License Plate News

[DaBigE]

Those of us who have parking permits (in my case, both for work and my apartment) tied to our licence plate numbers not only have to pay to replace the plate, but also pay extra to keep the plate number.  They even make the people whose plates are peeling due to a manufacturing defect pay to keep the plate number.

As long as you don't need the same number, at least New York will provide you a new plate free of charge for manufacturing defects. Wisconsin charges you for a new plate no matter what.

[vdeane]

In my case, my plate number is on file with both my landlord and employer for parking reasons, and it's also on the windshield sticker, which is a pain to change (because of the angle of my Civic's windshield, I actually have to take it to the dealer, not that I own a razor capable of cleanly peeling something off anyways, as I discovered when I swapped my E-ZPass last month).

[Jim]

I didn't have to pay for new plates to replace my previous white and blue NY ones when they peeled.  But I didn't care that I was issued new numbers for the orange replacements.

Hoping the "new Tappan Zee" design comes in a distant 5th.  We'd probably all have to get replacements in a few months when they realize a middle initial was missing from the plates.

[kalvado]

In my case, my plate number is on file with both my landlord and employer for parking reasons, and it's also on the windshield sticker, which is a pain to change (because of the angle of my Civic's windshield, I actually have to take it to the dealer, not that I own a razor capable of cleanly peeling something off anyways, as I discovered when I swapped my E-ZPass last month).

Previous total replacement was phased in over 2 years, regular registration cycle. at that point sticker has to be replaced anyway (and wipe moistured with rubbing alcohol does wonders with sticker leftovers). I also expect all those relying on license plate for some permitting reason to work out a procedure. Actually previous iteration of replacement used windshield sticker with both old and new plates, giving some way of identification for unknown plates on the lot.

[DaBigE]

wipe moistured with rubbing alcohol does wonders with sticker leftovers

As does Goo Gone; as long as you like the citrus smell.

[vdeane]

In my case, my plate number is on file with both my landlord and employer for parking reasons, and it's also on the windshield sticker, which is a pain to change (because of the angle of my Civic's windshield, I actually have to take it to the dealer, not that I own a razor capable of cleanly peeling something off anyways, as I discovered when I swapped my E-ZPass last month).

Previous total replacement was phased in over 2 years, regular registration cycle. at that point sticker has to be replaced anyway (and wipe moistured with rubbing alcohol does wonders with sticker leftovers). I also expect all those relying on license plate for some permitting reason to work out a procedure. Actually previous iteration of replacement used windshield sticker with both old and new plates, giving some way of identification for unknown plates on the lot.

That's what I used on the old E-ZPass mounting strips, but at least those are at a position where I can even get to them.  The registration sticker is not, due to the angle of the windshield.  The one time I tried to replace the sticker on my own, the back of my hand (knuckles especially) was rubbed raw since there's virtually no room between that part of the windshield and the dashboard.  These days I just take my car to the dealer where they have a special gadget that can reach in there.

In my case, replacement wouldn't be at the same time as the registration because my plates are peeling.  My registration isn't up until May 2021, and my plates won't come up for replacement until 2023.  They won't last long enough to be legible until either date.  The only reason they're even legible now is because I've been lucky and the damage hasn't yet hit the embossed letters/numbers.  It's to the point where I'm scared to take my car to the car wash.  Not to mention that, unless something happens with the program where peeling plates are replaced for free, it's actually cheaper for me to replace them early than to wait for them to come up for replacement naturally.

[mgk920]

Those of us who have parking permits (in my case, both for work and my apartment) tied to our licence plate numbers not only have to pay to replace the plate, but also pay extra to keep the plate number.  They even make the people whose plates are peeling due to a manufacturing defect pay to keep the plate number.

As long as you don't need the same number, at least New York will provide you a new plate free of charge for manufacturing defects. Wisconsin charges you for a new plate no matter what.

OTOH, Wisconsin charges a whole $2 for a replacement for a damaged plate - even if it is a personalized number that has to be custom stamped.  3-4 years ago someone blew a STOP sign in front of me and I was just barely not able to stop in time to avoid hitting that car, just enough to mess up one of the plates along with some of the rest of the front bumper.  I went to the local WisDOT DMV office to get a replacement personalized plate made and looked over the form - $2 fee.  I filled it out, sent it in and a few weeks later I received TWO new plates, along all of the current stickers, in the mail.  Since the other plate on the car was still in good condition, I'm keeping the other one that they sent me in reserve.

