I have never had or wanted a vanity plate, but I certainly enjoy seeing the creative letter and digit choices others have made in the name of having fun, flexing, or otherwise sending a message via their federally mandated stamped sheetmetal.
Well, I enjoy some of them. The others, I react to, as I am just as frequently annoyed by vanity plates as I am entertained by them. Not deeply annoyed, mind you, there are much more important concerns in life. But I will roll my eyes, and perhaps exhale sharply with a dismissive pfffft.
In particular, I’m not a fan of smug plates on electric vehicles – by which I mean Teslas. It’s almost always Teslas. It was once a thing for Priuses (which are hybrids, I know), but I can’t recall the last time I saw a Prius suggesting its driver was somehow better than me via license plate. And to be fair, it seems the Tesla owners around my neck of north-Dallas suburbia have chilled out with LOL GAS, NO OIL, LUV ERTH, and the like. I’m sure they’re still out there, but with every third vehicle being a white Model Y where I am, most of the Tesla plates I see are standard luck-of-the-draw affairs. It’s just a regular car, after all.
Vanity plates on enthusiast cars run hot and cold for me, depending entirely on the message of course. A hot car with a HOT CAR plate is a hat on a hat. But if you’re rolling out in a pricey performance machine and your plate is BROKE or NO401K, respect. And while a chuckle was likely not the intention, I do get a one whenever a plate goes harder than the car itself deserves, for ex:
My favorite vanity plates are the thinkers, the ones that take a sec to register but then reward you with the thrill of getting it. Such as:
Judging by those fender flares, I’m betting there’s an angry-eyes grille up front for eff’s sake.
it’s a McConaughey thing
byu/Austin_Native_2 inLICENSEPLATES
McConaug-HEY, I get it! And it’s a Texas plate, of course. That’s quality license-plate humor.
Your turn: What Are The Best And Worst Vanity Plates You’ve Encountered? See you in the comments!
I like the plate on my minivan: RUNNOFT. If you like Coen brothers’ films, you’ll probably know it.
Back in the 80s there used to be a bright red Alfa Romeo Milano driving around town with the license plate MY4RE.
My favorite one I’ve seen said NOTLOB, which all educated people will know is not a pun, but rather the palindrome of Bolton.
This is hand’s down the best one I have seen. I was driving in Chapel Hill, NC and spotted what I though was Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski in the car ahead with a “COACH K” plate. However, I then noticed the multiple UNC logos (Duke’s bitter cross-town rival) and realized this guy had DENIED HIM THE PLATE. As I take the photo, he is giving me the thumbs up (tried to post the photo with no luck)!!!
I saw SNAAB on a SAAB
A friend of mine from Michigan had that on a 9-5 wagon for a while, until he discovered the spectacle that is the half-turbo engine, he didn’t own that too long. I don’t remember why he disliked it specifically.
ALYOOP, limit of 6 characters in New Zealand. Pretty sure it was a basketball family who has this plate in Wellington.
I had RAPTOR on my BMW M235i. You will need to be an airplane and BMW geek to get that one.
I had PAZZO on my Fiat 500 Abarth. Seemed appropriate for the nutty little thing.
Those were both in Maine. Maine is weird – for a long time they were very strict about vanity plates, then they weren’t and some poeple got some pretty lewd ones, then they got strict again.
In Florida I have a “Sunset” plate on one car, but it’s not a vanity plate. The other has a plain Sunshine State license plate.
Maine is re-issuing all the license plates this year, so my two old British Crocks got new Antique plates with the pine tree giving the finger and a star. When my BMW gets re-registered I am going to give up my combination plate that I don’t need anymore and get the no tree plain black on white Maine plate for it. That was what Maine license plates looked like when I was a kid, before the ’80s “boiled lobster” plates debuted.
There was a guy with a bright yellow 3-series BMW near me whose plate was NOTMLOL.
Saw a vanity plate in Hong Kong that read, “BEER.” Game, set, match.
Depends on how fast & sloppy you want to get there.
Tequila!
I was surprised to see that was a legit plate.
