State Rules

Scroll or select a state from the dropdown/press enter to see global rules which apply for that state .

State

Rule
   Alabama    Alabama does not use the letter "O"; for registered owner lookup key zero instead.
   Alaska    Do not key a spaces.
   Arizona    No global rules applied. Key plates as seen.
  Arkansas    No global rules applied. Key plates as seen.
   California    No global rules applied. Most plates should be keyed as seen, except for those few as described in the database.
   Colorado    No global rules applied. Most plates should be keyed as seen, except for those few as described in the database.
   Connecticut    There are several plates that are not found in the DMV database.
   For Municipal, Official, US Senate & US Congress, and Repair plates call Copy Records at 860-263-5154.
   For Apportioned plates call 860-263-5281. For Dealer plates, call 860-263-5056.
   CT DMV Type Code is a 30-character alpha-numeric string that is not case-sensitive.
   Spaces/hyphens are significant characters and must be included between words.
   Delaware    No global rules applied. Key plates as seen.
   Florida    Plates are typically entered left to right with stacked/small characters keyed unless otherwise indicated.
   Florida does not use the letter "O"; for registered owner lookup key zero instead.
   Special characters are not to be keyed unless otherwise indicated.
   Georgia    No global rules applied. Key plates as seen.
   Hawaii    Each Hawaiian has their own DMV and their own rules. However for all Hawaii plates, do not key spaces.
   Idaho    The letter O is not used on any plate. Always key zero. Do not key spaces.
   Illinois    No global rules applied. See individual plates for keying rules.
   Indiana    Standard plates are always 3 Numbers and 3 Letters. If unsure of whether it is a letter or a number in the last 3 digits, it is always the letter "O".
   Apportioned and Trailer plates are not administered by the DMV and stored in a separate database.
   Iowa    Iowa does not use special characters. Numbers and characters only. If spaces are on the plate, do not key.
   Kansas    All personalized/vanity license plates the number zero is not used. Doing a search, the letter "O" must be used.
   Apportioned and Trailer plates cannot be looked up in standard system. Call Commercial division - 7852963621 Option 2
   Kentucky    One state plate. Rear only.
   Louisiana    Only standard plates can be personalized. Do not enter any special characters (spaces, periods, hyphens).
   Maine    Maine does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
   Vanity plates in Maine can have both O and 0 in the plate. Visually you cannot tell the difference, the only way the MTA can determine the plate is
   by trying the plate in all configurations of the word.
   Maryland    Maryland plates do not use the letter "O". All instances, even on personalized plates, are the number zero ("0").
   Massachusetts    Massachusetts does not have specific rules that apply to all plates other than plate type codes.
   Michigan    The letter 'O' is not permitted. The number '0' is substituted on personalized plates.
   No special characters allowed other thank spaces. Do not key spaces.
   Minnesota    Minnesota does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
   Mississippi    Mississippi does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
   Missouri    Do not key special characters.
   Montana    The letter "O" is should be keyed as a zero. Do not key dashes or dots.
   Nebraska    The letter 'O' is not permitted. The number zero '0' is substituted on personalized plates.
   Nevada    Nevada plate numbers do not contain spaces or special characters even if these are displayed on the plate itself.
   Personalized plates display the complete plate number regardless of the plate style or background and may contain the letter "0".
   Personalized plates do not require a plate type.
   Standard sequential plates do not contain the letter "0".
   New Hampshire    The number zero does not appear on vanity plates.
   New Jersey    New Jersey does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
   New Mexico    New Mexico does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
   New York    1.   New York DMV does issue duplicate plates. These plates appear across various Registration Classes (Type Codes) such as Senate,
   Congress, and certain Sports vanity plates amongst others. These duplicate plates will only contain between one and five numeric
   characters. Due to this duplication the NY DMV Web Server will return a No Hit unless specific Registration Class (i.e., Type Code) is
    provided at time of request. The quantity of such plates is very low.
   2.   License Plate Characters with Similar Appearance:
   Empire Gold (standard) license plates and custom (specialty/vanity) license plates use different fonts.
    a.   1 (number one) vs. I (capital letter i)
   
    b. 0 (number zero) vs. O (capital letter o)
    In addition, on Vanity plates:
  • You cannot use the letter "O" between two numbers to make what appears to be a number. For example "2O3", "2OO3", or "JAN2OO3" are not allowed.
  • You cannot use the letter "I" as first or last characters on a plate when the rest of the characters are all numbers. For example, as in "I45678" or "45678I" are not allowed.
  • You cannot use the number zero (0) between two letters to form a word. For example, "P00L" and "P0LE" are not allowed.
  • You cannot combine the number zero (0) and the letter "O" to form a word or number. For example, "PO0L" or "2O03" are not allowed.
    •    North Carolina    North Carolina does not use the letter 'O'. Key zero instead.
       North Dakota    No longer allowing "&" on license plates. Should be eliminated by 2021. However if Space or & exisits on a plate it should be entered.
       Ohio    No special characters allowed. If spaces exist on the plate, do not enter them for DMV lookup.
       Oklahoma    Space and dashes can exist on personalized license plates but do not enter them in.
       Oregon    Oregon does not have specific rules that apply to all plates
       Pennsylvania    On PA plates, a keystone, hyphen or space can be used. A keystone is not used on personalized plates. Spaces and hyphens should NOT be keyed.
       Rhode Island    Rhode Island does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       South Carolina    South Carolina does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles contact information: 803-896-5000 and help@scdmvonline.com
       South Carolina uses zeros, the letter "O" and the letter "D" on vanity plates. These three items look similar.
       Below is a plate with a zero in the first segment of the plate number "803". The second segment is the letter "O" in the middle and the
       letter "D" as the last. "AOD"
       South Dakota    South Dakota does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       Tennessee    Tennessee does not use special characters but if calling or emailing to inquire about a plate, please include the dash wherever it may be located in the configuration.
       Texas    Texas has spaces, hyphens and periods on their license plates - None need to be keyed.
       Prior to October 2016 license plates were replaced every seven years; however, a statutory change made and license plates are
       now only replaced upon request or if a license plate is lost, stolen, or mutilated. Therefore there are mulitple versions of license
       plates currently on the road.
       Utah    Utah does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       Vermont    Vermont converts the letter "O" to zero on vanity plates.
       Virginia    Virginia does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       Washington    Washington does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       West Virginia    West Virginia does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       Wisconsin    Wisconsin does not have specific rules that apply to all plates.
       Wyoming    Wyoming has very specific sequencing for keying plates. Please see the individual plate you are looking for.