(I was semi-seriously thinking that those new plates cost more than $2 just in postage to ship to me!)

Now, if my car had a regular issue number, WisDOT would have assigned a new plate number to the car and I'd have had them that much faster.

Mike

[SP Cook]

In WV if you want a new plate due to it being worn or faded or you just don't like the number, it is free at the time of renewal.  Otherwise it is $10.50.  There is no extra tax on the rare instance the state replaces all the general plates, which has only been done twice since the state went to stickers in 1970, in 1975 and 1995.  The current goofy fix to the numbering system will again be exhausted in about two years, so probably they will finally have to update it. 

I have seen insurance companies pay the $10.50 in other guy's fault accidents. 

[kalvado]

(x-post in NY thread):
Looks like not all NY plates are to be replaced, just those 10 years or older. Which is IMHO an almost reasonable step. This would mean all blue-and-white plates will be gone, as those were phased out in 2010,   and original batches of Empire state (gold) plates will be coming up for replacement, as those were introduced in 2010.

[CtrlAltDel]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

[kalvado]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

None of them is the ugly urine color. Huge improvement right there

[kphoger]

the ugly urine color

You must be thinking of New Jersey.

[webny99]

the ugly urine color

You must be thinking of New Jersey.

I would say the two are the upper and lower bounds of potential urine colors, Jersey's being healthier, obviously. 

[DaBigE]

Those of us who have parking permits (in my case, both for work and my apartment) tied to our licence plate numbers not only have to pay to replace the plate, but also pay extra to keep the plate number.  They even make the people whose plates are peeling due to a manufacturing defect pay to keep the plate number.

As long as you don't need the same number, at least New York will provide you a new plate free of charge for manufacturing defects. Wisconsin charges you for a new plate no matter what.

OTOH, Wisconsin charges a whole $2 for a replacement for a damaged plate - even if it is a personalized number that has to be custom stamped.  3-4 years ago someone blew a STOP sign in front of me and I was just barely not able to stop in time to avoid hitting that car, just enough to mess up one of the plates along with some of the rest of the front bumper.  I went to the local WisDOT DMV office to get a replacement personalized plate made and looked over the form - $2 fee.  I filled it out, sent it in and a few weeks later I received TWO new plates, along all of the current stickers, in the mail.  Since the other plate on the car was still in good condition, I'm keeping the other one that they sent me in reserve.

(I was semi-seriously thinking that those new plates cost more than $2 just in postage to ship to me!)

Now, if my car had a regular issue number, WisDOT would have assigned a new plate number to the car and I'd have had them that much faster.

Mike

$2 per plate, minimum. More if you have non-standard plates. https://wisconsindot.gov/Documents/formdocs/mv2118.pdf. I'm looking at at least $10 for my plates that started peeling within 2 years. Because of the rash of peeling plates around the area, one of the news stations did a story on them. The DMV employee they interviewed admitted there might have been an issue with the metal and/or the sheeting, but it's still on the vehicle owner to pony up the cash for the faulty product, or risk a citation the next time you get pulled over.

[jakeroot]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

None of them is the ugly urine color. Huge improvement right there

Something's wrong with your piss, bro.

I will miss the yellow/blue. Very unique combination and incredibly visible compared to many other plate designs.

[kalvado]

Ugh. None of these designs are even close to being an improvement on the current yellow and blue. About the best that can be said for any of them is that the state name isn't a website.

None of them is the ugly urine color. Huge improvement right there

Something's wrong with your piss, bro.

I will miss the yellow/blue. Very unique combination and incredibly visible compared to many other plate designs.

I can argue a lot about how liquid color can look like and what kind of condition can affect those colors - but I would rather say that "unique" is not an advantage. Seeing it once in a while on the other end of the country may be cool. But imagine wearing pretty unique bright yellow pants on a daily basis. Should work just fine if you work as a clown...

That piss-gold yellow may look cool by itself, but many cars end up in a total mismatch to that plate color (same goes for green VT plate). Simple white matches much better with most paint colors, and IMHO should be the first choice for the base. (would be cool to allow some color combinations to choose from: white on black or black on white for minimal choice;   white on dark blue/green, black on white or some light tone for advanced choice. Should be enough contrast for anything.  But I am asking too much, probably)

[webny99]

I will miss the yellow/blue. Very unique combination and incredibly visible compared to many other plate designs.

