Vanity plate
Encyclopedia
A vanity plate or personalized plate (U.S.), prestige plate, private number plate, or personalised registration (UK) or custom plate or personalised plate (Australia and New Zealand) is a special type of vehicle registration plate
on an automobile or other vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will have paid extra money to have his or her own choice of numbers or letters, usually forming a recognizable phrase, slogan, or abbreviation
on their plate. Sales of vanity plates are often a significant source of revenue for North American provincial and state licensing agencies. In some jurisdictions, such as the Canadian province of British Columbia
, vanity plates have a different color scheme and design.
The survey ranked jurisdictions by "vanity plate penetration rate", which is the percentage of registered motor vehicles that are vanitized. Virginia
has the highest U.S. vanity plate penetration rate (16.19%), followed by New Hampshire
(13.99%), Illinois
(13.41%), Nevada
(12.73%), Montana
(9.8%), Maine
(9.7%), Connecticut
(8.14%), New Jersey
(6.8%), North Dakota
(6.5%) and Vermont
(6.1%). Texas
had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (0.5%).
According to the Federal Highway Administration
, in 2005 there were 242,991,747 privately owned and commercial registered automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles in the U.S., which means that 3.83% of eligible U.S. vehicles have vanity plates.
Ontario
had the highest Canadian vanity plate penetration rate (4.59%), followed by Saskatchewan
(2.69%), Manitoba
(1.96%), the Yukon (1.79%), and the Northwest Territories (1.75%). British Columbia
had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (0.59%).
According to Statistics Canada
, in 2006 there were 14,980,046 registered motor vehicles (excluding bus
es, trailers
, and off-road, farm and construction vehicles) in the provinces and territories that issue vanity plates, which means that 2.94 % of eligible Canadian vehicles have vanity plates.
The survey also found that vanity plates are issued by every state and the District of Columbia
, and every province, except for Quebec
and Newfoundland and Labrador
.
In some states and provinces, optional plates can also be vanity plates and are a choice of motorists who want a more distinctive personalized plate. However, the maximum number of characters on an optional plate may be lower than on a standard-issue plate. For example, the U.S. state of Virginia
allows up to 7.5 characters (a space or hyphen is counted as 0.5 character) on a standard-issue plate, but only up to 6 characters on many of its optional plates.
In some states, a motorist may check the availability of a desired combination online.
All U.S. states and Canadian provinces that issue vanity plates have a "blue list" of vanity plates that contains banned words, phrases, or letter/number combinations. The U.S. state of Florida
, for example, has banned such plates as "PIMPALA" , while the state of New York
bans any plates with the letters "FDNY
", "NYPD
", or "GOD
", among others. Often the ban is to eliminate confusion with plates used on governmental vehicles or plates used on other classes of vehicles. However, a licensing authority's discretion to deny or revoke "offensive" vanity plates is finite. For example, some U.S. motorists have successfully sued their state governments on that issue under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
.
The "blue list" is not definitive; in general, the agent processing an application for a vanity plate can reject a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if the phrase does not match a banned word exactly. State DMVs have received complaints about offensive vanity plates. In this case, the DMV can revoke a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if it had been previously approved.
The "blue list" may be limited to genuine vanity plates, not covering computer-generated accidents. For example, Florida's famous "A55 RGY" license plate (with the standard drawing of an orange in the middle) looks like "ASS ORGY".
In some cases, a plate that has already been issued can be recalled and stripped from the vehicle's owner if the plate's message is found to be in violation after it has been issued. Some notable cases are:
are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
(DVLA). They do not approve personalized registrations if they contain words which are offensive in any widely used language. The DVLA however lately have released more and more previously banned combinations such as SEX and DAM. UK plates have to match certain very strict letter/number combinations - see Vehicle registration plates of the United Kingdom.
Registrations can be sold, or transferred from one vehicle to another, with some restrictions. Originally the only vanity plates allowed to be transferred were ordinary registrations that had been transferred, but in the 1990s the DVLA began selling personalized registrations unrelated to the registration districts.The trade of number plates was started by private dealers, entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity to sell something in demand.
There is some additional flexibility available by using numbers that resemble letters (e.g., S for 5), or by using large black, yellow or white headed screws to fix the plate to the car to fill in or create a gap (e.g. in the middle of 'H' to make it look like two 1's or I's). However, the font style, size and spacing is mandated by law, making the practice illegal.
Some plates acquire significance only because of particular owners. For example, "COM 1C" was formerly owned by the comedian Jimmy Tarbuck
, magician Paul Daniels
had "MAG 1C", the 1967 plate "BEL 12E" is owned by the Belize
High Commission, and "1 AFG" is owned by the Afghan embassy.
In the UK, there are a large number of private dealers who act as agents selling DVLA registrations, as well as their own stock - often purchased at auction or from private sellers.
