My first Lexus ever was a 2000 Lexus RX300. Bought brand new in 2000, it was the MOST basic RX you can find out there! It had no CD player, no sunroof, and it had CLOTH seats. It may have seemed like an overpriced Toyota because it lacked in luxury amenities but it was truly a wonderful car! It was amazing to drive this beauty because it was really smooth yet feels big at the same time. Come to think of it, it was the 1st SUV we ever bought in our lives! This car means a lot to me.

In 2002 my mom got into a minor rear end accident. An old lady rear-ended her, and sandwiched my RX300 into a Ford Windstar van. The damage cost for the RX was only about $4000 but the damage to the Nissan Altima that hit my RX probably was a lot worse. The Altima had to be towed while we still drove our RX300 around town with damaged front and rear bumpers, and also a rattling exhaust pipe because the pipe got bent back and it was now hitting an axle or something down there.

After it was immaculately fixed by a body shop, we decided that we had to get rid of this vehicle because it reminded my mom of the accident she encountered, everytime she saw the RX300. So in Jan 2003 that's when the GX470 came into play and I had to finally say "Good-bye" to my RX300. It was a sad evening to see it parked in one dark lonely spot at the dealer when it was formerly pampered inside my garage..

A few years have passed and I've seen it being driven around town a few times. The last time I ever saw it was in 2006. Today, June 19, 2009 I saw my baby RX again. This time it's different. For the last few times I've seen it around town, looking at just the front without the license plates, there's still that "feeling" or "bond" inside of me that tells me that the oncoming RX300 is MINE. Hence, everytime I say that I have always been correct because I look back and read the license plate in the back of the car. Today it was different..

I saw it parked outside a liquor store. Owner was probably in the tanning salon next door. I parked next to it, and before I walked to the back of it (it was parked in reverse), I was observing the front bumper, the mismatched bald tires, scratched up rims, big dent on rear door with a lot of scratches on the body. As I slowly approached the rear of the car, I was scared to see the license plate. I know there was some "feeling" that was coming to me, but the condition of the car was killing that inner feeling in it because I know it was not this bad when I let go of her. When I finally saw the license plate, I was SHOCKED. It was the same license plate that I used and has never been changed! I tried going into the salon and the liquor store asking if anyone owned that car, no luck. I'm just curious as to how many miles my baby has been abused for but I guess I will never (or not yet) know.


Everyone here knows how well I keep cars clean, too clean that they could sometimes pass to be brand new if you slap the window sticker back onto the window and park it next to the new cars on the dealer lot. My RX300 is far off from the love and care I've put into it.


Ok enough blabbing, here are the very few pictures I took of her

I'm somewhat confused about the liscense plate thing. How can they have the same plate on the car?

When the front was wrecked He probably took the front plate off. kept it and than found the car with the duplicate plate. Lots of folks take their plates off the front (for camera intersections etc) However it is illegal in CA.

Ya after the accident I didn't get a new set of plates. I kept the old wrecked plate and left the rear plate on, even after we traded it in and apparently until this day, whoever owns the car NEVER changed the original rear plates! lol. I put the "APR" sticker on that rear plate. So that's what really shocked me to find this car and tell me that it was mine considering the really horrible condition it's in. At first I didn't want to believe it was mine considering it had 100000000 scratches and dents, so the plate was the only "bookmark" for me haha

Too bad I don't think I had a digital camera back then when we had the RX300 because I'm really craving to post pictures of the RX when it was in 1000x better condition

I could just see you scolding this person in the parking lot in front of some store. LOL!! "How could you let this happen? What's wrong with you?!" LMAO!!

So, let me get this straight, (I'm still hung up on the plate thing.) In CA the plate stays with the car? So when you sell it, the next person registers the car and the plate to them?, or what this person was doing is illegal, and they were driving it on illegally placed, out of date false plates?

Yes in ca the plate stays with the car unless you have a personalized plate and want to transfer it. They of course charge you to do that. And yes it is illegal to only have one plate, but they do it all the time...My son uses that as a reason to stop gang bangers (Stockton PD)

OOOooHHhhhh!! Ok, I get it now. Thanks.