I agree that it's super visible, and the color scheme is OK. What I don't like is that it's just boring. It doesn't have a cool background, or anything NY-specific at all. For that reason, I liked the old Niagara Falls plate better, even though it wasn't nearly as popping color-wise.

[PHLBOS]

...many cars end up in a total mismatch to that plate color (same goes for green VT plate). Simple white matches much better with most paint colors, and IMHO should be the first choice for the base. (would be cool to allow some color combinations to choose from: white on black or black on white for minimal choice;  white on dark blue/green, black on white or some light tone for advanced choice. Should be enough contrast for anything.  But I am asking too much, probably)

The original/intended purpose of license plate(s) is to display the vehicle's registration number for identification purposes... that's all.  Such is no different than registration numbers for boats (typically placed on the bow) and aircraft (be it commercial or general aviation). 

States would normally choose a color-scheme that differed from those in adjacent state(s).  Such would allow for easy spotting from a distance.  If the plate color clashed with one's vehicle color (this is the first time I've ever heard of such being an issue); tough tilly.  People just dealt with such and moved on.  Granted, older vehicles used to have exposed chrome bumpers where the plates were mounted on most models. 

When NY came out with the current retro-style gold-on-blue, I stated several pages up-thread that one reason behind using that color-scheme so that it would not be confused from a distance with a PA plate... especially if there's a decorative bracket mounted on the rear plate that covers the lower stripe/band (blue for NY's Empire plates, yellow for PA).

The optional, so-called decorative/commemorative plates have only been an item for the last 20 to 30 years at the most; and even then some designs were quickly discontinued for readability (of the plate number) reasons... PA's Flagship Niagara plate comes to mind.

As far as NY's new plate design is concerned, regardless of which design is chosen; it's a case of deja vu.  The prior blue-on-gold plate scheme was replaced with the Statue of Liberty scheme during the Mario Cuomo Administration.  The current blue-on-gold scheme is now being replaced with one of the 5 proposed scheme during the Andrew Cuomo Administration.

[kalvado]

...many cars end up in a total mismatch to that plate color (same goes for green VT plate). Simple white matches much better with most paint colors, and IMHO should be the first choice for the base. (would be cool to allow some color combinations to choose from: white on black or black on white for minimal choice;  white on dark blue/green, black on white or some light tone for advanced choice. Should be enough contrast for anything.  But I am asking too much, probably)

The original/intended purpose of license plate(s) is to display the vehicle's registration number for identification purposes... that's all.  Such is no different than registration numbers for boats (typically placed on the bow) and aircraft (be it commercial or general aviation). 

States would normally choose a color-scheme that differed from those in adjacent state(s).  Such would allow for easy spotting from a distance.  If the plate color clashed with one's vehicle color (this is the first time I've ever heard of such being an issue); tough tilly.  People just dealt with such and moved on.  Granted, older vehicles used to have exposed chrome bumpers where the plates were mounted on most models. 

When NY came out with the current retro-style gold-on-blue, I stated several pages up-thread that one reason behind using that color-scheme so that it would not be confused from a distance with a PA plate... especially if there's a decorative bracket mounted on the rear plate that covers the lower stripe/band (blue for NY's Empire plates, yellow for PA).

One thing is accept and move on, the other thing is have an opinion about an ugly design.
If you look at any set of license plate images, most US plates have either white or pale off-white background; two most populous states - CA and TX - have pretty minimalistic design with plain white background and don't worry about confusion.
As for NY current plate, one has to remember that governor pushing for that design was legally blind... 

[PHLBOS]

If you look at any set of license plate images, most US plates have either white or pale off-white background; two most populous states - CA and TX - have pretty minimalistic design with plain white background and don't worry about confusion.

The plate confusion issue I was referring to was one state's plate color scheme with respect to ones from adjacent state(s).  For NY, adjacent states would include VT, MA, CT, NJ & PA plus the Canadian Provinces of Ontario & Quebec; all of which have distinctly different standard-issue plate color schemes from NY's current gold-and-blue scheme.  If the same text/numeral color is used is identical to that of an adjacent state (CT, NY & PA all use dark blue letters/numerals for example), then the background color will usually be different (CT uses a light blue that transitions to white towards the top, PA uses white between its dark-blue top & yellow bottom borders & NY currently uses a mostly gold background)... and vice-versa (states with similar-color backgrounds use a different color for lettering/text). 

