Wisconsin notes

[mgk920]

A quick note on Wisconsin's new-format license plates.

I've seen a small handful of new-format plates 'in the wild' here in the Appleton area over the past few days. They have all been 'AAB-xxxx', with the highest being 'AAB-6467'.

Did WisDOT decide to skip the 'AAA-xxxx' block?

Mike

No they didn't. I saw an AAA-xxxx plate here in Milwaukee. Perhaps the batch they sent to the DMV in Appleton were the AAB-xxxx block.




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Kewl!



I wonder who got the lowest one ('AAA-1001').   

Someone here in Appleton got the lowest number in the old format ('101-AAA'), I saw it fairly often on the city's west side until about 2006 or so.

An added note - as time passes, I am increasingly liking Wisconsin's plate design.  Its artwork is sleek, simple, very unique and it is one of the easiest to read of all of the states and provinces in North America.

Mike

[Milwaukee, WY]

A quick note on Wisconsin's new-format license plates.

I've seen a small handful of new-format plates 'in the wild' here in the Appleton area over the past few days. They have all been 'AAB-xxxx', with the highest being 'AAB-6467'.

Did WisDOT decide to skip the 'AAA-xxxx' block?

Mike

No they didn't. I saw an AAA-xxxx plate here in Milwaukee. Perhaps the batch they sent to the DMV in Appleton were the AAB-xxxx block.




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Kewl!



I wonder who got the lowest one ('AAA-1001').   

Someone here in Appleton got the lowest number in the old format ('101-AAA'), I saw it fairly often on the city's west side until about 2006 or so.

An added note - as time passes, I am increasingly liking Wisconsin's plate design.  Its artwork is sleek, simple, very unique and it is one of the easiest to read of all of the states and provinces in North America.

Mike

I actually have to admit that as time goes on I appreciate a simple license plate design.  Texas and California come to mind as plates I'm a fan of... The only thing I'd perhaps change is moving the artwork to the bottom center (replacing the "America's Dairyland" slogan) and centering the state's name in the upper portion. 

[DaBigE]

An added note - as time passes, I am increasingly liking Wisconsin's plate design.  Its artwork is sleek, simple, very unique and it is one of the easiest to read of all of the states and provinces in North America.

Mike

I actually have to admit that as time goes on I appreciate a simple license plate design.  Texas and California come to mind as plates I'm a fan of...

I agree as well. Despite a little hypocrisy in just putting a specialty plate on my own car, I've been a firm believer in simplistic plate design/using a plate as ID purposes only and not a mobile art palette.

The only thing I'd perhaps change is moving the artwork to the bottom center (replacing the "America's Dairyland" slogan) and centering the state's name in the upper portion.

That's a nice idea, but it would mess up most of Wisconsin's other specialty plate designs (for those who like uniformity/have OCD tendencies), which omit the top artwork, recenter 'WISCONSIN', and put the plate description in place of "America's Dairyland".

[DaBigE]

A quick note on Wisconsin's new-format license plates.

I've seen a small handful of new-format plates 'in the wild' here in the Appleton area over the past few days. They have all been 'AAB-xxxx', with the highest being 'AAB-6467'.

Did WisDOT decide to skip the 'AAA-xxxx' block?

Mike

Just saw my first 7-digit WI plate in the Madison-area, coming back from lunch just a little bit ago...AAA-1140.

For shits and grins, I decided to use the WisDMV plate look-up tool for AAA-0001...it is issued and belongs to a 2008 Ford.

[Brandon]

I actually have to admit that as time goes on I appreciate a simple license plate design.  Texas and California come to mind as plates I'm a fan of... The only thing I'd perhaps change is moving the artwork to the bottom center (replacing the "America's Dairyland" slogan) and centering the state's name in the upper portion. 

Still beats the shit out of Illinois's new "clipart" design. 

[Milwaukee, WY]

I actually have to admit that as time goes on I appreciate a simple license plate design.  Texas and California come to mind as plates I'm a fan of... The only thing I'd perhaps change is moving the artwork to the bottom center (replacing the "America's Dairyland" slogan) and centering the state's name in the upper portion. 

