And of course the CA Governor recently crashed his Harley while driving without the proper license? No fines were levied. In MA you have to be a pro athlete or a Kennedy to get away with stuff like that. Oh yeah, he's married to a Kennedy.

Haha, no i'm not going anywhere, like I said, just let me lick my wounds in peace and I'll be okay. :) I was whining definitely, but sometimes you gotta let it out.

People on here don't know anything about me so I can't expect you guys to give me an exception I guess. Those that know me and my relationship with police and road safety would've probably been more receptive to the whining. :)

So thanks to everyone for the input and support.

I just got back from driving through the OC for work. I can honestly say, because of this specific post, I was more cautious than I usually am. Though, I still was above the posted speed limit. At one point I set the cruise to 65mph (the legal limit) and was all but run over, kind of scary.

As far as cops and dicks... errr, bad way too phrase that... Some cops are dicks, some cops are cool as s**t. Just like every other job. Eslai, I think sometimes the things people type are taken out of context, I'd imagine most people understand that you're just venting the same frustration most of us have had, so don't get too butt hurt.

Ummm... Any time I ever registered a car in California, it kept the same plates. The only time a car got new plates was if it was brand new or if it had never been registered in California. That's why my '74 911 still has the blue plates with gold letters... The '65 car I had was registered as non-operational... still got plates. When it was registered for operation, they just gave a new sticker. Did something change since I left CA five years ago?

I've never purchased a used car in California, but I know when you buy new or used from a dealer it comes plateless, thus people normally drive around with those dealer placards. However, a good number of people just go naked till their plates arrive, as those dealer placards have no legal significance.

Private transactions may differ, but they are far outnumbered by dealer transactions. Hence, my original point about their being a buttload of cars running around Cali with no plates.

So far (knock wood) the only time I've been pulled in the Pooch was when I didn't do anything wrong. (That, in and of itself is unusual ;) ).

I was cruising down this back road, doing about 5 over the limit on a Thursday night, when a car approached me from behind at a high rate of speed. As he came up, I lifted and backed down to the limit...50 on this particular road. He proceeded to sit about 30 feet off my back bumper. I proceeded to drive SEVEN miles dead on the speed limit, during which I passed several parks, stopped at a 4-way stop intersection, and passed through a "speed trap" speed limit change, where the speed drops to 25 mph with no notice. The car behind me nearly rear-ended me when I abruptly slowed to 25 mph. I'm like, WTF is your problem? I suspected it was a cop, but wasn't 100% positive. So, I cross the train tracks, put on my signal to make a left onto the highway....and I get lit up. I immediately put on my right turn signal and pull into the post office.

I'm surrounded by deputies, who are looking the car over with their flash lights, asking to see DL and reg, etc. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why did you guys pull me over?"
"You ran a stop sign."
"What stop sign? Where?"
"Oh, about 7 miles back. It's race night at Sumerduck. Everybody runs that stop sign on the way home from the drag strip. We sit there and wait for them."
"I did not run any stop sign."
"Yes you did."
"NO, I DIDN'T! And why did you wait 7 miles to pull me over?"
"There was no place safe to pull over sooner."
"You mean those 4 parking lots we passed for the WMA weren't good enough?"
I think he got the idea that I was pissed and wouldn't back down, and wasn't falling for his bull**************** either.
"I'll be right back, ma'am." and he takes my license and runs it.

Meanwhile his partner comes up and asks me what the top end is on my car.
"I wouldn't know (lie :D) , but it has a 150 mph speedometer."
"Hmmm. The blue one that outran me last night was doing every bit of that."
"Oh, reeeeeeeaaaalllly?"

*DING* Now, I know why I got pulled, and why they were trying to goad me into driving recklessly by tailgating me, etc. They wanted to see if I'd run on them, like the blue box did the night before. And I'll bet money they had units waiting for me over the hill on the highway if I did.

Cop #1 comes back and hands me my license. "We'll let you off with a warning this time."
"I didn't run that stop sign. And oh, by the way, there aren't any races at the track tonight (Thursday). They race on FRIDAYS until 11 pm. It's only 10:30 and today is Thursday." (What are they going to do, arrest me for pointing out they don't know what day it is? I'd like to see the judge's face when they explain THAT one.)

And no, I didn't get a ticket. They clearly didn't want to push it, especially after I busted them about "race night" being the next night.

Sorry boys, nice try.

I have bought used cars in CA... in fact, the '74 911 I was speaking of was bought from a dealer in 2003. In CA, unlikea lot of other states, plates stay with the car when ownership changes hands.

This is NOT accurate for used vehicles. If a used car has been registered in CA previously, it NORMALLY will come with the original plates.

Some used cars are from out state, some have lost plates, and some have had the personalized plates go with the original owners. However, the majority of used cars from dealers have plates with them at the time of resale.

In theory, a dealer is SUPPOSED to affix TWO plates to any used car that he has them for. Some dealers may leave the front plate off on a car such as a Porsche and simply give them the plate to affix or no depending.

I put both plates on and tell the buyer what the law is. The rest is up to them.

On new cars, the plates come a bit later from the DMV via the dealer.

Good stuff.