US and Canadian license plates
In the United States and Canada, license plates are issued by an agency of the state or provincial government (or its equivalent, for example, the District of Columbia). In the U.S., some Native American tribes also have their own plates. The US Federal Government issues plates only for its own vehicle fleet and for vehicles owned by foreign diplomats. In Canada, diplomats and consular staff are issued plates by the province their consulate or embassy is in, as was the case in the United States until the 1980s.
Generally, the appearance of plates is frequently chosen to contain symbols, colours, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction.
Vehicle plates in Canada are technically called registration plates (drivers are licensed, vehicles are registered), but the term 'license plate' is common in informal usage. In the United States, on the other hand, the term "license plate" is frequently used in statutes.
Numbering and lettering
Generally, the appearance of plates is frequently chosen to contain symbols, colors, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction. Formats for license plate numbers (which are usually alphanumeric) are designed to provide enough unique numbers for all motor vehicles a jurisdiction expects to register. So, for example, Wyoming, the smallest U.S. state by population, issues plates with the numbers in the format 12 3456 or 12 345A, with the first two numbers restricted to 1-23 and 99 (one code for each of the state's 23 counties, and 99 for rental vehicles); Rhode Island, the smallest state by area, uses the formats AB-123 and 12345; while California and certain other populous states use a seven-character format such as ABC1234 or 1ABC234.
In some states, information such as county of registration or month of expiration is incorporated into the number. For example, the last numerical character on a license plate in Massachusetts indicates the month the bearer's registration expires (CI 234A would expire in April, the fourth month; Zero, X, and Y are used for October, November, and December, though regular Massachusetts passenger plates do not expire in November or December). In Indiana, Montana and Wyoming, a pre-selected number representing the county of issue begins a license plate number. Standard issue Idaho license plate numbers begin with a one- to three-character alphanumeric code representing the county of issue.
A few states, such as Iowa, place the county of registration explicitly on the plate, either above or below the number.
Plates on vehicles other than passenger cars, such as trucks and trailers, may have different formats such as 1A23456.
The closest thing to a generic numbering format in the U.S. is ABC-123 or 123-ABC for passenger cars, AB-1234 for trucks, A-12345 for trailers, and either AB123 or 123456 for motorcycles.
Some other examples of passenger plate numbering:
- ABCD-123 (used in Ontario currently)
- AB-123C (used in New Jersey in the 1990s)
- ABC-12D (used in New Jersey in the 1980s (blue plates) and currently (yellow plates))
- 1AB-234 (used in South Dakota currently)
- 1 A2345 (used in Idaho currently)
- 12 A3456 (used in Idaho currently)
- 12A B3456 (used in Idaho currently)
- 1A B2345 (used in Idaho currently)
- 1234 AB (used in Maine currently)
- 1-A23456 (used in Montana currently)
- 12-A34567 (used in Montana currently)
- ABC 123 (used in Louisiana currently)
- A12-BCD (used in Florida currently)
- 1AB-C23 (used in Maryland currently)
- 12A B34 (used in Massachusetts currently)
- 1234 AB (used in Massachusetts currently)
- AB 123 (used in Prince Edward Island currently)
- ABC12 (used in Yukon currently)
- A12-BCD (once used in Texas)
- ABC-123 (used in Minnesota currently)
- 123-ABC (used in Saskatchewan and Texas currently)
- ABC-1234 (used in North Carolina currently)
While it is popularly believed that license-plate numbers are assigned randomly, the usual practice is to assign them in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the license plate was issued. In a few cases, numbers are assigned in descending order. For example, when Virginia switched to a seven-character for its standard issue in 1993, numbers beginning with AAA-1000 were already in use for extra-cost ornamental plates; therefore, the new standard license plates were issued in descending order from ZZZ-9999. The "400th Anniversary" license plates, issued since 2003, are numbered in ascending order from JAA-1000.
Sometimes, there is a problem with unintentional profane or inappropriate messages. Thus, numbering sequences generally exclude certain combinations of letters. The District of Columbia recently issued license plates with the first two letters "BS", despite the connotation of the letter combination.
