License Plate News

[OCGuy81]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

None of our cars has the standard plate. My Acura has the no-longer produced Jamestown plate that had a sailing ship on it; I've had that particular set of plates since 2003. My RX-7 has antique plates. My wife's two cars have the design with the state tree and bird (a cardinal perches on a dogwood branch). The notable thing about all these designs is that they all carry (carried, in the case of my Jamestown plate) a one-time fee, not an additional annual fee like university or sports team plates; the antique plate is also a permanent plate that need not be renewed each year. The one thing we do pay an annual fee for is the personalized plate fee. All four cars have personalized plates, which costs $10 a year except for the antique plates, where it was a one-time fee.

$10 on renewal? Damn! Virginia is cheap!

[OCGuy81]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

This is what I have.  I think it's the best looking specialty plate in CO. 

My wife has:



Chris

I haven't seen that one, but it's a great looking plate.

[Roadwarriors79]

Arizona now has 6 character standard plates again. 3 characters, a space, and 3 more characters. Random letters or numbers, with the purple cactus on the left.

SM-G975U

And it seems like there isn't any sequence, number/letter combos are just issued randomly?

I haven't noticed any specific patterns. They all seem so random now. In fact, all the plates Arizona offers now are random.

SM-G975U

[1995hoo]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

None of our cars has the standard plate. My Acura has the no-longer produced Jamestown plate that had a sailing ship on it; I've had that particular set of plates since 2003. My RX-7 has antique plates. My wife's two cars have the design with the state tree and bird (a cardinal perches on a dogwood branch). The notable thing about all these designs is that they all carry (carried, in the case of my Jamestown plate) a one-time fee, not an additional annual fee like university or sports team plates; the antique plate is also a permanent plate that need not be renewed each year. The one thing we do pay an annual fee for is the personalized plate fee. All four cars have personalized plates, which costs $10 a year except for the antique plates, where it was a one-time fee.

$10 on renewal? Damn! Virginia is cheap!

To be clear, the $10 is the personalized plate fee, not the renewal fee. I believe they recently lowered the registration fee and I'm not sure what it is now, but it used to be $41.75 a year (with a $1 or $2 discount if you renewed for two years), plus the $10 personalized plate fee if applicable, plus $25 for specialty plates if you buy a design that has an annual fee. For my RX-7, the antique plates carried a one-time fee of either $50 or $60 plus a one-time $10 personalized plate fee.

[OCGuy81]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

None of our cars has the standard plate. My Acura has the no-longer produced Jamestown plate that had a sailing ship on it; I've had that particular set of plates since 2003. My RX-7 has antique plates. My wife's two cars have the design with the state tree and bird (a cardinal perches on a dogwood branch). The notable thing about all these designs is that they all carry (carried, in the case of my Jamestown plate) a one-time fee, not an additional annual fee like university or sports team plates; the antique plate is also a permanent plate that need not be renewed each year. The one thing we do pay an annual fee for is the personalized plate fee. All four cars have personalized plates, which costs $10 a year except for the antique plates, where it was a one-time fee.

$10 on renewal? Damn! Virginia is cheap!

To be clear, the $10 is the personalized plate fee, not the renewal fee. I believe they recently lowered the registration fee and I'm not sure what it is now, but it used to be $41.75 a year (with a $1 or $2 discount if you renewed for two years), plus the $10 personalized plate fee if applicable, plus $25 for specialty plates if you buy a design that has an annual fee. For my RX-7, the antique plates carried a one-time fee of either $50 or $60 plus a one-time $10 personalized plate fee.

Still cheap compared to Oregon. I think the regular registration is around $100 plus another $100 (give or take) for the specialty.

It IS a two year registration though....a nice break from paying fees to California EVERY YEAR. 🙄

[JayhawkCO]

My plate was a $30 donation to the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, $50 for the initial plate, and then I pay an extra $25 per year.  Not too bad to have something that stands out a bit.

