Customized License Plates Are Fun, But Be Aware Of Several Things

Many have considered getting personalized license plates. There's no problem with them, and they lend a touch of personality to one's car. However, there are some things one should know before taking the plunge.

Licenses must be authorized

There is a Word Committee in the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles that is in charge of approving individualized license plates submitted by people in Virginia for their automobiles, though there is a bit of Orwell humor involved in that name. Melanie Stokes is one of the members of the Word Committee and was in an article with Car and Driver on its website recently.

There are 50 Word Committees, and Virginia's is just one of those. All of the committees are in charge of approving the words before a custom license plate can be used.

Trying to get by

One would think that since the driver is the one paying the car finance company, they should be able to put anything they want on their car. However, that lives in the world of "should be" rather than the world that "is," so attempting to get clever with a state DMV is unlikely to pay dividends.

The DMV can turn down any license plate, no matter how cute you think it is and just how much you need it on your car. If the words are too inappropriate, they will be turned down. Every state has its own set of needs and lists of banned words, which you can find and review before submitting your license plate suggestion, according to Esquire.

The Maryland DMV does not allow the word "TOILET" on a plate, but "THEPUKE" was perfectly acceptable. "PIMP was banned by "FATPIMP" was allowed. Certainly, the rules for what is acceptable are completely arbitrary, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Ruling could be overruled

However, errors can be made and most states do have an appeals process for people who believe their license plate was disallowed unjustly. Aside from submissions from the peanut gallery, people who want a customized license plate will have to pay individualized license plate charges for their vanity plates.

There are bad things that can happen with the personalized plates though, according to Yahoo. One male, Danny White, gets tickets each month for cars in many different states that do not have identification on them because his plates say "NO TAGS." This is just one of the possible consequences.