Place a plate bracket (be it a dealership one or a novelty (example: sports team) one that one can get at a store) over an older NY Empire State scheme plate and one over a standard-issue PA plate; and, yes, the dark blue letters/numerals on the white backgrounds do look similar... especially from a distance.  Looking at Quebec's current plate scheme, dark blue on white; such a similar scheme w/NY's old Empire State plates can cause some confusion from a distance as well..

As for NY current plate, one has to remember that governor pushing for that design was legally blind...

Who's to say that he was the only one pushing for that scheme?  I'm sure he received feedback from his administration (Secretary of Transportation perhaps?), law enforcement, etc. regarding such.  Additionally, I was speculating that such was one reason not the only reason.  There is a difference.

[Duke87]

In any case, I'm sure roadgeeks will be happy with the possibility that the plate design will be the new Tappan Zee Bridge.

If it were any other bridge in the state it'd have my vote.

This one, however, just screams "we get it, King Andy, you have daddy issues".

[kalvado]

If you look at any set of license plate images, most US plates have either white or pale off-white background; two most populous states - CA and TX - have pretty minimalistic design with plain white background and don't worry about confusion.

The plate confusion issue I was referring to was one state's plate color scheme with respect to ones from adjacent state(s).  Place a plate bracket (be it a dealership one or a novelty (example: sports team) one that one can get at a store) over a NY Empire State scheme plate and one over a standard-issue PA plate; and, yes, the dark blue letters/numerals on the white background do look similar... especially from a distance.

Any plate is just that - a plate. You know, a rectangle attached to the vehicle.  So confusion will always exist, of course, but ugly background color is not the only instrument  - and far from the best- in reducing that confusion. Statue of liberty on 1990s NY design was a rock solid identifier, if you think about it. Or look at the other border - Ohio seems to be perfectly fine with white plates...
To make things worse, ugly background color interferes with ability to automatically read those plates - at least governor told us so. That would greatly defeat the purpose of the color as ID, as unreadable number is as bad as misidentified one.

As for NY current plate, one has to remember that governor pushing for that design was legally blind...

Who's to say that he was the only one pushing for that scheme?  I'm sure he received feedback from his administration (Secretary of Transportation perhaps?), law enforcement, etc. regarding such.  Additionally, I was speculating that such was one reason not the only reason.  There is a difference.

This is NY, where issues are discussed and then governor takes a decision regardless, using assembly as a rubber stamp. I am dead sure blind governor was the one selecting the design.

Last, but not the least.  You liked old colors better?

tough tilly.  People just dealt with such and moved on. .

[vdeane]

I will miss the yellow/blue. Very unique combination and incredibly visible compared to many other plate designs.

I agree that it's super visible, and the color scheme is OK. What I don't like is that it's just boring. It doesn't have a cool background, or anything NY-specific at all. For that reason, I liked the old Niagara Falls plate better, even though it wasn't nearly as popping color-wise.

If you're traveling in a state where the police are known to target yankees and find any excuse possible to ticket them, super visible is not necessarily a plus.

[CtrlAltDel]

That piss-gold yellow may look cool by itself, but many cars end up in a total mismatch to that plate color (same goes for green VT plate). Simple white matches much better with most paint colors, and IMHO should be the first choice for the base. (would be cool to allow some color combinations to choose from: white on black or black on white for minimal choice;   white on dark blue/green, black on white or some light tone for advanced choice. Should be enough contrast for anything.  But I am asking too much, probably)

Given that license plates need to be conspicuous, a bit of clashing might be advantageous. I'm not sure if that's been studied though.

That said, I don't think that the current New York plate is the best possible, merely that it is better than all the potential replacements. I do think that the basic color scheme of the current plate is good, but a few tweaks to the colors could potentially mitigate the degree of clashing you perceive. The newer plates, on the other hand, are all too busy for my taste.

[interstate73]

A little bit of a topic shift, but what ever happened to this? Florida is still issuing the same old license plate nearly 7 years later and I can't find any articles saying the redesign was cancelled...
https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/autos/floridas-new-license-plate-design-announced/1266631