California License Plate Sticker Colors

The license plate generator for the cars in West Coast, USA is very accurate. Right down to using next year's sticker, if the month sticker in the upper left corner is the current month or earlier; and retaining this year's sticker, if the month sticker is next month or later. Pretty ingenious whoever came up with that. In 1956, California issued new base license plates with a yellow background and black lettering. Passenger car plates have 3 letters and 3 numbers. Truck / commercial plates have 1 letter and 5 numbers. These plates can be used on 1956 - 1962 model-year California cars and trucks per the DMV's Year of Manufacture program as follows. Find information about standard license plates, including how to apply for plates, renew license plates, and transfer tags.You can also find the cost of license plates and other relevant information on these pages. All states require motor vehicles to have license plates issued by the state's DMV which will be issued when you register your vehicle. This identification plate is commonly referred to as a 'California Green Sticker.' Identification, also referred to as 'OHV Registration,' is the equivalent of registration for OHVs, and has the same meaning. The registration fee is $52 per vehicle, and is valid for a two-year period.

  1. License Plate Stickers By Year
  2. California License Plate Tag Sticker Colors

Vehicle owners in California must have a registered vehicle with the appropriate license plates. All rear plates must display a validation sticker that is up-to-date. Failure to do so leads to additional fees when renewing a vehicle.

Sample California License Plate

Getting a License Plate in California

If you’re living or plan to live in California, you can register your vehicle with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The DMV is the place to register, apply for license plates, and purchase validation stickers.

Remember, California law states that you must have up-to-date license plates with a valid sticker displayed on the rear of your vehicle.

Types of License Plates in California

When you register your vehicle and apply for license plates, you can choose between the state’s standard california license plate or a specialty plate.

  • Standard California License Plate: White plate with dark blue letters
  • Specialty Plate: See Specialty License Plates in California

Upon registration, you must show your license (not expired). When you receive your license plates, you are expected to place 1 on the front and 1 at the rear.

If you are registering a motorcycle, you may only be required to display 1 license plate on the rear.

Validating Your California License Plates

In addition to registering your vehicle at the DMV, you must also purchase a validation stick to show the month of expiration. This sticker must be placed on the rear plate and be visible at all times.

You will obtain both a month stick and a year sticker. The month sticker should never change and a new year sticker will be given to you upon renewal of your registration.

Personalized License Plates in California

It's not uncommon to see catchy slogans and phrases found on license plates in California. You can personalize your license plate using a combination of numbers, letters, and some special characters.

If you are personalizing standard plates, you must follow these guidelines:

  1. Limit of 2 to 7 characters
  2. No slang or offensive words (English or any other language)
  3. Cannot look like an existing license plate (i.e. interchanging letters and numbers).

The California DMV does not provide a search to see which plates are available. Instead, you can go here to look up California plates for free.

Specialty License Plates in California

There is a wide range of specialty license plates offered by the California DMV. The cost for these plates add an additional $50 (more or less) to your total. Take a look at a few of the specialty plates you can get in California:

  • Agricultural License Plates
  • Arts Council License Plates
  • UCLA Collegiate License Plates
  • Firefighter License Plates [for current of retirees]
  • Child Health & Safety License Plates
  • Pet License Plates
  • Wildlife Conservation License Plates
  • Historical License Plates
  • Special Recognition License Plates

Some of these plates require an application form to be considered. To be eligible, you may have to provide additional documentation. For example, if you are applying for the Firefight License Plates, you would have to provide documentation that shows that you are/were a firefighter.

Applying for California License Plates

Whether you have just moved to California with your car or you are a resident purchasing a new vehicle, you must get your vehicle registered at the DMV within 20 days.

To register your vehicle, you’ll need:

California
  • Valid Car Insurance
  • Application Form
  • Money to Pay for Fees

Depending on the vehicle you are registering, you may also need additional documents such as an emissions test or previous title.

Surrendering License Plates in California

In California, you do not surrender your plates to the DMV when you sell your car. Instead, your plates remain with the car and transfer to the new owner (if there is a new vehicle owner).

However, if you have purchased specialty plates, those remain yours and you can have them transferred to your new motor vehicle or simply to hold onto.

If you already have standard plates for your vehicle and wish to upgrade to specialty plates, you will have to surrender your standard plates to do so.

Lost or Stolen California License Plates

Sometimes you may find your license plates missing. If this occurs, you must apply for new plates immediately. You can obtain new plates by submitting a application for replacement then bring it in person or mail it to the DMV.