Chris

[jakeroot]

I think they should keep going from 9 to 10.

9ZZZ999 → 10AAA00

Gotta wonder how that missing final number would affect the total plate output. Still, at least it would maintain the pattern Californians know so well.

What do you mean?  It's the same number of digits and same number of letters.

But you're replacing a number that cycles continuously between 0 and 9 with a static "10" at the front. So now instead of one static number, you have two.

I must be missing something.

It will take just as long to get from 10AAA00 to 19ZZZ99 as from 1AAA000 to 1ZZZ999.  Same number of combinations.  So the 10#-to-19# range becomes the new 1# range, the 20#-29# range becomes the new 2# range, and so on.

So you're not really proposing they go from 9 to 10. You're actually proposing they move the last number to the second position, and move everything else one character to the right. So we basically go back to having 1 at the front, followed by another number, three letters, and then two more numbers.

If you went from 9 to 10, and then eliminated the last number, you have a static 10 in the front with five interchangeable characters, which is less than the current six. So you're going from 10 to 11 and then 12, 13, 14, etc much faster than with six interchangeable characters. Ultimately the same number of combinations, yes, but you'll cycle through the pattern much faster.

The first number is obviously not actually static, but it basically is. The single first digit pattern has been in place since 1980, and they're still not at 9.

I might prefer a reversed pattern: 000AAA1 to 999ZZZ1, 000AAA2 to 999ZZZ2, etc.

[CtrlAltDel]

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

[frankenroad]

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

I do.  But my plate number has been in the family for over 80 years, and it's only 4 characters.  I wish I had all the physical plates, but I only have them from the 1960s on.

[kphoger]

So you're not really proposing they go from 9 to 10. You're actually proposing they move the last number to the second position, and move everything else one character to the right.

I'm saying those two things are the same–except that it will now take ten times fewer registrations to get to the next 'prefix number' as it used to, but there are ten times as many 'prefix numbers' to get through.

(Technically, I'm proposing they move the number in the #5 position to the #2 position.)

[1995hoo]

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

I know all four of ours, though as I noted before, they're all personalized, so that's not remarkable. I also recall the plate numbers on my parents' cars when I was growing up.

[kphoger]

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

Of course, for several reasons:

– There are plenty of motels that ask you for your license plate number upon checking in.

– I'm on my ninth registration of the same license plate, so I've had plenty of time to learn it.

– I've had to hand-write it on a form once or twice when driving into Mexico, and losing my place in line isn't something I prefer to do.

[webny99]

NY has switched out license plate designs with enough frequency that, between that and switching vehicles, I don't think we've ever had the same license plate number for more than five years.

CBP will sometimes ask for your license plate number when returning from Canada, so it's a good idea to know what it is.

[catch22]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

Both of our cars have the updated Mackinac Bridge plate.  They are also personalized (extra $15/year over the normal registration).

[kphoger]

NY has switched out license plate designs with enough frequency that, between that and switching vehicles, I don't think we've ever had the same license plate number for more than five years.

It doesn't work that way here.  We've had the same license plate on three cars now.

[webny99]

NY has switched out license plate designs with enough frequency that, between that and switching vehicles, I don't think we've ever had the same license plate number for more than five years.

It doesn't work that way here.  We've had the same license plate on three cars now.

In NY, you have to pay extra to keep your plates:
https://nysdmv.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/73/kw/switch%20plates%20between%20two%20cars

[kphoger]

In Kansas, when you register the new vehicle, the amount you owe is prorated based on how much time you had left on the old vehicle's registration–so it all works out the same in the end.

[Roadwarriors79]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

I currently only have standard plates. Here is one specialty plate I would consider in the future...

SM-G975U

[oscar]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Both of my cars have Virginia's Great Seal specialty plate. It had a $25 extra one-time fee, which I paid when I acquired the vehicles in 2009 and 2018 (and in 2006, for the pickup truck I bought in 2006 and junked in 2017), so no ongoing contribution to the Christmas parties.

