Different places have different prices; it’s not always terribly expensive.
For example, Illinois used to have a distinction between “personalized” and “vanity” plates, and the personalized ones were a pittance more than randomized plates: a one-time fee of $16 or $18 (can’t remember) and then only the normal renewal cost every year after that for as long as you kept the plate. The rule was you had to start with letter(s) and end with number(s) for a total of up to 7 characters. The obvious choice for many people was their last name and then 1 or something like that. There was even a spot to check on the form if you were OK about getting the next number up if the combo you requested was already taken (so you’d be Smith 27 because there were 26 Smiths before you). My plate ends in “8” (-ate) so I did not check that box.
When I was a young buck I had an '87 Nissan Pulsar that I tricked out with many custom stickers (to make it go faster)…on the top of the windshield: 鬼佬 Racing. (Gwailo Racing that is: Cantonese for ghost person/foreign devil…you get the idea).
Some years later I bought a '91 300ZX and attempted to recreate the Gwailo Racing motif…(with fewer stickers) and…a vanity plate. I decided on GWAILO 2. Went through California DMV with no problem.
After awhile I kept having to explain the ‘2’ and figured I would change it to GWAILO Z. Sent in the application: DENIED. ‘…does not meet the criteria for blahblahblah’
There was an extensive list in alphabetical order, that’s regularly updated, when I went to my local DMV in So Cal to register for a vanity plate. No swear words or combos that would possibly come up were allowed, altho I have seen a few really creative ones appear now and then. No Hispanic bad words either, there are plenty of Spanish speakers to try all the possible variations to try and beat the many Spanish speaking employees, The German ones were helpfully supplied by the VW, Porsche, Audi, and Beemer crowd, so I tried a few combos that were rejected, but my fourth alternate succeeded: MRDALOR - think in French.
I thought that you were allowed to choose the letters that didn’t refer to the municipality as long as they weren’t already taken. Hence why in Mercedes publicity photos the license plate always reads S (for Stuttgart) GO [some numbers].
In Europe I think the big difference is that you don’t need new plates when a car changes owner. If you buy a used car it keeps its number unless you choose to buy a number from someone else (originally issued to another car) and put it on.
Here in the UK, they have to fit a defined system but people still pay quite a lot for ones that form words or contain their initials. For instance, the one Vauxhall uses for its ad photos is DE51 RED.
In Hong Kong, personal/vanity plates are called “Personalized Vehicle
Registration Marks (PVRM)”. Following are the main steps by which you obtain one:
Apply for your desired PVRM at one of three application periods each year (January, May and September). You will need to follow rules, including no use of the letters I, O or Q. Your plate should have 8 letters, numerals or spaces. Each applicant can only submit one application.
Applications selected by lot. I.e., if the quota is exceeded, then applications will be randomly chosen.
If application is successful, the applicant must then pay a deposit of HKD 5,000 (USD 650).
After vetting, each applicant plate is auctioned. The reserve price is obviously HKD 5,000 (and thus the cheapest plate possible). If someone else takes a liking to your plate (which is listed on a government website prior to auction), then they can come and bid. The only consolation at this point is that if you lose the bidding war, then you get your HKD 5,000 back.
Personal plates are treated as investments in Hong Kong, and a number of people spend millions collecting them.
The plate “18” sold for HKD 16.5 million (USD 2.128 million). I think this is still the highest price paid for a plate so far.
The vetting procedures state that the following are not allowable:
If the plate is “likely to be offensive to a reasonable person, or has a connotation offensive to good taste or decency”, has triad (gang) connotations, is likely to indicate the vehicle belongs to a government department, etc., or is confusing for matters of law enforcement.
Here’s a picture I took of a plate that caught my eye in Hong Kong. I never quite worked out whether the message was for a person or the car itself…
I distinguished between vanity plate and personalized plate. Perhaps errornously.
Anyway, here in Germany (which, like the Uk, is in Europe ) the car loses its registration when it changes owners. Also, if you move to another municipality, you gotta get a new one. One of the reasons is that insurance rates are tied to the region the car is mostly used in.
Anyway, yes, I think it’s possible to choose from the available subset of plate ids, but with patterns like AA-9999 it’s hard to get anything but initials and birthdate. Sometimes bit even that, as often there are only one letter or three digits available. IQ-600 or (in Stuttgart) S-EX 6969 might be possible.
Me, I’m to cheap to spring even 10€ for any
personalization.
Jesus Christ. That is insane. In Virginia a personalized plate costs you $10 a year plus $10 up front. As a result there are a lot of awesome personalized plates on the road in Virginia.
Some I’ve seen: An old hearse with LSTRIDE. A guy with one of the Wildlife Conservation plates (with the the deer on it) that had DINNER. A blue mini cooper hatchback with TARDIS. Just this morning I saw a Prius with YMMV.
In a city where private car ownership is about 77 cars/1,000 inhabitants, Hong Kong has gone crazy for these plates. The government makes a lot of money out of it. I think I read somewhere there are now 16,000 such plates.
I have to admit, thinking about Hong Kong my first thought is “What would you do with a car? There’s nowhere to go.” I’m guessing they’re status symbols for the rich, and that’s why the government turned the vanity plate system into a blatant cash grab.
There are now slightly more than 500,00 private cars in Hong Kong, which account for 70% of all vehicles. There are 2,090 km of road (318 licensed vehicles for every km), and around 3,500 new car registrations per month. Our roads are clogged and getting more congested with each passing month.
Just for context, 12.2 million passenger journeys are made on a public transport system each day.
Indiana just upheld the right of a man (who happens to be a police officer with a sense of humor) to get back the license plate 0INK which was denied him the last time he tried to renew it.
This would be the state that until recently, the only standard plate for a passenger car said “In God We Trust”. Now, a new version of that plate is still available but one can also – without paying any more money – get a normal plate that just gives the state name and the fact that its bicentennial comes up in a few years. You know, one that actually adheres to the First Amendment.
