# How many of you notice car license plates? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481 "2004-07-10T20:51:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/1 "2004-07-10T20:51:00Z")
This seems like a good question to ask—something that I’ve often wondered about. I’ve always noticed other car’s license plates. If it’s a vanity plate, a specialty plate, out of state—whatever. Growing up, I took notice of the plates in California, because you could get an idea of the age of the car based on the appearance of the plate. (The blue w/ gold lettering were '70s early '80s, the black with gold lettering were even older, the gold with black lettering were even _older_, and the ones with the white backgrounds and blue or black lettering are harder to pinpoint, but are mid-80s to present.) Anyway, I’ve always noticed. I always liked seeing other states’ plates, interested in how they evolved over the years, admiring the designs, etc. etc. But I remember talking to some guy who said, “Who looks at plates? I don’t think anyone notices.” But I do. Am I the only one? I didn’t think so. So, do you notice car license plates? How do you feel about your state’s, country’s or region’s license plates? ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/2 "2004-07-10T22:59:35Z")
Wow, I thought I was the only one who noticed license plates! I look at them all of the time. I see if the combinations of letters and numbers are pleasing to my tastes. Certain combinations look and sound good to me. I look for plates that have the same beginning letters as my car’s plates. When I am walking, I look at them, when I am driving I look at them. I can’t explain why, it is just an interest. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/3 "2004-07-11T02:08:40Z")
Yesterday, in the hospital parking lot, I noticed two cars with the same letters\*. Also, my brother’s license plate is HBJ \*\*\* so I tend to notice cars with those letters. I also know the plate numbers for both of my cars, my mother’s car, and my sister’s car. My mom drives a fairly common car (so does my brother), so I look at the plates if I see them, so I know if it’s my family or not. I notice vanity plates all the time and I absolutely cannot stand the ones I can’t “figure out”. They drive me crazy. And I like to test the distance at which I can recognize and identify an out of state license plate. Since I spent about 8 months on the road with my father, the truck driver, I’m actually pretty good at it. 🙂 \*On preview: Come to think of it, I think the letters might have been HBJ, but I can’t be completely sure. ---
**Author:** ![akennett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee59a6/32.png) [@akennett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akennett)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/4 "2004-07-11T02:53:44Z")
Yeah, I notice plates. It may sound strange, but I sometimes use that to guage distance between me and cars ahead of me. So I frequently notice plates that are otherwise unremarkable. Earlier today, for instance I saw a non-vanity, non-specialty plate that I think I would have to turn in if it was issued to me. It was FDR ####. Sorry to all his fans, but I really dislike that guy. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/5 "2004-07-11T03:05:28Z")
I do notice them, but really only to see where they are from. So, if it’s out of state, I try to see where it comes from; if it’s Ohio (in state, that is), I try to see which county it’s from, which now requires knowing where the counties fall in the alphabetical list since the county stickers now show a number and spell out the name in only the tiniest of letters. I never really look at what the license plates say, unless it’s some vanity plate that stands out. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/6 "2004-07-11T03:52:48Z")
I notice plates. I ride the bus to work on the freeway, so I see a lot of them. 🙂 A while back, Ontario went to a four-letter/three-number system AAAA 000 to ZZZZ 999. The font is narrow enough to allow an eight-character vanity plate. If I ever get a car, I’m gonna try for SUNSPACE. 🆒 The letters are now up in the ATxx’s. I eagerly await seeing my first BAAA plate. Last week I saw a tour bus with _Mexican_ plates (from Nuevo Léon) in Chinatown. Only the second Mexican plates I’ve ever seen in the Greater Toronto Area. The first Mexican plates I saw (in 1991 or so) were from Guanajuato, and they were attached to a VW Rabbit parked in front of the convenience store near where I lived. I went into the store and overheard the driver say to the cashier, “It took us seven days to drive from Mexico City…” And what’s up with the weird serif fonts on some US plates? They seem to be harder to read. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/7 "2004-07-11T05:02:25Z")
I’m something of a license plate buff myself. New Mexico has had [two styles of plate](http://www.ocedc.com/photos/nmplates.jpg) for the past few years, one a soft-focus mess that includes a hot-air balloon and is almost unreadable from a distance and the other the older, very crisp, red-on-yellow plate. The car dealership got me the wrong plate when I bought my new car, and I cared enough to return it for the old-style one. I must say, after seeing the new-style plate up close, it is very pretty from a distance of about two feet. Perhaps this is the root of all the tail-gating that goes on here. I’ve recently seen a new plate that I like a whole lot, but I can’t find an image online. It’s a “Share With Wildlife” plate that has the same basic coloring and lettering as the red-on-yellow plate, but with a very well-drawn quail on the left-hand side. I think I like it just as much as the original type. ---
**Author:** ![carmine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@carmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carmine)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/8 "2004-07-11T06:31:37Z")
I have a geeky fascination with remembering and recognizing out-of-state plates, and I always notice them. If I were ever bored enough to start collecting something I’d probably go with plates. Hawaii and the Northwest Territories are my favorites. Idaho’s are the hands-down dumbest. Anyone remember George Carlin’s sketch about how the Truth must lie somewhere between Idaho’s and Pennsylvania’s license mottos? Priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/9 "2004-07-11T07:07:04Z")
I always wondered why y’all call them _license_ plates. A license is what allows a driver to operate a vehicle and is independent of any particular vehicle. Registration is what allows a vehicle to be on the public roads and is linked to the number on the plate. Why aren’t they called registration plates like they are in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/10 "2004-07-11T07:14:45Z")