Also here's another thing. In CA, our scrambled plates have a sequence which after living here for so many years, I've learned how to spot a new or used car. Now when a car hits the dealership, they say that they keep the old plates if the registration still has at least 3 months left. If the registration is about due, or is within 2 months of registration, then they throw the old plates away and wait for the new customer to buy it, then they register it with DMV and then DMV will send the new owner a new set of tags (hence the sequence will be "new" so thats when I notice that the car was bought used).

Technically the 2nd or 3rd owner of my RX is driving illegally becuz he/she does not have a front plate. It's no big deal at least in my area of CA. I'm surprised that the Lexus dealership let my RX slide and keep the old plate even though they never received my front plate (because I kept it as a memoir and it's bent from the accident) which will make the new owner susceptible of getting pulled over for not having a front plate.


Haha. I wish I could scold the new owner and tell him/her how much TLC I put into that car. Literally when I was watching my car in that parking lot, I didn't hesitate to touch the dents and scratches on it. I wish the owner, where ever they were at, was watching me inspect the car.

Thats always a weird feeling I bet. I've never encountered any of our old cars...at least I don't think I have...

It is a weird feeling! To think, I didn't see the plate when I saw the front of the RX at first... I had to park in the parking lot, and walk behind it to double check if my inner feeling was correct. The sad part was, as I was inspecting the car that inner feeling was being "diluted" because of the horrible condition it was in. Still shocked me and made all the hair on my body stick straight up when I recognized my license plates

My first car (03 Rx300) is still at the dealer we traded it into, for sale. If the dealer wasn't over an hour away, i'd go by and look at her

I wish there was a way i could track it when it finally does get sold. We had lojack on the car, i wonder if it can be tracked via lojack? lol.

It is also illegal not to have a front plate here in Texas. But I refused to let the dealer drill holes in the front of my 09 IS350 with only 22 miles on the odometer. It was a big hassel with the salesman. He wanted to give me a speech about how it's "the law" and "you will get a ticket" But he finally just said. "ok, we won't put the front bracket on." But he still didn't like it!! But if I ever get stopped I will just play stupid and say "the dealership did not put a bracket on the front so I didn't think I had to place a plate there." See how far it gets me!!! Then I could be ghetto-fabulous and place the plate on the dashboard faceing outward. I know you guys have seen what I am talking about!!

It is illegal in CA to not have a front plate but depending on what area of CA you live in, as long as you behave and stay within speed limits, law enforcement usually do not pull you over if your only violation is no front plate. All my cars have no front plate, and two of my cars have illegal front tint as no front tint is allowed at all in CA.

Learn to let go of the vehicle. This is why I prefer trading or selling my vehicle out of town so that the chances of me seeing it around town will be less especially when you know you have taken good care of it. People treat a used car as, a used car. That is what happened to my old RX300 and I'm pretty sure they appreciated how IMMACULATE it looked when they first got it but they figured since the car is 9 years old, why even care for it anymore?

this is from my past, My dad had a 1966 Corvette Stingray. Offered to sell it to me (1980) and i didnt go for it. The Car was immaculate. anyway He sold it and one week later the Highway Patrol called him and asked where he wanted his car towed to. It had been in a major accident and was totaled. What sickening news after having babied it for all those years. The girl that got it was drunk and with a boy friend and they hit two telephone poles. They both survived but the body and frame where destroyed. Turns out it was her third wipeout of cars her daddy had bought her..... The reason they called my dad was the registration slip was still in the glove box and hadnt been transfered yet....

Oh man! That's even worse! Actually my dad experienced the same thing with his first new car. He had his first new car in 1976 and in 2004 we saw his exact same car, with the same plates, in the Philippines (not in the US, this was when he was still in the Philippines).. and boy even though they abused the car, the country is known for rusting thru cars easily but his old car was rust free because he had many many layers of rust-proofing on it! lol... So even tho most of the cosmetics were all damaged, the undercarriage was still rust free..

That's why I hope when we get rid of the old Honda, and return the 4Runner, I wish to never see them again hehe