State governments can make a lot of money AND make a lot of people happy with my idea

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was thinking the other day about how I wanted to get a specialty license plate for my car, but I didn’t really like any of the specialty plates offered by the local BMV. The only two that thought looked good were the Freemasons one (because Freemasons are badass) and the Indiana Black Expo one (because I dig the color scheme.) But I’m not a Freemason (although I’m seriously considering it) so I can’t get that one, and I’m not black.

I thought, “why doesn’t the BMV allow you to custom-design a plate?” I mean more than just customizing the letters and numbers - I mean, literally painting a design onto a blank license plate and then giving it back to the BMV to be marked with the numbers. Given how many artists there are out there, and creative people in general, I think lots of people would want to do this. The BMV could charge 100 dollars, and I think a lot of people would see that as a good deal. I mean, people spend thousands of dollars on wheels, spoilers, tinted glass and other stuff that’s purely aesthetic, so it only makes sense that these same people would be willing to drop a much smaller amount on a custom-designed license plate.

What’s stopping them from doing this? I think they could make a lot of money off of it.

2

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum license requires an authorization form? I would have assumed it was generally available to anyone who likes the museum. Who is it restricted to? Hall of Fame members?

3

You might be able to sell the idea to the state if you restrict the “creative area” to the squarish block to the left of the big number, and to the narrow rectangle underneath where some kind of slogan could go.

But I doubt it. A few reasons:

I’d guess these organizations have to pay thousands of dollars to go through some kind of approval process, and to gear up for mass production. And they would want to protect their revenue source, perhaps by destroying YOU!

There is some kind of interstate pact the I have heard of, but never seen written down, that license plates of each state need to be easily distinguishable from each other. But I will say, if there is some kind of agreement, it must be the most loosley enforced agreement ever, given the proliferation of all these plate designs.

And you’d have to pass some censor board, to be sure your were Thinking of the Children and not putting some subliminal, or liminal, sex pictures on your plate.