One tag states

[roadman65]

We all know already that each state is different when setting up tag requirements for vehicles.  Some states only issue a rear tag that is the only one, while the others issue a front and rear plate for all vehicles.  Many seem to go by regions almost like cliques where many neighboring states all keep the same format of rules such as New Jersey, New York, and New England States using front and back, while the southeast uses only rear license plates.  Then you also have PA and DE that use rear only tags along with OK and KS both being rear only states.

Which states use one only verses the two plates?  I know the state I live in Florida has only one issued, but to be curious to know what your state has.

[freebrickproductions]

Alabama is a one plate state.

[briantroutman]

 

Maroon: State requires both front and rear plates for passenger vehicles.
Blue: State requires only rear plate for passenger vehicles.   
Fuchsia: State requires front and rear plate for most, but not all, passenger vehicles.

[1995hoo]

DC will ticket you if you're from a "two-plate" state and you display only one. Seriously.

[J N Winkler]

DC will ticket you if you're from a "two-plate" state and you display only one. Seriously.

And if you come from a one-plate state and travel to a two-plate state, people in parking lots give you the stink-eye as you get out of your vehicle.

[hotdogPi]

Clarification on Massachusetts: The older license plates are the ones that are one plate only.

[SignGeek101]

I had two plates in Ontario and now in Manitoba. I recall only one plate in Alberta, but I was only 6 when we moved, so I can't recall for sure.

Stickers were on the back plate only.

[corco]

Alberta is definitely two now, but Saskatchewan is one.

[02 Park Ave]

Clarification on Massachusetts: The older license plates are the ones that are one plate only.

When did this start?

[Revive 755]

 

Maroon: State requires both front and rear plates for passenger vehicles.
Blue: State requires only rear plate for passenger vehicles.   
Fuchsia: State requires front and rear plate for most, but not all, passenger vehicles.

The map is not quite accurate, as Missouri lets some trucks - which seems to include larger model pickup trucks - have only a front license plate.

Then there are cases like Illinois where the state will issue both front and rear license plates, but only issue a renewal sticker for rear plate.

[hbelkins]

DC will ticket you if you're from a "two-plate" state and you display only one. Seriously.

And if you come from a one-plate state and travel to a two-plate state, people in parking lots give you the stink-eye as you get out of your vehicle.

I've never had issues, and I've traveled in Ohio and Virginia (two neighboring two-plate states) extensively.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I wonder if it's possible to get a front plate in those states that only require the rear one. Here in Europe all countries require both front and rear plates, so it would be weird for me to see a car without the front plate.

[SP Cook]

The "fuchsia" status of Nevada is misleading, as the exception is: "Front plates are optional only if 1) the vehicle was not designed for a front plate and 2) the manufacturer did not provide an add-on bracket or other means of displaying the front plate. (NRS 482.275) " which, since any car sold in Nevada is obviously also for sale in two plate states, would be no car made, at least since plates were standardized 70 years ago, if not ever.

Canada two plate jurisdictions are BC, MB, NB, and ON. 

[mrsman]

I wonder if there is anybody out there who moved from a one state plate to a two plate state and wonder if anybody out there just thought "Hey, the state gave me a spare license plate in case I lost the first one" and don't properly put on the front plate.

I do know somebody who moved from a state without income tax to a state with income tax and didn't know about the income tax and, of course, suffered a penalty for not filing his state return.

[froggie]

Stickers were on the back plate only.

Vermont also does this.

[Mr. Matté]

DC will ticket you if you're from a "two-plate" state and you display only one. Seriously.

And if you come from a one-plate state and travel to a two-plate state, people in parking lots give you the stink-eye as you get out of your vehicle.

I always check to see if there's one or two shiny registration tags in the windshield therefore confirming it's a PA driver before giving said driver the stink-eye.

/NJ resident

[SP Cook]

I wonder if there is anybody out there who moved from a one state plate to a two plate state and wonder if anybody out there just thought "Hey, the state gave me a spare license plate in case I lost the first one" and don't properly put on the front plate.

I do know somebody who moved from a state without income tax to a state with income tax and didn't know about the income tax and, of course, suffered a penalty for not filing his state return.

In my one plate state, I do know of people who have been ticketed for having an expired front plate from either where they used to live or a previous series from here on the front.  It is illegal.    Even the oh too cute people that display euro plates on their BMW or plates they picked up in the Caribbean are ticketable.

Around here, lots of people from KY or OH buy their cars in WV.  Neither have inspection stickers, which WV does so a car bought in WV is going to come with a sticker.  Lots of people leave the WV sticker on the car forever.  Cops in revenue hungry Huntington decided this was illegal and started ticketing people for "displaying expired inspection", even though they needed no inspection at all. 

Really, a smart motorist will remove out of state front plates and stickers, because expired ones can be a predicate to a traffic stop. 

I do know of lots of people who move to WV, where you need last year's property tax receipt to get next year's plate renewed who did not know that and end up in the long line at the courthouse and paying 7% penalty interest and two years' taxes at once.

[1995hoo]

I wonder if there is anybody out there who moved from a one state plate to a two plate state and wonder if anybody out there just thought "Hey, the state gave me a spare license plate in case I lost the first one" and don't properly put on the front plate.

I do know somebody who moved from a state without income tax to a state with income tax and didn't know about the income tax and, of course, suffered a penalty for not filing his state return.

There are plenty of people who deliberately don't put on the front plate because they think it's ugly, or they don't want to go to the car dealer and get the adapter to display a front plate, or they don't want to remove whatever kind of generic front plate they had there (school logo, sports team plate, Rebel flag, whatever). In Virginia it's a good way to get a ticket–the police are very anal about the two-plate law.