In Australia
the various states offer personalised plate schemes, with some states having a yearly fee to maintain the cherished number. In the Australian states of Victoria
and Queensland
the proceeds from the sale of custom plates and personalised plates go towards road safety activities.
, Austria
, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong
, Latvia, Luxembourg, Belgium
, Poland
, Slovenia, Iceland, Sweden and Turkey also allow such license plates.
German car registration law does not allow license plates such as these, but it is possible to select the two letters after the district designation and up to four numbers thereafter for a small fee. It is common in Germany for car owners to register license plates with their initials and a year or number of significance to them. For example, a man by the name of Jimmy Wales living in Berlin and born in 1966 might opt to register B JW 1966, providing it is still available.
On November 19, 2007, Dutch MP
Paul de Krom proposed that vanity plates be introduced in the Netherlands
as well, after having seen them while visiting the United States. One barrier his proposal would have to overcome would be that the RDW (the Dutch vehicle registration authority
) links license plates to the actual cars as opposed to their owners.
In Poland
there is an option to buy an individual number plate at extra charge. The plate looks the same as the ordinary one, there is a letter showing the country district, then one number and then up to five letters of free choice.
In the United Arab Emirates
, regular number plates consist of five digits and one optional character (depending on the emirate). So-called "distinguished plates" have a special combination of digits (12345, 55555, etc.) or less than five digits and are sold at public auctions, the profit of which is used for charities. Very low numbers fetch very high prices, the record being the number one plate from Abu Dhabi, sold for 52.2 million Dirhams (14 million US dollars). In Dubai, plate number one (without additional letter) is registered to the car of Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Dubai.
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
on an automobile or other vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will have paid extra money to have his or her own choice of numbers or letters, usually forming a recognizable phrase, slogan, or abbreviation
Abbreviation
An abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
on their plate. Sales of vanity plates are often a significant source of revenue for North American provincial and state licensing agencies. In some jurisdictions, such as the Canadian province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, vanity plates have a different color scheme and design.
North America
In 2007, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) and Stefan Lonce, author of License to Roam: Vanity License Plates and the Stories They Tell, conducted North America's first state by state and province by province survey of vanity plates, revealing that there are 9.7 million vehicles with personalized vanity license plates.The survey ranked jurisdictions by "vanity plate penetration rate", which is the percentage of registered motor vehicles that are vanitized. Virginia
Vehicle registration plates of Virginia
The state of Virginia first required its citizens to register their vehicles and display license plates on their cars in 1906. Plates are currently issued by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles .-Motor vehicle registration statistics:...
has the highest U.S. vanity plate penetration rate (16.19%), followed by New Hampshire
Vehicle registration plates of New Hampshire
The state of New Hampshire began requiring its citizens to register their vehicles and display license plates on their cars in 1905.-Passenger baseplates 1933 to present:-Non-passenger types:-External links:*...
(13.99%), Illinois
Vehicle registration plates of Illinois
The U.S. state of Illinois first required motorists to register their vehicles in 1907 and began issuing license plates to registrants in 1911. Plates were issued annually until 1978.-Early history:...
(13.41%), Nevada
Vehicle registration plates of Nevada
The U.S. state of Nevada first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1910 as Potty.-Passenger baseplates 1933 to present:-County coding for 1975 series:-Non-passenger and optional-issue plates:...
(12.73%), Montana
Vehicle registration plates of Montana
The U.S. state of Montana began requiring its residents to register their vehicles and display license plates on their cars in 1915.-Passenger baseplates 1976 to present:-County Coding:County Code number: County *1: Silver Bow...
(9.8%), Maine
Vehicle registration plates of Maine
The U.S. state of Maine first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1905.-Passenger plates 1956 to present:-External links:*...
(9.7%), Connecticut
Vehicle registration plates of Connecticut
The U.S. state of Connecticut began requiring its residents to display license plates on their motor vehicles in 1905. Since then, Connecticut has used a variety of license plate designs, and has issued different designs for passenger, non-passenger, and, more recently, optional plate types that...
(8.14%), New Jersey
Vehicle registration plates of New Jersey
The U.S. state of New Jersey first issued license plates in 1908. Plates are currently issued by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.All bases of all classes of plates from 1959 to present are still valid for display in New Jersey...
(6.8%), North Dakota
Vehicle registration plates of North Dakota
The U.S. state of North Dakota first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1911.-Passenger baseplates 1933 to present:-External links:*...
(6.5%) and Vermont
Vehicle registration plates of Vermont
The U.S. state of Vermont first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1905. Plates are issued by the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles .-Passenger baseplates 1957 to present:-Non-passenger types:...
(6.1%). Texas
Vehicle registration plates of Texas
The U.S. state of Texas first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1917.-Passenger baseplates 1995 to present:-External links:*...
had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (0.5%).
According to the Federal Highway Administration
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program...