Looks like there’s lots of us. In my case it’s because I notice everything (hypervigilance). I notice vanity plates and always try to figure them out. I follow sequences and try to determine what they are based on and what could be expected to be the next sequence. here in Hawaii, plates beginning H\*\* ### are reserved for the Big Island. Maui has M\*\* ###, Kauai has K\*\* ###. I’ve seen HZZ 921, so I don’t know what the next sequence for the Big Island is… Oahu has had se ---
**Author:** ![SnakeSpirit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snakespirit/32/7271_2.png) [@SnakeSpirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakeSpirit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/11 "2004-07-11T07:16:54Z")
Oahu has had sequences beginning with A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, and is currently in the N\*\* ### sequence. Maybe L\*\* ### is reserved for Lanai, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/12 "2004-07-11T07:20:46Z")
> [@Snakespirit](#): > > Looks like there’s lots of us. In my case it’s because I notice everything (hypervigilance). I notice vanity plates and always try to figure them out. I follow sequences and try to determine what they are based on and what could be expected to be the next sequence. here in Hawaii, plates beginning H\*\* ### are reserved for the Big Island. Maui has M\*\* ###, Kauai has K\*\* ###. I’ve seen HZZ 921, so I don’t know what the next sequence for the Big Island is… > Oahu has had se Speaking of Hawaii…I have always been amazed to see cars with Hawaiian plates here on the mainland…I mean, it is not like you drove it here, so - why aren’t police stopping every car with Hawaiian plates and mentioning that you only have a certain amount of time to change them? Or do people just ship their cars over here for a two week vacation and then ship them back? ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/13 "2004-07-11T13:24:31Z")
I always notice license plates. I didn’t used to, but my ex-boyfriend collected license plates (he had like a couple thousand) so now I look at them all the time. I can usually tell what state they are from immediately. Oh and I think Nebraska’s tags are the worst. They’re this reddish-orangey-yellow fading color and it just looks crap because not very many people drive orange cars. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/14 "2004-07-11T20:57:47Z")
Well, I am glad to know that I am not the only one! I once noticed a major (in my mind) license plate blooper in a TV movie (“Black River” with Jay Mohr). The main character had just arrived in California, he said, and he’d driven his vintage (I’m thinking 1960s) car with him from Vermont, or somewhere else on the East Coast. But the vintage car had the tell-tale old California plates on it! (Either blue with gold lettering, or black with gold lettering.) This could only mean that the car was _from_ California and retained its original plates, issued to it in the 1960s. When an out-of-state car arrives in California, no matter how _old_ it is, it will be given current California plates (which are white with dark lettering). So obviously this could not be since this guy said that he’d just arrived from Vermont with his old (originally from Vermont) car! I wonder who else noticed it. Surely not just me. I couldn’t understand how the filmmakers could allow such a noticable blooper to go through. But then again, most movies have bloopers, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/15 "2004-07-11T21:05:26Z")
Ms Hook and myself always play the “find different state’s plates” game when we go somewhere. A couple of years ago driving across Nebraska my son and I spotted an old Volkswagon van with American Virgin Islands plates. This May in Reno, NV I was passed by a car with plates from Guam. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/16 "2004-07-11T22:35:14Z")
I have very occaisionally seen cars with _European_ plates in Toronto… but when I go around them or they pass, I invariably see that the rear plate is from Québec. Québec requires one plate only, at the rear, so the owners can put anything decorative on the front, or just leave it empty. I have yet to see a car here with European plates at front and rear. A while back there was a story here about someone Canadian who had been up to some kind of fraud in Europe, and there was a picture of their Ontario-registered car in France, complete with Ontario plares. How much does it cost to ship a car across the Atlantic? Do you have to do anything special to your car to drive it on European roads? Can Europeans drive their cars here in North America without problems? And how do those Mercedes "pick up your new car in Europe and drive it around on holidayÈ things work–temporary Euro plates? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/17 "2004-07-11T22:38:42Z")
Wouldn’t the most likely explanation be people moving from Hawai’i to the mainland, who haven’t reregistered their cars yet? Hawai’i doesn"t have significantly _different_ models of cars that the mainland, does it? ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/18 "2004-07-12T00:06:42Z")
I always pay attention to license plates, perhaps because I’ve lived in so many states. [Our own Kentucky plate](http://mvl.ky.gov/KyRenewWeb/PIServlet?PlateId=52&PersonalizeIndicator=N) is a joke… It’s driving people into paying extra money for one of the specialty plates, so that they may avoid having “Mr Smiley” on their plate. Supposedly, it’s illegal to deface your license plate, but I’ve seen a few modifications. However, it’s not illegal to do what we did, which was to mount it in a license plate holder which says LAND OF THE RAISIN BRAN SUNRISE ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/19 "2004-07-12T00:27:28Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Wouldn’t the most likely explanation be people moving from Hawai’i to the mainland, who haven’t reregistered their cars yet? Hawai’i doesn"t have significantly _different_ models of cars that the mainland, does it? I know that in some states, such as California, that a plate and a car are “married” to each other. For example, when my family sold an old car to a friend, we could recognize him driving on the street because the car still had “our” plates on it. The plates go with the car. The plates cannot be transferred to a new or different car. I do not believe this is the case with all states, but with some, it certainly is. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481/20 "2004-07-12T00:28:55Z")
I should probably add that I think that _specialized_ plates can probably (I guess) stay with the original owner (the person who ordered the plates), but ordinarily, the plates stay with the car. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-you-notice-car-license-plates/254481.md?page=2)