Best and Worst U.S. License Plates

[Scott5114]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".

[shoptb1]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".

I don't much like the newer Texas plates either.  But, in my opinion, it all went downhill when they moved away from the embossed plates.  Embossing just makes for so much of a better plate.

[mightyace]

On the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.


I really like that new Alabama plate:


It certainly beats the old one:


I always wondered what the heck is that?  Is it some obscure reference to the Space Program (Huntsville).  But, someone I knew who was from Alabama said it was a song.  Of course, the former is slightly better known. 

[Alps]

I am a fan of dark blue license plates, so old Michigans, PA's, and Californias are cool.  I even like the blue-on-yellow Californias for being super old.  Growing up, I liked the NY Liberty plates.  can't say there's anything out there now I go for.

[thenetwork]

Back in the days when spelled-out counties were the latest craze, Indiana had the plates with the word "Wander" at the bottom.  We always joked that everyone who traveled outside the state of Indiana were those from Wander County.

And how ugly were those lime-green Indiana plates which (I think) the Wander (Co.) plates replaced.

[froggie]

On the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.

So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where.  15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.

[algorerhythms]

Am I the only one who doesn't like the new Texas plate? I liked the one with the horse and space shuttle better. The new one is just a photograph of X County, Texas, along with symbology that to me says something like "Our preschoolers try to color the sky orange until someone stops them".

I don't like it either; the black text on blue background thing just doesn't work. It's a nice design in theory, but when you see an actual car with that license plate, the number is almost unreadable from a distance.

[myosh_tino]

LOL.  When I saw that Pennsylvania plate, the first thing that came to my mind was the Visa logo! 

[Bryant5493]

I've seen B-10 on some Mississippi license plates. What does that stand for?


Be well,

Bryant

[mightyace]

On the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.

So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where.  15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.

No, I meant Tennessee still puts the county NAME on the plate.

[SP Cook]

Counties:

- Leaving out the desire of motorists to simply announce the counties they are from, counties on plates, be they spelled out, in the number system or Ohio's idiot stickers; exist for law enforcement or tax enforcement issues.  Many police will tell you that a car geographically out of place is "suspect".  And in many states the tax structure between counties is such that there is an incentive to "move" to a more rural place (or a similar incentive to avoid the EPA and their emission tests).  County names help with enforcement of this.

- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".

- Kentucky, which puts its counties on the plates, has an Ohio County, so a plate will read " KENTUCKY / ### ### / OHIO ".  Easy to figure out today, but a few years ago both names were embossed and the plate was a generic two color.

[agentsteel53]

I have a Union County sticker on my car, which I registered in New Mexico in September '09, but I have heard this is now non-standard and they gave me an old, left-over sticker.  Not bad given that a) I registered the car in neighboring Colfax County (I live about 1/2 mile from the county line) and b) Union County is one of the least populated in the state, with around 7000 residents.

[SSOWorld]

Pennsylvania used to have "You have a friend in Pennsylvania" on their plate.  George Carlin said "anyone who has a friend in Pennsylvania lives in ******* Pennsylvania" (not always true though)

[Alex]

- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".

There is a fee to have "Sunshine State" displayed on your license plate in place of the county.

[realjd]

- I have never understood Florida, where apparently you have a choice of either the county name or "Sunshine State".

20 years or so ago, all Florida plates had the county name on them, except rental cars which said "Lease". In cities like Miami, they essentially became big "rob me" signs. As a result, they replaced "Lease" with "Sunshine State" on rentals and randomly started mixing "Sunshine State" plates in with the regular county plates so that some non-rentals would have them also. Miami-Dade county stopped issuing county plates entirely, but I believe that's the only county to do so. They've since added plates that say "In God We Trust" instead of "Sunshine State" or the county name as a 3rd option. Typically, when you go to the county tax collector to get your plates, they give you a choice of those 3, or a specialty plate for an extra fee.

There is a fee to have "Sunshine State" displayed on your license plate in place of the county.

This is not true, at least it wasn't 4 years or so ago when I last had to get new plates on my car. They gave me a choice of Sunshine State and Brevard County. There's only an extra fee if you want a specialty plate. I know the "In God We Trust" plates are no extra charge as well because the news said there's 2 versions: the regular FL plate with that stamped at the bottom, and then a specialty plate (extra charge) that resembles the Indiana IGWT plates.

