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Steve Jobs' Lack of License Plate Explained
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I'd get over it if this wasn't news. This shouldn't be news.
The article itself says "SL 55" which hasn't been around for years.
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You wouldn't get pulled over than anyone else with a new car. While I am suspicious of the story, how often do we get pulled over when we have a car without plates for a month? I never have been? When you say a 150k car that is shiny, you're going to think it's pretty new!
I thought I was a total freak about my car and it's esthetics.
But I have to admit, some of you folks make me feel like an uncaring slob because I really don't think a license plate destroys the beauty of the car.
I would disagree with that position - but it is all a matter of taste, isn't it, not really open to disputation.
But I have to admit, some of you folks make me feel like an uncaring slob because I really don't think a license plate destroys the beauty of the car.
I would disagree with that position - but it is all a matter of taste, isn't it, not really open to disputation.
Fair enough, and not to be sidetracked too much from the subject at hand, but Jobs has stated on many occasions that he was not a materialist.
“I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn’t that important because I never did it for the money.”
Can you tell the dealer name from the frame?
I'd love to go there and buy an AMG previously owned by Steve!!!
I'd love to go there and buy an AMG previously owned by Steve!!!
Up in til recently, if he had lived in Arizona it would have taken up to a year just to receive the plate. It was very common for lots of cars to go around without plates after the paper temporary had turned to dust in the sun. Sure it was "probable cause" for a stop but there were so many that it hardly ever happened. Taking advantage of loopholes and state sloppiness is just smart and a way to stick it to the man a bit.
I'll bet the law gets changed before long now that attention has been brought to it. If everyone who bought a new car waited six months to get plates, isn't that a potentially a lot of cars that couldn't be identified in the case of an accident? I could see a much shorter window, or a long window like that with temporary paper tags, but six months with nothing just seems weird.
Calm down people!
Steve didn't use any loopholes or special privileges.
He simply didn't give a **** about the law. That's just the way he was.
And I'm sure it's not rigorously enforced, so there's nothing stoping you from doing the same thing.
He's not abusing his top 1% privileges. He just doesn't care.
Steve didn't use any loopholes or special privileges.
He simply didn't give a **** about the law. That's just the way he was.
And I'm sure it's not rigorously enforced, so there's nothing stoping you from doing the same thing.
He's not abusing his top 1% privileges. He just doesn't care.
you wood know it was him because he wood be the only car on the road with out a license plate
I know other people who don't put California plates on their new car until next years model comes out. They just leave the temporary sticker under the windshield and keep the car clean so it looks like they just purchased it.
In California the dealer puts a piece of paper documenting the sale in the lower right side of the windshield. It is folded up, showing a number, not your future license plate, but traceable by law enforcement types. It is supposed to remain until they send you the plates. For us average people, that is.
Edible Apple says he also had a penchant for parking in handicap spaces:
http://www.edibleapple.com/2011/10/...-mercedez-benz-and-its-missing-license-plate/
http://www.edibleapple.com/2011/10/...-mercedez-benz-and-its-missing-license-plate/
Everyone who thinks he was cheating the state by not having to pay license plate fees obviously doesn't understand the massive amount of sales tax he paid for that privilege. Also there is nothing wrong with a 6 month lease, it would just be very expensive because of the depreciation that comes with driving that car off the lot. I would guess for a ~$150,000 car he probably paid in the neighborhood of $8,000-10,000 per month for 6 month leases.
He could have just bought a brand new one every 6 months and driven it into the bay when he was done with it if he wanted to.
He could have just bought a brand new one every 6 months and driven it into the bay when he was done with it if he wanted to.
no plates... i'm positive it was a paparazzi issue. while im not certain the extent to which the paparazzi pursued steve, the paparazzi around west los angeles (and probably los gatos/silicon valley too) do know the license plate number of cars that celebrities drive. i see them regularly checking cars in the parking lots of restaurants and nightclubs hoping to find one that belongs to a celebrity so they can swoop down when they come out. almost any evening at the ivy you can spot them specifically checking license plates. for a while paris hilton was driving the same car as me (f430, no plates either) and as a result i regularly got swamped by (severely disappointed) paparazzi as i got out of the car. having no plates does throw off the paparazzi, especially if your car is not particularly unique, ie sl-whatever amg mercedes, which are a nickel a dozen in any affluent area. around here the paper-plate mercedes seem to outnumber the state-issued-plate mercedes.
oh, and about avoiding taxes and registration fees..? no, you still pay your fees and such every year, you just don't fix the plates to the car. yes, you do just keep them in the trunk.
steve wasn't being a scofflaw, he was just well-informed. (and yes i did have to edit that to be 'past-tense') bottom line, california law says you have 6 months to mount the plates. swapping out cars every 6 months... i'd say he's earned it.
oh, and about avoiding taxes and registration fees..? no, you still pay your fees and such every year, you just don't fix the plates to the car. yes, you do just keep them in the trunk.
steve wasn't being a scofflaw, he was just well-informed. (and yes i did have to edit that to be 'past-tense') bottom line, california law says you have 6 months to mount the plates. swapping out cars every 6 months... i'd say he's earned it.
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Wish I could do that
If I were a brilliant and slightly eccentric billionaire, that's what I would do.
I haven't ever had a front license plate on any of my cars, and likely never will.
It would be great, for the sake of symmetry, to get rid of the rear one too.
If I were a brilliant and slightly eccentric billionaire, that's what I would do.
I haven't ever had a front license plate on any of my cars, and likely never will.
It would be great, for the sake of symmetry, to get rid of the rear one too.
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Steve made abut 50,000 times more money than most people near where he lived. This means for every dollar the average guy earned Steve made enough to buy a new luxury car. Put another way Steve thought about the price of a new car like you or I think about a $1 item.
Notice that he did not even bother to go car shopping, he just left a standing order with some one to deliver something new twice a year.
Notice that he did not even bother to go car shopping, he just left a standing order with some one to deliver something new twice a year.
Think Different.
"There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"...
Thankfully there's those that don't give a crap about falling into line like sheep.
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You mean like apple users? because Steve did a damn good job of selling conformity to his customers.
Which, if you read his biography, reinforces the idea that Steve saw himself as special and above the rules. In this case he found a loophole rather than just breaking the rules, I still see it as completely pointless. Its one of those "because I can" things that people do.
So because you can't afford it, no one should be allowed to by any of these cars?
This is not about him being "entitled". Last I checked he had something to do with the fact that he was rich, if you want to see an example of an entitlement and what the entitlement mentality looks like Id be glad to show you.