In 1986 Waldale, a Canadian licence plate manufacturer, due to a production error, produced an entire batch of New Brunswick plates that began with ASS. The plates were never issued, and were officially scrapped, but they found their way into the collector market.
In the United States and Canada, special plates are issued to persons with disabilities having the International Symbol of Accessibility on them, which entitle them to special parking privileges. Alternately, a placard, which in some jurisdictions can be hung from the rear view mirror is issued and has the advantage of being transferred easily from vehicle to vehicle.
Appearance
In the United States and Canada, many states and provinces distinguish their license plates through distinctive colour schemes and logos, which historically have been changed annually. For example, the cowboy logo often associated with the state of Wyoming has appeared on that state's license plates for several decades. The license plates of the Yukon have featured a prospector panning for gold. Vermont license plates have frequently featured a green and white colour scheme. Other states, such as California and Louisiana offer a simpler scheme, often with a white background and little decoration (although Louisiana has recently switched to a graphic design with a graphic of the state bird, the pelican). In recent years, states such as Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have begun to put the address of the state's official web site on their general issue plates. In Canada's Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the license plates are cut out from the sheet material in a bear shape. Most plates in Washington, D.C., contain the phrase "Taxation without representation" to highlight the District's lack of a voting representative in the United States Congress.
Several states (Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio) place a decal indicating the county of registration on the license plate. In a few states (Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming), the leading digits of the license number itself indicate the county of registry.
In 1956, the U.S. states and Canadian provinces came to an agreement with the Automobile Manufacturers Association that fixed the size for all North American passenger vehicle plates at 6" x 12". Smaller sizes are used for motorcycles and, in some states, mopeds and certain types of trailers and construction equipment in transit.
Showing current registration on plates
Historically, many U.S. and Canadian plates were replaced every year, although the general practice in modern times is to send new validation stickers to vehicle owners every year or two, to indicate that the vehicle registration is still valid.
Tags that are not up to date quickly attract the attention of law enforcement, because registration "renewal" is a transaction that can usually be undertaken only by the car's registered owner, once certain requirements have been met, and because registration fees are a source of government revenue. A delinquent registration tag is often an indicator that the vehicle may be stolen, that the vehicle's owner has failed to comply with the applicable law regarding emission inspection or insurance, or that the vehicle's owner has unpaid traffic or parking tickets. Even with the tags, most states used to require that all license plates be replaced every few years; that practice is slowly being abandoned by many states because of the expense of continually producing large numbers of plates. Maryland, for example, formerly mandated that all license plates be replaced every five years (except for apportioned trailers, which were registered on an eight-year schedule), but has not done so since 1986.
The tags are usually placed on one corner of the plate, while the month of the year in which the tags would expire is printed in an opposing corner. Some jurisdictions combine the year and month on one sticker. In others, the plate's validation is a decal displayed from the inside of the windshield. The colour of plate stickers and windshield decals often change annually, to allow for easier detection by police.
Most validation stickers are either serialized (with the serial number recorded on the registration), or are printed by a special printer at the time of registration or renewal with the vehicle's license plate number on them to discourage fraudulent sticker use (the sticker will be valid only for the plate for which it was intended). In the District of Columbia, the license plate is validated with a windshield sticker that indicates the expiration date, the license plate number, the year and make of vehicle, and part of the vehicle identification number, thereby allowing easier detection of fraudulent use.
Lifecycle
In the United States, plates typically stay with vehicles throughout their useful life, unless owners move to another state and bring their vehicles with them. In American law, when a person moves to a new state, he or she is required to establish "residency" in the new state, which includes registering the vehicle with that new state's government — it will then issue new plates that must be attached to the vehicle.
When a vehicle is sold, the disposition of the license plates depends on state law. In some states, the license plates are assigned with the vehicle to its new owner. In other states, the license plates remain with the seller, who may, for a fee, transfer the license plates and any unused portion of the current registration to a new vehicle. Some states issue a new plate whenever the car is sold.
In many states the county of the owner's residence is also printed on the plate. In most cases the plate does not need to be changed if the owner moves within the state to a different county. People wishing to change plates if they move to a different county can do so, but there is usually an extra fee for doing so.
