Shift Magazine - September 2021 - 22

ON DISPLAY
F
or many car owners, renewing
their registration is one of the
more annoying (and easily forgotten)
tasks on their car to-do lists.
ReviverMX, of Sacramento, Calif., aims to
change that with digital license plates, and
it's using growing relationships with dealers
to do so.
Reviver's digital license plates, known
as Rplates, function via a cloud-based platform
that connects vehicle owners with
their cars and with state motor vehicle
administrations over a wireless network.
" The most significant advantage to
owning an Rplate is the ability to renew
vehicle
registration
digitally, "
Reviver
founder Neville Boston told Shift in an
email conversation. " Registration renewal
takes place through a highly intuitive
smartphone app. The entire transaction
is completed in two quick clicks and the
plate renews itself. "
Reviver was founded in 2009, and its
first eight years were dedicated to designing
the product and pushing for relevant
legislation in California.
Though currently the plates can be sold
only in California and Arizona, the company
plans to reach adoption nationwide
by 2025. However, this will depend upon
each state's willingness to push through
necessary legislation. As Boston noted,
" Each state has its own unique set of laws
regulating license plates. Adopting digital
license plates is a legislative act unique to
each state. "
In addition, a number of other countries
are working with Reviver to consolidate
their own licensing compliance protocols
using the platform, according to Boston.
Over the past year, Reviver has been
distributing the Rplate through more
than 50 California dealerships. Boston
explained the process: " Reviver sells its
Rplates directly to dealers, who install and
22 shift * september 2021
Reviver CEO Robert Wood, left, founder Neville Boston and a Shelby Cobra with an Rplate
display them on showroom floor vehicles
bearing dealer-branded graphics on their
displays and resell them with the vehicles
to consumers. "
According to Boston, there are multiple
reasons a dealer would be interested
in selling the Rplate, including as an
" on-ramp " to a larger sales discussion for
a vehicle and as a " point of differentiation "
during the buyer's purchase process.
In addition, Boston says there are a few
different ways dealers make money from
the Rplate: " Dealers sell Rplates on their
own terms and prices, keeping margins
for themselves. They also receive a portion
of the monthly connection fee in the
form of recurring revenue. "
For some dealers, digital license plates
make a lot of sense.
" Digital license plates come with a
lot of potential in areas of convenience
and simplicity, especially since everyone
dreads renewing, registration is always a
headache, and toll tags only complicate
things further, " said Alex Killingsworth,
a consultant for Superior Honda in New
Orleans. " Digital plates present an opportunity
to solve all of those problems with
one product, and consumers are going to
be willing to pay for that. "
To date, Reviver has shipped more than
13,000 Rplates. The plates aren't cheap -
with prices starting at $899 on the Reviver
website. Boston says the typical customer
" varies from a broad variety of custom-automobile
enthusiasts to the full spectrum
of new-car buyers purchasing virtually
every make and model of car, truck and
SUV. " He also noted that " emerging EV
buyers are particularly attracted to the
Rplate. "
Beyond the convenience of automatic
registration, the Rplate allows car owners
to add custom messages from a list
approved by the motor vehicle department.
The display, which uses " digital
paper " technology from E-Ink, can be
refreshed using an app. This can come in
handy if the vehicle is stolen; owners can
add the word " stolen " to the license plate
to make it easier to identify.
As the auto world becomes progressively
digital and buyers continue to seek
out convenience, digital
license plates
may grow increasingly attractive to buyers
and dealers alike. n
Digital license plates aim to take the headache out of vehicle registration
BY ALEX HASLAM
Shift Magazine - September 2021

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