Feature: The Trucks of Charleston
Posted by Doug DeMuro in Feature on | 5 comments
I recently visited Charleston, South Carolina, which is a beautiful southern city wherein I actually heard an old woman remark to two boys playing outside: “Aren’t y’all gonna come inside for some supper?” Charleston is also home to possibly the single wealthiest contingent of southerners, virtually all of whom are actually from the north.
I won’t get in to demographics here, but basically Charleston became a popular place for northern money in the late 1800s and I think the exact same people are living there today, with the exact same money. If you’ve ever wondered where they sell all those E-Class wagons, it’s to elderly people down here who say things like: “My granddad did Cornelius Vanderbilt’s taxes!”
Interestingly, Charleston is also home to another unusual phenomenon: cars with truck plates. No, this isn’t your usual “cars with truck plates” situation where the drivers has stolen the car and stolen the plates and is now making a run for the border. Instead, truck plates are on nearly every really nice car in Charleston’s upscale “South of Broad” area, from convertibles to, well, E-Class wagons.
Initially I thought this was a strange aberration, or possibly a mixup at the DMV that’s lasted for several years. But I’ve recently discovered the truth: with truck plates comes parking privileges.
Here’s the deal: if your car is registered to a business, you can get truck plates in South Carolina. It doesn’t matter what business. It could be an actual business, or it could be a business called “Doug’s E-Class Wagon, LLC” that you set up 40 minutes before you registered the car. And with truck plates comes the ability to park in commercial loading zones. Commercial loading zones, you should know, are a staple of Charleston’s high-end shopping district, where they have an Ann Taylor next to a place that sells bumper stickers.
Therefore: even though the truck plates are boring and ugly, they’re worth it, if only so you never have to search for parking. And so goes life in the Old Money south.
5 Responses to “ “Feature: The Trucks of Charleston”
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I feel a liiiiitle conflicted about this… it must feel great to take advantage of the system in this way, and I can’t say I wouldn’t try to do the same, but if they’re taking up legitimate commercial loading zones, then they’re inconveniencing everyone else. Living in NYC, you’d be surprised at how small and congested a five lane avenue can feel with double and triple-parked semis.
Agreed. And in NYC for many companies, getting a ticket has become a ‘cost of doing business’ so they don’t mind. The truth is Charleston is still sleepy enough where no one is really bothered by the whole thing. It’s quaint, really.
As a native Charlestonian, and the owner of a retail business, I cannot tell you the number of housewives whose M-B GL/ML classes, or Land Rover LR2/LR3, or Mercedes E-class wagons have had Truck plates…who have never done anything more than load it up with a 40 lb bag of organic dog food and driven it to the beach house, but sure enough, they are allowed to park wherever, whenever.
It IS in fact a status thing…usually tied to an office job with no need of loading zone use at all.
I was hoping to hear from a Charlestonian who could vouch for this! Very interesting. Charleston is possibly the only place where I’ve ever seen this, and where I’ve ever seen it so blatantly abused (ie truck plates on a Jaguar convertible).
I”m from Charleston, and I’d noticed this on trips back, butt never knew why. I had always assumed it was because of tax advantages, like how where I live now we have a lot of Commerical vehicle plates on nice cars, solely because the tag is about $100 on a $40k vehicle, versus $1300 on a regular plate. It makes sense there’d be a concentration of them in downtown Charleston where parking is at a premium. Plus like you said, they’re ugly plates. My parents live in Charleston, and own a business, but none of their vehicles have truck plates, because I inherited my automotive OCD from my dad, and he rightly agrees the regular plates looks much better.