When you get a new vehicle, you probably like to personalize it. You like to pick a sleek color for the exterior, select a nice color for the interior, and choose rims or tires that give your car an extra oomph.
Some people may not bother with all of this hassle—they may not personalize every detail of their vehicle because the design isn’t the most important thing to them. Perhaps they care more about safety. It’s equally important to have a car that can go from point A to B.
However, if you’re someone who cares about personalizing every aspect of your vehicle, then you need more than just a safe car. You need something that’s tailored specifically to you.
Whether it’s a car, truck, or motorcycle, custom vehicles are essential to you. They act as an extension of your identity, and they give people a glimpse into who you are and what you like. That’s why you put so much energy into personalizing your vehicle and maybe even your license plates.
Custom license plates can say a lot about you. They can reveal your interest, hobbies, favorite sports team, alma mater, and whether or not you’re active military or a veteran. But getting these plates is not always easy, especially when you go through the DMV. That’s why you need to learn how to get personalized license plates online.
What to know about personalized license plates
Before you learn how to get personalized license plates online, you need to know something else first: custom plates can backfire from time to time. These pitfalls usually don’t occur if your personalized plates simply include a picture next to your license plate number.
For example, maybe you want to include your favorite team’s mascot or your college logo on your license plates. In this scenario, you’ll rarely face issues with personalizing your plates.
However, when you go beyond choosing an image and try to select the numbers and letters on your new license plates, problems can sometimes occur. It’s not uncommon to see people who’ve chosen a combination of letters and numbers for their license plates and unintentionally and surprisingly faced hurdles.
In fact, here are just a handful of stories that illustrate what can happen when you try to personalize your new license plates.
1. License plates that say NOTAG
Multiple drivers have experienced the consequences of having NOTAG on their license plates. In 2004, a man with a Suzuki motorcycle received more than 200 citations because of Delaware’s computer system. According to the Associated Press, the system linked any ticket regarding a lack of plates to the man’s personal information.
A similar incident also happened to a woman in 2012. While living in Florida, she found herself with 145 tickets that cost more than $8,000. And it was all because her personalized license plates had NOTAG on them.
2. License plates that say NO TAGS
In Washington DC, a man had slightly different license plates than the one in the above example. Instead of NOTAG, his license plates read NO TAGS. And, of course, this variation also led to issues.
The man kept his license plates for nearly 30 years, and during that time, he got more than $20,000 in tickets. He told an NBC affiliate that he had to visit the courthouse every few months to get the tickets removed.
But eventually, city officials spoke to authorities to resolve the issue. Moving forward, ticket writers had to write down “none” instead of “no tags” if they came across a vehicle without license plates.
3. License plates that say NONE
The next example comes from Los Angeles in 1979. According to LA Times, the state allowed people to write down their top three choices for a custom license plate.
A sportsman who loved the ocean wrote BOATING and SAILING as his top two choices. Then, in the third slot, he jotted down NO PLATE, assuming the DMV would realize he wanted a standard license plate if his top two choices didn’t work. However, the DMV never made this realization.
The characters on his license plate read NO PLATE. And after seven months, he had 2,500 citations. The LA Times reported that the DMV had to inform the authorities to stop writing “no plate” on tickets and start saying “none.”
4. License plates that say NV
In 2004, a man in California decided to use NV on his new license plates—these characters were his initials, and for a while, things were great. He didn’t run into any issues.
But one day, he discovered something interesting. In California, NV stands for “not visible” to traffic cops. And it wasn’t long before the man started to get tickets, which he handled one-by-one. However, when something happened with Oakland’s computer system, the man started to receive tickets across different counties, totaling more than $3,000.
Choose your new custom license plates carefully
The list above offers just a handful of examples to showcase how tricky it can be when you get personalized license plates. But those examples shouldn’t scare you off.
You can still personalize your plates, regardless of whether you want an image or your own sequence of letters and numbers. Just keep in mind that if you choose the ladder, select a combination of characters wisely. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re getting tickets on a regular basis for no fault of your own.
Your state will try to do what it can to help you out—city officials are not required to approve your request for personalized license plates. So if your state notices that your combination of letters and numbers is problematic, they will reject it.
But states are not going to catch every potential blunder. If you want to prevent any problems, you need to make sure the letters and numbers you’re picking won’t lead to any obstacles.
Get personalized license plates online
Once you figure out what you’re going to put on your personalized license plates, you have two options to get it done. You can either go through the DMV. The organization allows you to come in person, mail in a form, or use their website to get personalized plates.
Or, you can have a transportation agency like Barry Risk Management, Inc. handle everything for you. Unlike the DMV, Barry Risk Management, Inc. makes things easy. Everything is online. Their processes are convenient, simple, and easy to go through. And there are representatives that are waiting to help you if questions arise.
With over 30 years of experience in the DMV industry, Barry Risk Management, Inc. knows how to get you new personalized license plates. It doesn’t matter what state you’re in or what the rules are. If you want custom license plates, Barry Risk Management, Inc. can help you quicker than the DMV.
For help getting new license plates that are personalized to your tastes, call 1-888-995-TAGS(8247) to speak with a representative!
