There has been some confusion about when the California yellow HOV decals will expire.    Here’s the latest information…

In late 2006, CA law extended the special decal program to January, 2011.   But the CA law allowing the incentives for hybrids was made possible by a Federal law, and that law was set to expire at the end of September.    So it looked possible that the decals could become invalid as soon as this month.

But that’s not likely to happen.   Reportedly, the Federal law is on track to be renewed, leaving the original CA end date of January, 2011 in place.

At the other end of possibilities, the CA legislature is currently considering extending the HOV decal program to 2015.   But the bill, as currently written, would apply only to the white decals that are given out to zero emission vehicles such as electric and CNG (natural gas) powered cars.   The yellow decals issued to hybrids would still expire in January, 2011.

Bottom line, if you own or are considering purchasing a carpool hybrid, the most likely scenario remains that the stickers will expire  on 1/1/11.   But the good news is that there will likely be exciting new options in hybrids and electric vehicles by then.  Meanwhile, you can save a lot of time commuting between now and then.

I often get calls from people looking for a Prius with carpool stickers, low miles, excellent condition and loaded with all the premium options. I tell them to pick any 2 or 3 of those criteria, because the odds of finding them all in the same car are very small. For one thing, less than 10% of the Prius sold in 2006 were the loaded package #8. And then when you consider that the people who buy a Prius and put a carpool sticker on it are usually going to be driving it a lot, you’ll understand why it isn’t common to find one of these cars with low miles.

But every once in awhile, we do see one. And yesterday, we took in a really nice one! It’s a 2006 Prius with package #8, meaning it has all the premium options, a full set of CA HOV decals, and only 33,450 miles. It’s practically in showroom condition. You’d be hard pressed to find a ding or a scratch on it. And this one comes with prepaid maintenance and Toyota’s 6 year/100K mile extended warranty. For full details and photos check it out here:

For Sale: 2006 Toyota Prius