There was an Audi TT that used to drive on my same commute route to work in the morning I would see often. He had a license plate frame from the James Madison Law School and the plate was “PROVEIT.”
I had WTFHPND on my 2003 IS300 for nearly 15 years with the car registered in Minnesota. I gave it up when I sold the car and bought my 2021 Compass to move across the country. Given the gray paint of the vehicle, I got the plate MUNRCK for it as I work in aerospace and live in “Rocket City” in North Alabama. Its fitting for the area.
My car’s registered as UNIVRS in Massachusetts. The Pearl and Pink Diamond decals on the back glass should give passersby a clue!
Massachusetts has some pretty stringent rules for Vanity plates.
You can always tell if a Massachusetts plate is a vanity because the expiration month isn’t marked in the upper left corner (they renew yearly in November). But what people in Massachusetts go nuts for is the annual low number plate lottery. A subset of Reserved plates are considered lotto plates (basically anything with four digits or less; the combinations are listed in the RMV plate manual). When low number plates are de-registered (usually because the person who has it dies and doesn’t bequeath it to a relative, or someone moves out of state) they go back into the lotto pool. We’re talking four-digit numeric, single alpha with one to three digits, etc. I actually won a three digit numeric plate last year but didn’t accept it because it was a high number that wasn’t particularly meaningful to me. Now, if I had won 255, I would’ve taken it. The trouble is that you don’t get to choose the plate you want if you win the lotto. It’s like a raffle; you have to hope that your ticket is drawn when the plate comes up. This year has some real bangers, like 42.
Have you ever asked a love interest to let you drive your van into their heart?
Alas, I don’t own a 1970s Dodge Tradesman. But she definitely likes my CX-30 Turbo.
One for the enginerds in the audience. One of the partners in the law firm I work for has a Ferrari F12 with “I SQ R” plates.
I am happy with my personal plates. I have:
99 Miata: TIC-TAC
04 Mazdaspeed Miata: TIC-TAC2
2004 Mustang Mach 1: 767MPH
2000 S10: DIME(on a sea turtle plate)
I recently saw one in the wild that I have no idea how it got past the Ohio BMV:
HWK 2AH
I still stand by my choice of DIRT NAP for all of my hearses.
Some of the best:
On the back of a Chery Tiggo: “POPMY”
On a different Chinese SUV: “TEMU”
On a burnt Toyota Soarer that had just been extinguished on the motorway: “2HOT4U”
The most cringe worthy: On the AMG Merc of an anaesthetist at work: “ISED8U”
Worst: FOUFCFK
( Look at every other letter ). I saw these on Illinois plates. I knew something was “off” when I saw them, but took me a minute to decode them. sad. THAT’S the message you have for the world?
Well, I’m fond of mine–purple car with PPL EATR plates.
I ran by your car the other day! My kid has asked me to send her a funny song earlier and I went with Fish Heads but my runner up was definitely One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater. What a shock to go for a run and see that plate on a Jeep. Then to see this comment! (Or you’re not in CA and there’s another person with the same idea 😉 )
On the opposite side of the country in a BMW. Someone in my town has a Plum Crazy Challenger with PPL EATA.
My electric blue 2003 MINI Cooper S JCW said , “BlueMeni” a Beatles reference of course and being a JCW was also pretty mean….. but a lot of people thought I was referencing the Las Vegas group…..
Spotted a VW New Beetle: EEW A BUG
On the back of a Honda Fit – “hissy”
I very much wanted “NX-74205” for my Forte GT when I got it (registry number for USS Defiant from DS9). Somehow it was taken. I could have gotten D3F1ANT, but I like my geekery subtle.
I also have a picture on my phone of a Fiat 500 with the plate “GAYBBY”
I once saw a blonde woman driving a red C6 Corvette convertible with the plate “HOE”
Anyone driving the old main road into West London would have seen this impressive feat from a seriously rich Brit, they always had their garage open, displaying this pair:
An Aston Martin with the plate “2B”
A Rolls Royce with the plate “Not 2B”
I mean, hats off to them – brightened the commute for all the proles on their commute…