I think having one state's plate on the front and another's on the back is a perfectly legitimate reason for giving a ticket, even in a one-plate state, because it's potentially ambiguous or misleading to display that sort of thing. The phony euro-style plates might be an exception because, for the most part, they're not that similar to the ones you'd actually get in Europe due in large part to their frequent inclusion of customized messages like "Mark's BMW" or whatever.

Regarding SP Cook's comment about expired stickers, I used to keep the expired county decals on my cars' windshields because when Fairfax County abolished them, the City of Alexandria continued to require them (and still does), so I figured keeping my old county sticker in place might underscore that my cars weren't registered in Alexandria. I never had a problem, but I removed them when I started parking on the street in DC more often after Nationals Park opened–DC will indeed give you a ticket for displaying an expired sticker. By then enough Virginia jurisdictions had done away with the decals that it was no longer an issue. It used to be a serious problem–Virginia Beach did away with city decals earlier than most other counties and cities and the police in Charlottesville and Albemarle County took great pride in writing tickets, saying "It's not our responsibility to figure out whether someone's from Virginia Beach or elsewhere, so the motorist can challenge the ticket in court."

[The Nature Boy]

I wonder if there is anybody out there who moved from a one state plate to a two plate state and wonder if anybody out there just thought "Hey, the state gave me a spare license plate in case I lost the first one" and don't properly put on the front plate.

I do know somebody who moved from a state without income tax to a state with income tax and didn't know about the income tax and, of course, suffered a penalty for not filing his state return.

You would have to be pretty dense to think that. I imagine that you would look around and see everyone else with two plates and get the message.

[jeffandnicole]

I wonder if there is anybody out there who moved from a one state plate to a two plate state and wonder if anybody out there just thought "Hey, the state gave me a spare license plate in case I lost the first one" and don't properly put on the front plate.

I do know somebody who moved from a state without income tax to a state with income tax and didn't know about the income tax and, of course, suffered a penalty for not filing his state return.

You would have to be pretty dense to think that. I imagine that you would look around and see everyone else with two plates and get the message.

If there's one thing to learn, it's never overestimate people's intelligence.

Stand in a supermarket some day. Stand by the 10 items or less checkout. Better yet, find one with a short conveyer belt. It won't take long before a person with a full shopping cart gets in that line. And then listen for that person to complain that they need longer conveyer belts in the store.

[J N Winkler]

I wonder if it's possible to get a front plate in those states that only require the rear one. Here in Europe all countries require both front and rear plates, so it would be weird for me to see a car without the front plate.

In Kansas, personalized plates (which are at the registrant's option and cost extra) are issued in front/rear pairs by default.  There was at one time a requirement to mount both plates, thus making Kansas effectively a two-plate state for holders of personalized plates, but apparently this was abolished in 2005 or thereabouts owing to the difficulty people had finding suitable mounting brackets for the front.

I know of no procedure in Kansas by which one could be issued an extra regular-series plate for mounting on the front of the car.  I suspect one may exist, and I doubt the cost is much since the replacement fee per lost or stolen plate is just $3.50, but I don't see it described anywhere on the Web.

The issue of one-plate cars in two-plate states comes up in LEO forums.  However, it seems the real problems are caused by states like Missouri that give registrants the option of not having rear plates.

http://forums.officer.com/t97102/

I have never actually been stopped in any of the three Kansas-registered cars I have owned (including a 1986 Nissan Maxima that was taken to 44 US states, 4 Canadian provinces, and 2 Mexican states) for failure to have a front plate.

[SP Cook]

I used to keep the expired county decals on my cars' windshields because when Fairfax County abolished them, the City of Alexandria continued to require them (and still does), so I figured keeping my old county sticker in place might underscore that my cars weren't registered in Alexandria. By then enough Virginia jurisdictions had done away with the decals that it was no longer an issue. It used to be a serious problem—Virginia Beach did away with city decals earlier than most other counties and cities and the police in Charlottesville and Albemarle County took great pride in writing tickets, saying "It's not our responsibility to figure out whether someone's from Virginia Beach or elsewhere, so the motorist can challenge the ticket in court."

I never understood the purpose of Virginia's county/city stickers.  Without their being universal, there really is no fair way to enforce them, and what possible purpose does the physical sticker (as opposed to charging the underlying tax and predicating registration renewal there on) serve?

Same thing could be said for Pennsylvania's emissions stickers.  Some counties you get one sticker (safety) some you need two (safety and emissions).   Since there is no way to tell if particular vehicle is legal with one or not, why the physical sticker?  Just require the emissions receipt for renewal in the effected jurisdictions.

Would not the smart thing for a county/city without such a sticker to do would be to sell a "lifetime" sticker for one cent?  Then you would have a sticker and the other jurisdictions would have to hunt for victims elsewhere.

[DaBigE]

Stickers were on the back plate only.

Vermont also does this.

+ Wisconsin

[The High Plains Traveler]

Stickers were on the back plate only.

Vermont also does this.

+ Wisconsin

Colorado
California

[noelbotevera]

 

Maroon: State requires both front and rear plates for passenger vehicles.
Blue: State requires only rear plate for passenger vehicles.   
Fuchsia: State requires front and rear plate for most, but not all, passenger vehicles.

Pennsylvania is sort of wrong. You can have a front and back plate, but if you're a resident who moved and lived in Pennsylvania, you need a back plate. If you moved and now lived in Pennsylvania, from anywhere, you can use a front plate of the state you last lived in required a front plate  or you have a random plate sticking around, you can use it as a front plate.
To clarify, if you lived in Pennsylvania, all you need is a back plate, but if you have an extra plate, you can have a front plate too.