[F350]

LIKE:
South Dakota (the only flat-plate I like, but the font is custom, and is much better than anything else with the 3M tech)
Delaware - very traditional, you can't go wrong with simplicity.
Maine.
New Mexico - the optional/old base - its colors suit the state much so.

Dislike:

Maryland, California, Louisiana - an autistic sixth grader could make more interesting plates.
Pennsylvania - I never forgave PA for killing the 1990s base. It was iconic for PA.
New Hampshire - their fonts are AWFUL, but at least they're still stamped.

[FLRoads]

This is not true, at least it wasn't 4 years or so ago when I last had to get new plates on my car. They gave me a choice of Sunshine State and Brevard County. There's only an extra fee if you want a specialty plate. I know the "In God We Trust" plates are no extra charge as well because the news said there's 2 versions: the regular FL plate with that stamped at the bottom, and then a specialty plate (extra charge) that resembles the Indiana IGWT plates.

And that is no longer true. There is now a $12 fee for getting either the "Sunshine State" or the "In God We Trust" on your license plate instead of the county name. I had to pay the extra fee last year when I changed my license plate from Seminole County, and since I did not want the county name I had to pay the price...

[signalman]

^^ What about Miami-Dade County?  I know that county does not issue the name on their plates.  Sunshine State is standard, but is there still an extra charge for In God We Trust?

[jdb1234]

On the subject of county IDs, Tennessee still embraces them.

So does Alabama on non-vanity plates...the first two characters are the code showing where.  15 = Choctaw County, while the 2A = Mobile County.

Actually just the number 2 = Mobile County.  There was talk a while back about changing the county code because a few counties (Shelby) were running out of possible plate combinations.

The old plate referenced a song called "Stars Fell On Alabama".  I am not very familiar with it either and I live in Alabama.  I hated the old plate.  I also have to get a new plate but it will not be like the Alabama standard plates as everyone in my family has a specialty plate.   

[PAHighways]

Pennsylvania used to have "You have a friend in Pennsylvania" on their plate.

It was the grammatically incorrect "You've Got a Friend in...Pennsylvania" which was our old tourism slogan.

[mightyace]

It was the grammatically incorrect "You've Got a Friend in...Pennsylvania" which was our old tourism slogan.

I liked the slogan but the jingle that went with the TV spots was insipid! 

[realjd]

And that is no longer true. There is now a $12 fee for getting either the "Sunshine State" or the "In God We Trust" on your license plate instead of the county name. I had to pay the extra fee last year when I changed my license plate from Seminole County, and since I did not want the county name I had to pay the price...

That's lame. I have a standard Brevard plate, and my wife has the new design of the manatee plate.

Aren't they about due to issue new plates? I thought they were on a 5 year replacement cycle in Florida, and the current design has been here for about that long.

[LeftyJR]

I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back.  When is the 10 years up?  I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.

[Mr_Northside]

I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back.  When is the 10 years up?  I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.

Actually, it was in the news a few months ago that they are now only going to replace license plates on an "as needed" basis now.  I guess that means if you have a plate that stays in good shape for 15-20 years, you shouldn't need a replacement.

[Alex]

I know that PA changed their new plate cycle from 5 years to 10 years a while back.  When is the 10 years up?  I want "The Keystone State" back on the plate - its historical and interesting.

Actually, it was in the news a few months ago that they are now only going to replace license plates on an "as needed" basis now.  I guess that means if you have a plate that stays in good shape for 15-20 years, you shouldn't need a replacement.

That is how it used to be when the plates were the various versions were crafted with glass beads on paint. They incorporated all of the designs after the 1976 Liberty Bell tag until the switchover to the WWW.STATE.PA.US gradient design. Many of the yellow on blue tags stayed in service so long that they lost much of their paint. My mechanics back in PA and I used to talk about tags and they had one they kept in service on a Volvo that was completely devoid of all yellow paint thanks to the elements.



Part of the reasoning for the plate reissue was to replace all of those worn out yellow tags. In Florida they replace tags on a five-year cycle because the sun breaks down the reflectivity over time. Granted the sun isn't as strong in Pennsylvania, but won't this be the same case over 15-20 years on those newer visitPA.com tags?