I have been thinking about breaking out my decal cutter lately. I’ll let you know if I do. Since I have the AWD, I may need your help in measuring out the size of the symbol on the rear gate.
You think that's gonna end bad....
Here's where I got mine in original size.
Here's a shot of my Corvette, not long after I drove it home to Texas from the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, where I took delivery, 18 years ago. The designers never gave a thought to putting a front plate on it, and neither did I. I was only stopped once for not having a front plate, driving through a small town in west Texas a few months after I bought it. The LEO was a State Trooper, who told me he really just wanted to look at the car, gave me a verbal warning, then said he didn't see a place to on that bumper for a license plate.
So yer sayin vanity is worth the risk of a financial penalty as well as the annoyance that comes with removing the vanity plate and replacing it with a real plate and taking the time to go and get the ticket signed off only to then take the time to remove it after…that’s a lot of vanity ?Here's a shot of my Corvette, not long after I drove it home to Texas from the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, where I took delivery, 18 years ago. The designers never gave a thought to putting a front plate on it, and neither did I. I was only stopped once for not having a front plate, driving through a small town in west Texas a few months after I bought it. The LEO was a State Trooper, who told me he really just wanted to look at the car, gave me a verbal warning, then said he didn't see a place to on that bumper for a license plate.
I'll take a chance running the Cybertruck with that vanity plate. Maybe the LEO will laugh and let me off with another warning.
Your comments are thought provoking but generally subjective. To respond to those type comments, I prefer to use numbers, even if I have to estimate them, to arrive at an objective analysis, as I will do below.
the fatal flaw in your calculus is the likelihood of the citation…while you may have only been pulled over for no front plate only once, that is in no way an accurate estimate of future probability…for one the LEO’s are humans and subject to differing personalities and in this day & age the country is fairly evenly split among people who like Elon’s politics and those who don’t…clearly this plate could be just the excuse those favoring the latter view could use to cite you—a seemingly Tesla loyalist.Your comments are thought provoking but generally subjective. To respond to those type comments, I prefer to use numbers, even if I have to estimate them, to arrive at an objective analysis, as I will do below.
On the other hand, if you want to avoid all the logic and math that follows, do so and skip to the last sentence of this tome for an alternative response.
Like everything in life, there is a risk/reward calculation to be made whenever you are faced with a risky financial decision.
First, both the risk and reward must be monetized, let's call them $Risk and $Reward. Then, the probability of the risk occurring during some time period (Pk) and the probability of the reward occurring during that time period (Pw) must each be estimated. Then the probable cost of the risk ($Risk * Pk) can be compared to the probable value of the reward ($Reward * Pw).
We'll start with the $Risk. The ticket cost for no front plate is about $200 here in TX. It takes a couple of hours (in my bit of experience) to mosey down to the court house, wait in line, pay up and go home. My time is pretty cheap nowadays, so, another $200. $Risk equals $400 each time it is realized (each occurrence of getting a no-plate citation)
$Reward is tricky so it is best to be conservative. My reward is getting a little chuckle every time I see that plate, so let's ask, "What is a little laugh worth?" Let's be very conservative and estimate it at a nickel. I'd happily pay $5 to see a movie that made me laugh a hundred times. $Reward equals $0.05 each time it is realized (each occurrence of seeing the plate and chuckling a bit).
Now the probabilities of those occurrences during some period of time - say, a year.
For Pk, I'll base the estimate on my real-world experience. I was stopped one time in 18 years. Probability of being stopped in a year = 1/18. I could have received a citation but didn't, but it is reasonable that the LEO could go either way - a coin flip - so let's estimate the probability of stop becoming a citation at ½. The joint probability is simply 1/18 * 1/2 or 0.028, and the Probable cost of the risk is 0.028 * $400 or $11.20.
Pw is obvious and simple. I'll 100% get a chuckle every time I see the plate and I'll see it multiple times per day, nearly every day. I'll conservatively estimate seeing the plate twice a day, 300 days per year, for 600 occurrences in a year. The Probable value of the reward is 600 * $.05 or $30.00.
The decision is easy. The probable value of the reward is about 3 times the probable cost of the risk, so I'll put that funny plate on my truck!
For those of you whose eyes glazed over at the thought of reading those 384 words above, here is an alternate five word reply: It ain't vanity, It's humor!
I like where this joke landed lol. Looking good!Made a little joke -> GetMeSomeTom made the joke real -> Installed
