California DMV Loophole Allowed Jobs to Drive Sans-Plates
macobserver.com
macobserver.com
I suppose it makes up for him not living in a gated fortress.
Cars are a very particular expression of that. So Larry Ellison has a custom all-aluminum roadster, Steve had his German sedans, and ESRI's Jack Dangermond is noted for driving a Taurus wagon.
But just having a Mercedes AMG isn't the same as leasing a new one every six months. But as has mentioned, he may have simply leased the same vehicle on successive six-month terms. That's a very good point and I'd suspect that was in fact the case. It's an even cleverer maneuver and simply sounds more like what Steve would do.
It's not what I'd do, but hey, I'm not (yet) rich enough to be eccentric.
On top of the self-expression of never having license plates, he got one of the finest cars in the world delivered to his driveway, brand new, twice a year. I'm guessing not only did he never have car trouble, he never needed to take it in for maintenance either.
That's hard to beat as far as perks of being a really rich guy go. Not my personal taste, but I can't deny its appeal.
It's a nice car, but far from one of the finest cars in the world.
And lastly, I'd bet that he didn't actually get a brand new one every six months -- leasing companies generally don't do that without requiring a massive chunk of money up front (i.e. $20k each time), and given the restraint he showed with the car selection, I doubt he'd be so, well, inefficient.
It's MUCH more likely, as another commenter suggested, that the actual loophole they used was for him to "sell" the car back to the leasing company and immediately re-lease it every six months.
I'm not trolling and this is a sincere question. Which car would you consider among the finest in the world?
Edit: Thanks for the replies.
(Personal dream cars that cost more than this):
Ascari A10
Koenigsegg CCX
Ariel Atom V8
That first range is generally for the rich professionals who do care, to some extent, about price. I would say the "I don't care what it costs" territory starts at around 400K
For example, I think that the bugatti veyron is one of the finest cars in the world.
As for price, the hermes-modified veyron is about 10 times more expensive than the SL65.
Are you out of your fucking mind? $100,000 is a fairly modest car? That's as much as a lot of us make in two years.
> That's as much as a lot of us make in two years.
It should be inspiration to hustle, if anything. I hustled for many years, and I was able to buy my first Mercedes last year.
Boy oh boy!
Maybe if I work my little fingers hard enough, someday I can be on that level!
/sorry for the snark, maybe it's the weather, or maybe it's the condescending tone of your post -- I sincerely hope that I never look at hacking as a form of "hustling"
Most of my hustle has been in the form of serious hacking/side projects.
My version of affluence is being in the top 1% that the 99% hates. I'm not quite there yet. :)
The "maybe you should learn to hustle and someday you can be like me!" thing comes from lack of self-confidence; the term for this has historically been "nouveau riche".
I've linked this many times, but read it: http://lesswrong.com/lw/154/why_real_men_wear_pink/
If you're talking about automobiles as a social signaling mechanism, "real men drive Audis."
Not to be an outright prick here, but "learn to hustle like me, [plebian]" definitely doesn't come across as affluent.
And if we're talking about automobiles, the two wealthiest people I know drive cars that cost them less than $20,000. One is a founder of a company that you use every day but might not have heard of, the other is the CEO of a company you definitely use every day, and have definitely heard of.
My suggestion was that outrage is not the correct response to affluence; admiration is. Driving a $100,000 car is not unreasonable.
I don't lack self confidence, I simply like to encourage people to hustle. I do this with my friends and family constantly. I'm not rich, but I will be some day because I have the attitude and the hustle.
Sorry for the misunderstanding. If I wanted to be condescending initially, I would have replied with a more 4chan-esque "cry more, poorfag" or something along those lines.
Have you ever asked them if they think this comes across as condescending of you?
As far as you lacking self confidence. Maybe not, but to "affluent" people, that's how it looks.
You don't have to apologize, you didn't hurt my feelings or anything, I'm just pointing this out to you so that I can help you work past it. Keep at it, and eventually you'll get the self-confidence you need to not make stupid remarks about cars.
(See how that sounds? Condescending, eh?)
> I'm just pointing this out to you so that I can help you work past it
This implies inferiority or defectiveness and could be considered condescending.
>This implies inferiority or defectiveness and could be considered condescending.
That's the point.
For all we know though there's some loophole that lets the dealer resell the exact same car to Jobs every 6 months which somehow keeps it under the no-plate period.
Dealers will certainly (try to) use that fact in their marketing, but the cars are such commodities anyway (particularly the SL55, of which there are TONS out there) that nobody, in the end, really cares who owned the car as long as it looks and runs like it's supposed to.
Exactly. The way the law was written, the exact wording, it would never be expected that someone would not want to do something like put on a license plate and go to the added expense that Jobs did.
The law probably reads "x" time period from the date of title.
Even if that time period was only 30 days there is nothing to prevent someone from selling the car to their wife, buying it back, and re-titling. And a transfer to a family member in many states including California is exempt from sales/use tax:
It doesn't look all that different to a $45,000 SLK, though, which makes it the insanely fast borderline-supercar of choice for the billionaire who wants to remain relatively inconspicuous.