Mounting
Many American states are now strictly enforcing laws that require all vehicles to have two license plates (one mounted on or near each bumper). This is to increase the effectiveness of red-light cameras, which work only if a vehicle can be linked back to its registered owner. Most Southern states do not require this.
Temporary/Transit registrations
When a person buys a vehicle from a dealer, the dealer is typically authorized to issue a temporary registration to allow the buyer to drive the vehicle until the government agency in charge of vehicle registration processes the registration forms.
Similarly, when a person buys a vehicle outside his state or province of residence, he can usually obtain a "transit registration" from the authorities of the state or province where the purchase took place. This transit registration will allow the new owner to drive the vehicle and to properly register and obtain license plates for the vehicle from his state or province of residence.
The physical indicia of such temporary or transit registrations can take a variety of forms, such as:
- a cardboard or lightweight plastic license plate, to be destroyed at the end of the temporary registration period;
- a standard metal license plate with temporary validation, in which case the government agency needs to issue only a validation sticker rather than a license plate; or
- a form or decal to be applied to a window of the vehicle.
Plates for various types of vehicles and groups
In Canada and the United States, there are several types of license plates that are issued to special passenger, non-passenger and non-private vehicles. Depending on the jurisdiction, such types may include:
- Amateur Radio
- Ambulance
- Antique vehicle
- Apportioned
- Auto dealer (for use on test drives)
- Bus
- Combination
- Commercial vehicle
- Commuter van
- Construction equipment
- Diplomat
- Foreign organisation
- Exempt (Government)
- Emergency vehicle
- Farm equipment
- Fertilizer truck
- Government vehicle
- Hearse
- Historic vehicle
- Implement of husbandry
- Loaner vehicle
- Livery
- Logging truck
- Mobile home
- Motorcycle
- Olympic Games-related vehicle
- Omnibus
- Press
- Press Photographer
- Recreational vehicle
- Repossession
- Rescue squad
- School bus
- Taxi
- Television station
- Tow truck
- Tractor
- Trailer
- Truck
- Vehicle manufacturer
- Volunteer firefighter
- Wrecker
Vanity and specialty plates
In almost all US and Canadian juristictions, people can pay extra and get vanity plates: licence plates with a custom number (character set). For example, a vanity license plate might read "MY TOY". Generally vanity plates are not allowed to have profane or obscene messages on them, and of course they must also be unique.
In some jurisdictions, vehicle owners may also pay extra for specialty plates: with these, the sequence of letters and numbers is chosen by the licensing agency—as with regular plates—but the owners select a plate design that is different from the normal licence plate. For example, a former soldier who became a prisoner of war might choose a special POW plate, an alumnus or student of an area university might get a plate with the school's logo, or an outdoorsman might decide to pay extra for a plate depicting a nature scene. A portion of the extra cost of these license plates often ends up as a donation for a related school or non-profit organization.
One example of a specialty license plate was a plate issued in 1987 by the state of Florida to commemorate the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster. Proceeds went to the Astronaut Memorial Foundation and led to the creation of the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida. It remained the most popular of all of Florida's specialty plates until it was overtaken by a plate to support the heavily endangered Florida Panther, which is the best-selling specialty plate in Florida. The current third version, introduced in 2004, remembers both Challenger and Columbia.
New Jersey offers an optional Animal Friendly license plate. The second generation of this plate was first issued in 2001 and features characters from the popular comic strip Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. A portion of the revenue from the plates goes to the New Jersey State Department of Health's Animal Population Control Program. [1]
Some states where stock car racing is popular issue special NASCAR-themed plates; a NASCAR fan can purchase a plate with the name and car number of his or her favorite driver, along with the state-issued alphanumeric sequence. Here, a portion of the extra cost goes to NASCAR as compensation for licensing its trademarks. Some jurisdictions allow for these special plates to also be vanity plates, usually for an additional fee on top of the cost of the plate. In 1996 the province of Ontario issued an optional Star Trek license plate. It was discontinued in the early 2000s.
Normally such specialty plates can be purchased without proof of any particular status or affiliation, the obvious exceptions being plates which indicate membership or abilities of use in an emergency (firemen, police, EMT, etc, etc). Also, some states require that the university plates be ordered through alumni associations. All U.S. states and Canadian provinces offer specialized license plates for licensed amateur radio operators. The owner's radio callsign is used instead of a standard license assignment.
