Mailing applications in is generally the easiest. If you need them faster then visit one of the two offices with clean air decals. Going to any other offices will likely be SLOWER than Mailing to the Special Processsing Unit since the non-decal offices just send it to Sacramento anyway and often make mistakes that cost time. If you have registration issues that need to be fixed first, visiting another office might be worthwhile. Get your registration fixed, and then MAIL in your application to the Special Processsing Unit. The San Jose and Los Angeles DMV field offices have the decals on site. This is confirmed by contacts in the Sacramento DMV. Since I got mine from San Jose, I can personally confirm that San Jose has them. (They also have low serial numbers. Mine was in the 800's. By mail I think the serial numbers are 3000+) San Jose 111 W. Alma Ave., 95110 Los Angeles 3615 S. Hope St., 90007 General Information (800) 777-0133The best thing is to go to the DMV website and look up the office yourself since you'll find hours, maps, holidays, etc. there.
Click DMV Locations & Hours For online appointments, click Online Services The offices with DMVQ are most convenient since you take a number don't have to stand in the same line for 2 hours. Use the online appointment system if you can. It will save you an hour or more of waiting, though the earliest appointment is often a week away. I went in yesterday (Wednseday, December 11th, 2002) to the San Jose DMV office. Got my Clean Air Decals in under 2 hours, without an appointment. I went in at a less busy time, 2:50pm. With an appointment, especially in the early morning would likely be even faster. I waited and hour and half to get to the desk and the processing took less than 10 minutes. They knew what they were doing it. Still poured over the procedures book. But I didn't have to correct them or explain what an Electric Vehicle is. I was warned by the supervisor to put the decals on the vehicle according to the directions that come with decal. She said that putting the decals in the wrong place WILL get you a ticket from the CHP. You do not need plates. I wrote "dealer" in the plates location of the form. Your vehicle registration (VIN #) HAS to be in the DMV database before they can process the application. It HAS to say E (I.e. Electric) for MP (Motive Power) in the registration. If it doesn't, you'll have a hassle. You'll need to get your dealer to straighten it out. You might be able to get a vehicle inspection and some special process from the DMV office supervisor but I wouldn't count it. Get the registration corrected! It needs to be done anyway (Smog, fees, etc..) and is a process they understand better. Much less hassle in the long run. Your dealer can help you with the registration. They can get a printout of your registration using their special dealer system us lowly citizens and vehicle owners don't have access to. Dealers can esily verify if you registration is in the DMV system yet. If in doubt, get your dealer to check your registration to make sure it's cleared and that the VIN #, make, Motive Power - Electric, Owner name, etc. are all in the DMV system and accurate. Use form REG 1000 . You can fill out the pdf version from the dmv website and type in all the information using Acrobat reader. Then print the nicely typed form. Then you're all ready for the DMV clerk to zip your application through.REG 1000 info
REG 156 IS OBSOLETE! Unfortunately, not all the DMV offices know that yet (Particularly, Santa Teresa). So as a backup for bureacratic archaelogy, You might fill out a form REG 156 and take with you also, in case they insist, even after you politely inform them that it is obsolete and they should use the REG 1000 you already handed them instead. :-;Obsolete!! REG156
Mailing your application in directly to the special processing unit is the easiest way but will take around 2 weeks, maybe more. Up to 4 weeks?DMV California Clean Air Vehicle Decal info page
Here's the address that I have for mailing requests to the DMV: New address: Special Processing Unit Mail station D238 Department of Motor Vehicles P.O. Box 932345 Sacramento, CA 94232-3450 Obsolete Address?: Note only difference is mail station D238 vs. A238 is this real or a typo? Special Processing Unit mail station A238 Department of Motor Vehicles P.O. box 932345 Sacramento, CA 94232-3450 The CHP / DMV are interested in "mis-applied" Clean Air Decals, I.e. decals applied to ineligible vehicles. The license plate is probably enough to report a mis-application. If you can get the Make, Model of the car and the location where it was sighted, that would help. If it's parked, read the serial number of the Clean Air Decal and include that in your report. I guess the CHP is the place to report. There are contacts in the DMV but they don't enforce and it's probably better if we save their time for other issues. The DMV (Kathy, etc.) contacts are known to a number of Electric Vehicle drivers. I'm not repeating them here since I believe it's best to contact them only when we have issues that only they can help us with. This is a tiny bit of their responsibilities, so it's best to use them wisely. This email has some of the best information that we've recieved from them. Thanks to the many others Tom Dowling, Will Beckett, Jeff Church, The Kirsch Foundation, etc. who have researched this issue and published their information saving us all significant time and hassle. The information in this email is largely a collection of their efforts with my recent experience added.