Still beats the shit out of Illinois's new "clipart" design. 

Yeah, I think their new plate is horrible. The "Lincoln head" is so dark that it makes the first two letters illegible from more than about ten feet away.

[Big John]

For shits and grins, I decided to use the WisDMV plate look-up tool for AAA-0001...it is issued and belongs to a 2008 Ford.

So Wisconsin is starting to use lead zeroes?

[mgk920]

For shits and grins, I decided to use the WisDMV plate look-up tool for AAA-0001...it is issued and belongs to a 2008 Ford.

So Wisconsin is starting to use lead zeroes?

I just tried 'AAA-1001' - it comes back 'No record found'.

Also, a new 'high number' for me this afternoon, I saw 'AAB-6708' on a parked car in downtown Appleton.

Mike

[colinstu]

Well there's your problem. Not supposed to use dashes in that form.

[colinstu]

Also, DaBigE searched AAA0001, not AAA1001.



edit: however, if you search AAA0002, 3, 4, etc nothing is found. It's possible that's just an odd vanity plate.

[GeekJedi]

Based on that expiration date, it's a vanity. That plate should have an expiration date of APR or MAY of 18 if it was sequential.

[mgk920]

As I've mentioned upthread, 'APR1974' has been active here in the Appleton area for several years, too.

Mike

[mgk920]

Well there's your problem. Not supposed to use dashes in that form.

It still came back with wording equivalent to 'No record found'.

Mike

[Milwaukee, WY]

Back on the new Illinois plates for a moment... this is what I was referring to re: the legibility of the serials, for those who may have not seen them yet:



Kind of difficult to make out...

Zoomed in:




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[dzlsabe]

Those sure are pretty license plates though. Why does I-41 "end" again?

[JREwing78]

Yeah, that wasn't planned out very well. I'm a little amazed that the design got approved.

I understand the desire to have a pretty license plate, but that's ridiculous.

[Roadguy]

That's embarrassing, the old IL plates were way better than that (actually readable).  They do just as well with their license plates as they do with their budgets... 

[The Ghostbuster]

I've seen those 7-digit plates, and I wonder why Wisconsin hadn't adopted them sooner.

[Milwaukee, WY]

I've seen those 7-digit plates, and I wonder why Wisconsin hadn't adopted them sooner.

There wasn't any need. The previous format lasted almost 17 years. These things aren't changed just for the heck of it.

[dvferyance]

I've seen those 7-digit plates, and I wonder why Wisconsin hadn't adopted them sooner.

There wasn't any need. The previous format lasted almost 17 years. These things aren't changed just for the heck of it.

They should have just gone with reissuing plate numbers no longer in use. Four digits is too much.

[The Ghostbuster]

I suppose they could have done that, but apparently, that's not the route that was taken.

[SEWIGuy]

I've seen those 7-digit plates, and I wonder why Wisconsin hadn't adopted them sooner.

There wasn't any need. The previous format lasted almost 17 years. These things aren't changed just for the heck of it.

They should have just gone with reissuing plate numbers no longer in use. Four digits is too much.

Too much for whom?

[tchafe1978]

You don't want to start reissuing numbers because if the person who had a number previously held onto the old plates as souvenirs, they could possibly put them on another car after those numbers have been reissued to someone else, and viola! You've got two cars with the same plate numbers floating around.

[on_wisconsin]

A quick note on Wisconsin's new-format license plates.

I've seen a small handful of new-format plates 'in the wild' here in the Appleton area over the past few days. They have all been 'AAB-xxxx', with the highest being 'AAB-6467'.

Did WisDOT decide to skip the 'AAA-xxxx' block?

Mike

No they didn't. I saw an AAA-xxxx plate here in Milwaukee. Perhaps the batch they sent to the DMV in Appleton were the AAB-xxxx block.

I've spotted a couple AAB-XXXX series plates in the Eau Claire area in the past few weeks.

[Milwaukee, WY]

Saw this one last night:



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