The rear tag frame that had a dealership name on it was promptly removed and replaced with a stainless one that says "Lincoln" on it.  I've never looked at a car on the road, saw the sticker on the back and said to myself, "Hmmm, I like that VW that was bought at Hallmark Volkswagen.  I think I'll go there and buy one myself." 

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

"Cole" SL AWD (Get it?!)

Saw an SUV w/ the model being an SL with AWD (designated as All Wheel Drive) next to it...

 

All that needed was "a" dealer's name, "Cole" over it, next to it, or by it...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[fan-of-fans]

Hehe.

With my previous car, the dealer put their plastic frame on the license plate and a rubber raised letter sticker on the trunk lid. I never bothered to remove either, not really sure why not.

The car I got in December came from a dealer with locations in other cities. The car I bought came from a different lot. The dealer uses the same license plate frame for all the locations, but apparently the sticker that goes on the trunk is different for each lot as it has the city name. When they brought the car here for me to test drive, I noticed it had the dealer sticker for the city it came from. But when I bought the car and took delivery, the sticker had been removed, and not replaced with the local one. Thought that was a little odd. They did leave the license plate frame, which I haven't removed yet.

Planning to possibly replace that with a sports frame, but not sure if the ones that cover the "Sunshine State" or "county name" or "In God We Trust" (depending on which of those 3 choices you specify for your license plate here) are technically legal or not. Because most of them for some reason, do obscure that bottom line.