, in 2005 there were 242,991,747 privately owned and commercial registered automobiles, trucks, and motorcycles in the U.S., which means that 3.83% of eligible U.S. vehicles have vanity plates.
Ontario
Vehicle registration plates of Ontario
The province of Ontario first required its residents to register their vehicles and display licence plates in 1903. Along with regular series plates, the province also offers graphic plates and vanity plates with a maximum of 8 digits...
had the highest Canadian vanity plate penetration rate (4.59%), followed by Saskatchewan
Vehicle registration plates of Saskatchewan
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1912. Plates are currently issued by Saskatchewan Government Insurance.-Vehicle registration plates:-History:...
(2.69%), Manitoba
Vehicle registration plates of Manitoba
The Canadian province of Manitoba first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1911.-Passenger plates 1983 to present:-External links:*...
(1.96%), the Yukon (1.79%), and the Northwest Territories (1.75%). British Columbia
Vehicle registration plates of British Columbia
The Canadian province of British Columbia first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1904.- Passenger plates 1964 to present :- Truck plates 1979 to present :- Licence plate decals :...
had the lowest vanity plate penetration rate (0.59%).
According to Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
, in 2006 there were 14,980,046 registered motor vehicles (excluding bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
es, trailers
Trailer (vehicle)
A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....
, and off-road, farm and construction vehicles) in the provinces and territories that issue vanity plates, which means that 2.94 % of eligible Canadian vehicles have vanity plates.
Vehicle registration plates of Washington, D.C.
The U.S. federal district of Washington, D.C. first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display license plates in 1907.-Passenger baseplates 1985 to present:-Non-passenger types:-Optional types:-External links:**...
, and every province, except for Quebec
Vehicle registration plates of Quebec
The Canadian province of Quebec first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1912. Plates are currently issued by the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec....
and Newfoundland and Labrador
Vehicle registration plates of Newfoundland and Labrador
The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador first required its residents to register their motor vehicles and display licence plates in 1920....
.
In some states and provinces, optional plates can also be vanity plates and are a choice of motorists who want a more distinctive personalized plate. However, the maximum number of characters on an optional plate may be lower than on a standard-issue plate. For example, the U.S. state of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
allows up to 7.5 characters (a space or hyphen is counted as 0.5 character) on a standard-issue plate, but only up to 6 characters on many of its optional plates.
In some states, a motorist may check the availability of a desired combination online.
All U.S. states and Canadian provinces that issue vanity plates have a "blue list" of vanity plates that contains banned words, phrases, or letter/number combinations. The U.S. state of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, for example, has banned such plates as "PIMPALA" , while the state of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
bans any plates with the letters "FDNY
New York City Fire Department
The New York City Fire Department or the Fire Department of the City of New York has the responsibility for protecting the citizens and property of New York City's five boroughs from fires and fire hazards, providing emergency medical services, technical rescue as well as providing first response...
", "NYPD
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...
", or "GOD
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
", among others. Often the ban is to eliminate confusion with plates used on governmental vehicles or plates used on other classes of vehicles. However, a licensing authority's discretion to deny or revoke "offensive" vanity plates is finite. For example, some U.S. motorists have successfully sued their state governments on that issue under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
.
The "blue list" is not definitive; in general, the agent processing an application for a vanity plate can reject a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if the phrase does not match a banned word exactly. State DMVs have received complaints about offensive vanity plates. In this case, the DMV can revoke a plate if it is deemed offensive, even if it had been previously approved.
The "blue list" may be limited to genuine vanity plates, not covering computer-generated accidents. For example, Florida's famous "A55 RGY" license plate (with the standard drawing of an orange in the middle) looks like "ASS ORGY".
In some cases, a plate that has already been issued can be recalled and stripped from the vehicle's owner if the plate's message is found to be in violation after it has been issued. Some notable cases are:
- In 2002, a FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
man was stripped of his plates that read "ATHEIST", but was then allowed to keep them.
- A VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
woman lost her plates that read "HAISSEM" (messiah spelled backwards).
- In 2007, a South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
woman nearly lost her vanity plates that read "MPEACHW" (meaning "impeach WGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
"), but the decision to remove them was later reversed.
- In 2009, Jimmy Marr, a longtime member of Eugene, OregonEugene, OregonEugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
's controversial Pacifica ForumPacifica ForumThe Pacifica Forum is a controversial discussion group in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It has been listed as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center . It is hosted by retired University of Oregon professor Orval Etter...
, was stripped of his plates that read "NO ZOGZionist Occupation GovernmentZionist Occupation Government or Zionist Occupied Government is an antisemitic conspiracy theory which holds that Jews secretly control a given country, while the formal government is a puppet regime....