You will also be required to pay replacement fees:

  • Replacement Plate: $21
  • Replacement Sticker: $21

To receive your new plates faster (sometimes in the same day) it is best to go to the DMV instead of mailing an application for replacement.

Note: you can obtain a replacement for the monthly stickers absolutely free!

Renewing License Plates in California

Before your the date on your license plate stickers expire, you should go to the DMV and renew your vehicle’s registration. You’ll have to renew your vehicle once per year, and upon renewal you will receive a new year sticker to apply to your license plate.

Depending on the year your vehicle is made, you may also be expected to undergo an emissions test. Changes to legislation occur each year, and with the advancements in car technologies, your car may be subjected to additional fees if it does not keep the air clean.

How to lookup California license plates

Plate

Before ordering your personalized license plate, you can look up available license plates in California for free. You’ll be able to find which plate names are available.

As well, if you are looking to purchase a vehicle privately, this license plate search engine gives you VIN information such as vehicle history and previous owners. Kingdom come deliverance console commands gold.

Naruto episode 5 english dub facebook. Here is a step by step guide on how to lookup a California license plate number and report bad drivers:

  1. Open a web browser
  2. Go to FindByPlate.com
  3. Enter the plate number and select state
  4. View the report
  5. View images submitted by the community
  6. View videos submitted by the community
  7. Add comments
  8. Add pictures of the vehicle
  9. Add videos related to the vehicle
Sticker

Example:[Collected via e-mail, April 2009]


Yet another dirty trick foisted on legitimate drivers:

While my car was in to have the front brakes renewed on Friday March 27th, one of the mechanics commented that someone had stolen my sticker. When I asked what he was talking about, he took me to the back of the car to show me where someone had removed my newly applied February 2010 vehicle validation sticker.

Most of us simply clean off the surface of the previous sticker and put the new one on top of it. That way, all a thief has to do is to pry off the layered stack, clean up the back and glue your sticker onto their license plate, or worse, sell it to someone else to apply it to theirs. This allows them to avoid the need to bother about paying for an Emissions Test, paying the renewal fee of $74.00, or the new “Miller” private vehicle tax (only in Toronto) and, by extension, probably drive uninsured. Next year they will simply repeat the process with another stolen sticker. Unless they are stopped by the police for some reason and the ownership validation sticker number is checked against the number on the sticker on the license plate, they may well get away with it for years.

On Monday I went to the Ministry of Transportation to obtain my new sticker; they indicated that this is quite common. The replacement cost was $7.00 — once again the victim takes the hit.

This time I scraped the sticker location completely clean of old stickers, washed the site with lighter fluid, and then applied the new one and rubbed it down well.

The lady that served us indicated that once the site is cleaned off and the new sticker is applied and well rubbed down, if you take a sharp Exacto knife or something similar and score lines vertically and horizontally across the sticker, it guarantees that it can only be removed in small, useless pieces. This tip came from a customer who had been hit, as we were. Our new sticker is now in place and well scored. Incidentally, as the license plate is aluminum, there is no risk of rusting due to the scoring.

Whenever you replace your validation sticker my advice is to completely remove all traces of the old sticker(s) and follow the process above. At least then the thief will steal someone else’s sticker.

Please advise your friends and relatives. Note: While this happened in Toronto, it could happen anywhere in the province or for that matter anywhere that uses a similar validation sticker.


License Plate Stickers By Year

As for the thieves, while having up-to-date validation stickers on their vehicles might keep them from being pulled over for not displaying proof of current registration, it won’t help them if police ever have cause to “run the plates”; that is, query the police database for more information about the vehicle they’ve stopped by entering the plate number in their computer. At that point, the unregistered state of the car will make itself known when the plates show as expired. Police as a matter of policy run plates when they stop vehicles they suspect have committed traffic violations, but they also often query the plates of cars around them as they drive along, as well as those of disabled vehicles pulled off to the side of the road. In other words, as little as getting a flat tire or having a police cruiser pull into the lane next to them can be all it takes to land the miscreants in hot water.

So, while there is some small reason to fear your vehicle license registration sticker might get stolen, given the small cost of replacing it you need not feel inspired to engage in wildly protective measures to safeguard that item. Also, given how easily the ruse of putting a live sticker on a dead plate is exposed, you likewise needn’t necessarily fear that any thief who did take your sticker is truly going to get away scot-free.

Barbara “sticker stickler” Mikkelson

Additional information:

Validation Sticker Renewal (Ontario Ministry of Transportation)
Personal Vehicle Tax FAQ (Service Ontario)

California License Plate Tag Sticker Colors