I don't know if one needs an AMG for that, but I can't quite picture Steve Jobs in a Miata.
tl;dr: you're a douche; your internet access should probably be revoked
There's unlikely to be any ozone left after 12 hours anyway, but cars aren't air tight so volatile or not within the weeks it takes to get to you the level should be down to zero.
In other words, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6cxNR9ML8k.
Besides, his vehicle wasn't displaying the temporary plates either.
Look, MacObserver and all the rest of you fanboys: Steve Jobs just decided to disobey the law. There's no loophole. There's just a guy who thought the lines of his car were spoiled by license plates and who decided that, fuck it, he's a billionaire and the laws didn't apply to him.
Jobs was an asshole and a scofflaw. He'll be remembered for doing great things with Apple. Quit trying to whitewash the rest of his life. By the time you people get done with him, his Wikipedia page will talk about how he spent four hours every day feeding puppies and orphans. Sheesh. Knock it off already.
I read the article thinking it was ridiculous. Adam Carolla, who has a podcast I listen to regularly, complains all the time about the 'chicken s' tickets he gets for not having a plate on the front of some of his sports cars. I can't imagine the tickets you would get for not having a rear plate. Every time a cop looked in your direction you'd get pulled over. Seems like more hassle than it's worth.
Jobs should've just gotten the California legislature to issue an iPlate - something designed by Jobs/Apple that looked good and the proceeds went to something worthwhile, like an Apple-approved charity.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-01-11/news/17823924_1_mph-li...
Not if you've properly backdated your stock options.
It is more likely the other way around. People who see that kind of major success are people who refuse to listen to others. Not obeying the law of displaying a license plate is just an extension of the demeanour that allowed him to become a billionaire in the first place.
Sneaking Woz in after hours at Atari is another famous example of rule that he broke. We know it was in his nature. Breaking rules isn't necessarily going to make you rich, but not breaking rules definitely isn't going to make you rich.
[1] http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Handicapped.txt
[2] http://www.cultofmac.com/2613/steve-jobs-still-parking-in-handicapped-spaces-the-pictures/Well, since you're asking ... I admire Steve Jobs the entrepreneur, but Steve Jobs the dad qualified as one [1]:
"Jobs's first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, was born in 1978, the daughter of his longtime relationship with Chris Ann Brennan, a Bay Area painter. For two years, she raised their daughter on welfare while Jobs denied paternity by claiming he was sterile"
provide a legitimate reason why he was an asshole.
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Plus, you don't have to worry about red light cameras.
Perhaps it's not that he got a new car every six months because he really disliked plates. Perhaps he just got a new car every six months because he really liked having a brand new car.
Heck, I would. I wouldn't always get the same car, like Steve Jobs, but then again I wouldn't always wear the same clothes either.
I've been putting off going to the DMV for nearly a year now. My licence is very, very expired. If I can join AAA to avoid this, I definitely will.
I used to complain about the RTA (the NSW equivalent) in Sydney. But I have to admit that last time I showed up to get my New South Wales licence renewed, I was in and out with a licence in my hand (printed on the spot) in about fifteen minutes.
New cars are so common in CA that if the car is a late model and looks reasonably good, you'll never have a problem. Parked on the street, they can't see the dates on the registration that's stuck to the windshield. Just make sure your registration is paid and your insurance is up to date.
i had a personalized license plate on the back that i no longer cared about and i discovered that when i told the dmv that i lost the front plate (which was true, since the car had no front plate for 6 years outside of chicago) they gave me a temporary plate while the replacements were being made, which cost me all of about $10.
the temporary plate expired in 6 months, so for 6 months i was able to avoid having a front plate. if i had kept the car for longer, i would have just told them the plates never came in the mail or something, paid the small replacement fee again, and gotten another 6 month temporary plate.
otoh, a friend got a ticket for missing front plates.
If you get stopped for something else, you'll get ticketed. It's a fix-it ticket though and costs around $25 and two minutes to get signed off.
It's more of a "mod" (albeit a simple one) than an option - and most people actually consider _removing_ the lettering to be quite tacky. Why? Because the people who often remove the badges are the ones with the less-expensive model cars (i.e. the SL550 vs. the SL55) and who want others to think they have the more expensive version :)
The permit the dealer provides for display on the passenger side of the front window is valid until the plates and stickers are received by the customer, or for six months from the sale date, whichever comes first.
Assuming he received them a month after purchase, since another clause states that one would no more than 45 days after purchase, how is that a loophole?
edit: hm, looks like it only applies to cars sold by a dealer.
pay extra to the dealer. pay registration of a new car every 6mo. hassle of dealing with it.
i imagine how many iphone prototypes the dealer found in the glovebox of hundreds of returned sl55 over that time.
do that math for that, smart guy, and i dare you to disagree it was moronic.
Or how he seeded Apple by selling something that would have landed him in federal prison today.
Cancer could qualify him for that, maybe?
(cf. Curb Your Enthusiasm)
He's rich enough to pay the fine once in a while when it happened if it was outside of apple too.
Note that he might have had or qualified for a handicapped sticker, given how sick the cancer made him, though no one appears to know for sure. And I could definitely see him not wanting to put the sticker on his car if he had one.
It appears to be the same car, though, right down to the missing license plate.