". Protestors at a Phoenix, OregonPhoenix, OregonPhoenix is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. The population was 4,060 at the 2000 census and has grown to 4,855 people as of July 1, 2009.-History:...
neo-Nazi meeting noticed the plates on Marr's vehicle. The state DMV had initially approved the plate without recognizing it as anti-Semitic.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, number platesBritish car number plates
Vehicle registration plates are the mandatory number plates used to display the registration mark of a vehicle, and have existed in the United Kingdom since 1904...
are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is the organisation of the UK Government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers and a database of vehicles in Great Britain; its counterpart in Northern Ireland is the Driver & Vehicle Agency...
(DVLA). They do not approve personalized registrations if they contain words which are offensive in any widely used language. The DVLA however lately have released more and more previously banned combinations such as SEX and DAM. UK plates have to match certain very strict letter/number combinations - see Vehicle registration plates of the United Kingdom.
Registrations can be sold, or transferred from one vehicle to another, with some restrictions. Originally the only vanity plates allowed to be transferred were ordinary registrations that had been transferred, but in the 1990s the DVLA began selling personalized registrations unrelated to the registration districts.The trade of number plates was started by private dealers, entrepreneurs who saw an opportunity to sell something in demand.
There is some additional flexibility available by using numbers that resemble letters (e.g., S for 5), or by using large black, yellow or white headed screws to fix the plate to the car to fill in or create a gap (e.g. in the middle of 'H' to make it look like two 1's or I's). However, the font style, size and spacing is mandated by law, making the practice illegal.
Some plates acquire significance only because of particular owners. For example, "COM 1C" was formerly owned by the comedian Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck
Jimmy Tarbuck OBE or Tarby is an English comedian. Growing up he was a schoolmate of John Lennon.His first television show was It's Tarbuck 65! on ITV in 1964. He has also hosted numerous quiz shows, including Winner Takes All, Full Swing, and Tarby's Frame Game...
, magician Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...
had "MAG 1C", the 1967 plate "BEL 12E" is owned by the Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
High Commission, and "1 AFG" is owned by the Afghan embassy.
In the UK, there are a large number of private dealers who act as agents selling DVLA registrations, as well as their own stock - often purchased at auction or from private sellers.
Other countries
Australian vehicle number plates
Australian vehicle number plates are issued by the states, territories, and also the Commonwealth government and the armed forces. The plates are associated with a vehicle and generally last for the time the vehicle remains registered in the state, though as they become unreadable they may be...
the various states offer personalised plate schemes, with some states having a yearly fee to maintain the cherished number. In the Australian states of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
and Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
the proceeds from the sale of custom plates and personalised plates go towards road safety activities.
, Austria
Austrian car number plates
- Appearance :The license plates are made of metal. On the left there is a blue bar like in other EU countries ; the text is in black letters on a white background. On the top and bottom, there are red-white-red stripes, which are the national colors of Austria...
, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong
Hong Kong car number plates
In Hong Kong, vehicle registration marks are managed by the Transport Department. The number plates are not provided by the government, but are made by garages to the order of the car owner.-Overview:...
, Latvia, Luxembourg, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Poland
Polish car number plates
In common with many countries, Polish car number plates indicate the region of registration of the vehicle encoded in the number plate.-General:...
, Slovenia, Iceland, Sweden and Turkey also allow such license plates.
German car registration law does not allow license plates such as these, but it is possible to select the two letters after the district designation and up to four numbers thereafter for a small fee. It is common in Germany for car owners to register license plates with their initials and a year or number of significance to them. For example, a man by the name of Jimmy Wales living in Berlin and born in 1966 might opt to register B JW 1966, providing it is still available.
On November 19, 2007, Dutch MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Paul de Krom proposed that vanity plates be introduced in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
as well, after having seen them while visiting the United States. One barrier his proposal would have to overcome would be that the RDW (the Dutch vehicle registration authority
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
) links license plates to the actual cars as opposed to their owners.
In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
there is an option to buy an individual number plate at extra charge. The plate looks the same as the ordinary one, there is a letter showing the country district, then one number and then up to five letters of free choice.
In the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
, regular number plates consist of five digits and one optional character (depending on the emirate). So-called "distinguished plates" have a special combination of digits (12345, 55555, etc.) or less than five digits and are sold at public auctions, the profit of which is used for charities. Very low numbers fetch very high prices, the record being the number one plate from Abu Dhabi, sold for 52.2 million Dirhams (14 million US dollars). In Dubai, plate number one (without additional letter) is registered to the car of Sheikh Mohammed, ruler of Dubai.
External links
- VanityPl8.org - USA Home of Vanity License Plates (Personalized, Novelty)
- UK Personalized Number Plate Photos - Words, Names, Number Ones, Dateless and Diplomatic Number Plate photos.
- A Gallery of Funny License Plates - Sorted by make, state, genre, and more.
- "van8ty" license plates - daily updates of vanity license plates.
- License Plate Quiz - Vanity license plate game.