Kansas issues over 70 license plate designs

[minneha]

By my count, Kansas issues at least 71 different license plate designs for its residents. There is the standard plate, the blackout plate, and 69 different personalized plate designs. Are other states like this or is Kansas an outlier in issuing so many different license plate designs?

https://www.ksrevenue.gov/dovpersplate.html

[1995hoo]

Clicking on the Virginia DMV's website reveals there are 343 plate styles available, though there are special eligibility requirements for some of them (the Purple Heart plate comes to mind as an obvious example).

[minneha]

Clicking on the Virginia DMV's website reveals there are 343 plate styles available, though there are special eligibility requirements for some of them (the Purple Heart plate comes to mind as an obvious example).

Interesting.

[JayhawkCO]

By my count, Kansas issues at least 71 different license plate designs for its residents. There is the standard plate, the blackout plate, and 69 different personalized plate designs. Are other states like this or is Kansas an outlier in issuing so many different license plate designs?

https://www.ksrevenue.gov/dovpersplate.html

I somehow read this as "Kansas issues an I-70 plate" and I thought that would be cool.

[GaryV]

I somehow read this as "Kansas issues an I-70 plate" and I thought that would be cool.

Would they issue a vanity plate "LIMON"?

[kalvado]

I believe someone mentioned here before that there is a state using same alphanumeric combinations on different designs, so that design is effectively a part of plate ID. Now that is certainly a way to cause problems....

[TheCatalyst31]

Clicking on the Virginia DMV's website reveals there are 343 plate styles available, though there are special eligibility requirements for some of them (the Purple Heart plate comes to mind as an obvious example).

Off the top of my head, Maryland, Texas, Montana, and Ohio also have hundreds of plate designs. Kansas is pretty much average.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota only has 21 categories of vanity plate, though the military and sports team categories push the available variations to probably around 40. Some of them, like WWII veteran, Pearl Harbor survivor, and Korean War vet are functionally obsolete and almost surely will not be issued again.

[LilianaUwU]

Québec has one, and I'm almost certain it's only available to veterans.

[kphoger]

Québec has one, and I'm almost certain it's only available to veterans.

If there's only one, and only veterans can get it, then what do all the other drivers do for license plates?

[LilianaUwU]

Québec has one, and I'm almost certain it's only available to veterans.

If there's only one, and only veterans can get it, then what do all the other drivers do for license plates?

They get regular plates.

[kphoger]

Québec has one, and I'm almost certain it's only available to veterans.

If there's only one, and only veterans can get it, then what do all the other drivers do for license plates?

They get regular plates.

Then there must be at least two.  One for veterans, one for everyone else.

[mgk920]

The North American French translation of "I remember" ("Je me souviens").

Mike

[Sani]

I believe someone mentioned here before that there is a state using same alphanumeric combinations on different designs, so that design is effectively a part of plate ID. Now that is certainly a way to cause problems....

Yes -- until recently, Kansas was issuing the same five- and six-digit combinations on different types of plates. This can certainly be a problem when, say, a semi has the same six digits on its plate as you do on your antique plate. From Fox 4 in Kansas City in 2020:

Metro man learns his Kansas' license plate has a twin when another driver's bills arrive

Kansas is one of only a handful of states in the country that assigns identical number combinations to multiple plates.

Lee Ann Phelps, vehicle services manager for the Kansas Department of Revenue, said she had no idea why Kansas ever thought sharing plate numbers was a good idea.

She said it doesn't affect regular license plate holders. Those numbers are unique. But specialty plates, including plates for the disabled, as well as commercial plates and dealer plates can all share numbers.

There are more than 625,000 license plates in Kansas that have at least one twin somewhere else in the state.

"If it's 1234 and it's a K-State plate there could be a 1234 KU plate," Phelps said.

Some number combinations are shared by as many as 14 people.

Amazingly this wasn't a problem until recently when, across the nation, toll roads started closing down their booths and began taking photos of license plates and sending bills in the mail.

...

What's really frustrating is that Dearth sold that Impala six years ago. His antique plate has been sitting in a drawer ever since.

He asked the Kansas Department of Revenue if he could give it back, but they told him antique plates belong to someone for life.

So what can he do? What he's already been doing for the past several months: contacting the Kansas Turnpike Authority every day to see if there's another state trying to collect a toll bill from him.

"We can typically get it resolved pretty quickly," Bell said.

But to resolve them, Dearth needs to call the state every single day for the rest of his life since those bills aren't being mailed to his current address.