# Do you know your license plate number on the vehicle you drive most? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251 "2011-08-03T01:15:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/1 "2011-08-03T01:15:14Z")
Last night, I stayed at motel and parking was limited and they wanted to know the license plate on my car. I used to know, but a couple of years ago, Missouri gave out new plates and I never bothered to remember the new number. I figured with pin numbers, SS #, passwords, that something trivial had to be sacrificed. So an inquiring mind wants to know, do you know your license plate number on the car you drive most? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/2 "2011-08-03T01:19:34Z")
Yes. In fact I think I can remember the license plates from every car I’ve ever owned. To be fair there have only been 5, but 2 had license plates from 2 states. By the way, you accidentally a word from the thread title. (Yes, that was intentional.) ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/3 "2011-08-03T01:23:50Z")
Help Mod, Please insert the word “Know” in the thread title. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/4 "2011-08-03T01:29:36Z")
I used to know mine and my parents’ (theirs were halfway vanity or something) but now I just know the first 3 letters of mine. And that the numbers rhyme with it (EJE…something something three) ---
**Author:** ![Tracyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tracyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracyfish)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/5 "2011-08-03T01:29:53Z")
I voted that I don’t know mine but I know my spouse’s. The first part of my plate number is easy enough, but then I mix up the second part with my first license plate. The mnemonic devices get crossed somehow. My husband’s plate number is much easier to remember. ETA: Before Michigan made the majority of people get new license plates, I knew part of my grandpa’s license plate because the letters were XXX. That always made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/6 "2011-08-03T01:52:20Z")
I know all three of our vehicles’ plate numbers, but they’re all vanity plates. However, even if they weren’t I would still know them. I see all alphanumerics as “words” and easily remember them. Heck, I even remember some of my co-workers’ plates from 15 years ago. I also know my and Mr. S’s driver’s license numbers (14 characters in WI) and SSNs. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/7 "2011-08-03T02:30:24Z")
I don’t own a car, so when I’m driving it’s almost\* always a rented vehicle. I have no idea what the number plate is for any given car. - In fact, at the moment I have my brother-in-law’s car while he’s overseas. However, I’ve had to write the number plate on the back of the car keys, so that I can find the car when I’ve left it in a carpark. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/8 "2011-08-03T02:32:33Z")
I have had vanity plates on all my vehicles for the past 17 years, and have only had 4 vehicles in all that time (including the past 12 years when we’ve been a 2-car family). But I also still remember the plates on my first car - which I got 20 years ago - the only one I didn’t have vanity plates on. New Jersey HPS-82M, when I lived in Jersey for 20 months and needed a car for the first time. (“Hips eighty-two’em”.) ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/9 "2011-08-03T02:32:53Z")
I voted that I know the plate number but still, after 5 years, I have to stop and think and forcefully discard my previous plate from my head before I can remember this one. Oddly I only had that plate for 3 years. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/10 "2011-08-03T02:54:11Z")
Yes, I know both mine and my husband’s (which is actually sitting in front of me at the moment, given as it’s in transition between two cars… new car arrives tomorrow!) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/11 "2011-08-03T03:18:05Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > Help Mod, Please insert the word “Know” in the thread title. Thanks! Is done. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/12 "2011-08-03T03:30:23Z")
I have no idea what the plate number is on either of the cars we have now (one we bought about a year ago, and the other just a couple month ago). I do remember the number of my first car, though: 462 JBV It was a '73 Plymouth Satellite ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/13 "2011-08-03T03:39:42Z")
My husband drives a car from work, and I don’t remember the plate. I know mine, the other car we have, and my daughter’s. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/14 "2011-08-03T03:43:59Z")
I don’t know. I know that I have an Arizona Cardinals license plates and I have plenty of pictures of the plates on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![FoundWaldo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@FoundWaldo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoundWaldo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/15 "2011-08-03T03:54:59Z")
By knowing my own plate, my spouse’s is easy because it’s only one digit different. We got them both at the same time when we moved to this state. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/16 "2011-08-03T05:59:55Z")
10 cars, 6 bikes, know them all. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/17 "2011-08-03T06:03:07Z")
Yep. The second half is CFS, which for some reason is easy because I think of Cubic Feet per Second, the standard measure for water flowing past a dam. And for some reason that makes it possible to remember the first three numbers. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/18 "2011-08-03T08:54:58Z")
Yes. I have a very common car in a very common color and knowing the plate number helps me find it among all the other similar cars in the parking lot without having to circle around it like a creep, peering in the back windows to see if there’s familiar crap on the backseat. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/19 "2011-08-03T09:06:52Z")
I wrote the plate number down in my owners manual and I have it on a slip of paper in my wallet. Just in case the car gets towed or stolen. I can give the plate number to the cops. Beyond that. I have no clue what the plate number is. It’s not a number I ever use or think about. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251/20 "2011-08-03T10:05:53Z")
I have a lousy memory for numbers, so I don’t remember mine. I could probably remember randomly assigned letters better than numbers, but probably not much better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-your-license-plate-number-on-the-vehicle-you-drive-most/591251.md?page=2)