In California, it is possible to have certain symbols on a vanity plate. The available symbols are a heart, hand, cross, or star.
In New Jersey, people convicted of drunk driving are banned from using vanity plates. In Ohio, convicted drunk drivers may have the option to drive with special red-on-yellow licence plates in exchange for a lesser sentence.
Examples of optional plates
- Animal Friendly
- Choose Life
- Colleges
- DARE
- Educator/Support Education
- Environmental
- Ham radio
- NASCAR
- Prisoner of war
- Rotary Club
- Star Trek
- Veteran
- Wildlife preservation
Professional and Governmental Licence Plates
Many states, such as New York and New Jersey, issue license plates to members of certain professions who require some sort of special privileges, such as parking or going behind police lines. Examples include plates for members of the press, doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics, volunteer firemen, judges, medical examiners, and elected officials. [2]
In the United States, all states issue some special sort of license plate for vehicles which are owned by state and local governments, and the Federal government issues plates for vehicles owned by it. For the most part, the plates look close to the regular passenger plates, except with a separate numbering sequence and with something like "official", "state government", "municipal", or "exempt" (from registraton fees) replacing the slogan.
Some states use a distinctive colour scheme to differentiate the plates from the regular issue. For example, in Virginia, state government license plates have a number suffixed with S and a light blue background, while local government license plates have a number suffixed with L and a tan background. The standard issue has a white background and a different numbering scheme.
The District of Columbia issues special license plates to vehicles owned by the D.C. Government. However, vehicles belonging to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority receive standard license plates appropriate to the class of vehicle, with special validation stickers.
In New York State, local police vehicles are not issued license plates. In some cases, such as New York City the fleet number of the vehicle is put on a flat license plate using heat transferred letters. In Yonkers there is a special plate that looks similar to the specialized optional plates with the Yonkers Police logo and the fleet number. Other communities in the state have a license plate that looks like the regular issue vanity plate, but with the word "POLICE" on it.
Vehicles owned by the United States Postal Service often do not have license plates at all. Instead, an identification number is applied to the vehicle body.
Diplomatic license plates
In the United States
Diplomatic License Plates are issued by the United States Department of State to approved diplomats. This is an exception to the general rule in the US that license plates are issued by the state, and not the federal, government. However, prior to the 1980s, plates were issued by states, with New York issuing the most, followed by the District of Columbia.
Plates issued to cars based in the District of Columbia follow the pattern of a letter identify the status of the owner, followed by the two-letter country code, followed by a four-digit number (L LL NNNN). For member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), a subset of that numbering pattern is allotted to vehicles based at those countries' missions to the OAS. Plates issued to cars based at the United Nations in New York City are reversed, with the four-digit number first, followed by the two-letter country code, followed by the status code (NNNN LL L). This is because representatives of certain countries are limited to travel to certain radii from their base, and the system allows the city of assignment to be identified easily.
The status codes are "C" for Foreign Consul; "D" for Diplomat; "S" for Non-Diplomatic Staff; and "A" for a UN employee. The rights of the driver and car under diplomatic immunity are defined by this status code.
The country codes are, unlike most other country codes, purposely illogical, not standing for anything. For example, France is "DJ" not "F" and Australia is "XZ" not "AUS". This is to prevent the general public from targeting diplomats from particular countries. However, lists of the codes are available.
However, it is an apparently true urban legend that the code used for the former Soviet Union of "FC" stood for "Fucking Communists", the code system having been devised during the height of the Cold War by Ronald Reagan aide (now Congressman) Dana Rohrabacher. Today Russia is assigned code "YR".
Certain US states will issue Honorary Consul plates to US citizens who have been appointed to that ceremonial office. These plates do not confer diplomatic immunity and are not a part of the US State Department system.
In Canada
In Canada, plates are issued by the province in which the consulate or embassy is located. Thus, most plates are issued in Ontario, where the capital Ottawa is located. With the Ontario plates there is country coding and as with the American diplomatic plates the coding is purposely illogical, not standing for anything. This is to prevent the general public from targeting diplomats from particular countries.