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

Not quite. I forget often enough that I wrote the numbers down on a card for my wallet, in case I need a reminder.

[OCGuy81]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

Of our two cars, we have a standard Oregon fir tree plate, and my wife's car has the Smokey the Bear plate that Oregon offers.

I currently only have standard plates. Here is one specialty plate I would consider in the future...

SM-G975U

Love The Matrix look. I'd get those if I lived in AZ

[1995hoo]

In Kansas, when you register the new vehicle, the amount you owe is prorated based on how much time you had left on the old vehicle's registration–so it all works out the same in the end.

In Virginia, if you transfer a plate the expiration date remains the same. Often that occurs when you trade in a car and the dealer handles the transfer of registration, but when I bought my current Acura in August 2004, I was able to transfer the registration from my old Honda Accord that had been totalled when I got rear-ended the week before. (Thus, even though I bought the car in August, the plate expires in October because that's when the original plate was issued.)

It doesn't work, however, if the car is registered/titled in one person's name and is then traded in on a car that will be registered/titled in someone else's name. When I was a student, "my" cars were legally registered and titled in my father's name, as is very common, but then when it came time to trade in the last of those cars, I was not able to keep the license plate number because that number was "his" and could not be transferred to me when the car I bought (the 1997 Accord mentioned above) was registered and titled in my name. I remember the plate number I got; I had it for four years, at which time I got the personalized plate number (and the actual plates themselves) that I still have now. The personalized plate was prorated because I transferred the existing registration and just changed plate numbers.

Virginia also lets you replace an old plate with a new one bearing the same number, subject to the restriction that if you change plate designs you may need a different number if the maximum number of characters differs. I mentioned before that my mom has had the same plate number since 1980. That was the year Virginia issued everyone new plates to replace the old non-reflective series from the 1970s. Around 2005 or so my father decided that Mom's front plate was beat-up and crappy-looking, so he got new standard-issue plates with the same number and those are what she still has.

Every time I renew my registration, the DMV website dings at me about my plates being more than 10 years old and asks if I want to replace them. I never do. They're still in excellent shape, so why would I?

[kphoger]

In Kansas, when you register the new vehicle, the amount you owe is prorated based on how much time you had left on the old vehicle's registration–so it all works out the same in the end.

In Virginia, if you transfer a plate the expiration date remains the same. Often that occurs when you trade in a car and the dealer handles the transfer of registration, but when I bought my current Acura in August 2004, I was able to transfer the registration from my old Honda Accord that had been totalled when I got rear-ended the week before. (Thus, even though I bought the car in August, the plate expires in October because that's when the original plate was issued.)

In Kansas, the expiration date is based on the first letter of your last name, so it stays the same no matter what you do.

[renegade]

Do you all have standard issue plates from your state, or have you helped fund the DMV annual Christmas party with a specialty?

I'm funding the party.  The standard license plate in my state makes me seasick.  I also don't feel the need to help promote the state website.  We are long overdue for redesign here.

[6a]

On a side note, do any of you have your plate numbers memorized? I do not, but it is something that comes in handy every now and again, like at hotel check-ins and the like.

Yep (lol)

[6a]

Arizona now has 6 character standard plates again. 3 characters, a space, and 3 more characters. Random letters or numbers, with the purple cactus on the left.

SM-G975U

And it seems like there isn't any sequence, number/letter combos are just issued randomly?

I haven't noticed any specific patterns. They all seem so random now. In fact, all the plates Arizona offers now are random.

SM-G975U

This is from a license plate mailing list:

They went in December to the Tucson ADOT to register their former Minnesota
2 vehicles - got "E8A6DDA" for their first vehicle and "E8A8DDA" for their
second vehicle (Apparently on the on-line system someone got the E8A7DDA in
between their two vehicles)

So apparently the middle digit advances first. Then position 2 goes through the alphabet, then numbers. Then position 6 does the same. Then 1, then 5.