Kentucky license plates

[BobT]

Driving around here in California Friday night, I was behind a car with a Kentucky license plate. Below the plate number was another number "6000".

Any idea what that means? I told my friend that it stood for the 6000th anniversary of the commonwealth of Kentucky and she actually believed me for a second.

[D Marie]

FWIW, my dad always told me that the "6000" referred to the weight of the vehicle, so it was comparable to those plates you see sometimes that say "truck." I'll see if I can find out if that's the real explanation.

[dwyr]

I think those are primarily for trucks and such because I see them all the time on farm vehicles. I don't know if it's weight-based or not.

[BobT]

The plate was on an SUV or a van, so the weight of the vehicle makes a lot of sense.

[D Marie]

Kentucky's state government website is a maze, so I couldn't find anything specifically about this, but I agree that "6000"s are usually on SUVs or trucks. My mom used to have one on her Explorer before we moved. So the weight explanation seems like a pretty good bet.

[Blythe Spirit]

I live in Kentucky. It is for the weight of the vehicle. As for living in Kentucky I am not bragging.

[wolfman]

An explorer only weighs about 4000 pounds, so it doesn't seem like it would be the weight unless, it's a 'for trucks upto 6000 pounds class. Which now that I think about it makes sence I guess because anything over 6000 pounds would almost certainly be a commercial truck.