California is currently using a format (for cars) that is
4XYZ123 or maybe they are up to 5,6 as first digit. I seem to remember a news story a few years ago about the use of the letters “GAY” in place of the XYZ. I believe they are not used in CA.
I also bet these combinations are not used
ASS, CUM, FAG, POO, etc.
I’ve checked the CA DMV site a little, and they have a disclaimer about reserving the right to ban personalized plates deemed not in good taste, but don’t describe which of the 17576 3-letter combinations they don’t use.
Can we put together a list for CA or some other state?
IIRC, there’s a very small State agency which reviews all applications for “vanity” plates and then approves or disapproves the application. AFAIK, there’s no ban on the random 3-letter words which may appear in the regular license plates. FTR: vanity plates are called personalized plates & the regular plates are referred to as sequential plates. Application for personalized plates (a freaking pdf file) presumably has the name and address of the agency concerned.
I applied for the plate TIHZTA3 once (look at it in the mirror.) It was denied, but I don’t know if it was specifically banned, or if somebody else already owned it.
I’m almost positive it’s gone, handy, because I couldn’t fine it. When it was up & running, I remember that a few friends and I killed off a good two hours or so looking up combinations we wanted to use.
verification of a combination is now part of the online application process.
I don’t recall a ban on letter combinations in the sequential plates. Though I did get rejected on a personalized plate application for a combination that was “deemed vulgar.”
No, this won’t work. If I want to confirm as I remember from a long-ago tv news story, that the 3 letter combo GAY is not used, I cant ask for 5GAY123, because if it is not allowed, I do not know if it is for the reason that it is an illegal combination, or already used.
I suspect writing the DMV is the way to proceed, but it will have to wait, for me.
There have been some controversies over plates in the past. The earliest I remember was a swimmer who wanted “stroker” on his plate but was turned down because of the sexual connotation. Just recently, a couple were forced to give up their plates “rapnjap” because it might offend Asian karaoke enthusiasts (his initials were RAP, hers were JAP).
When I got my personalized plates, I had to explain what I meant to the minimum-wage DMV clerk before she would even submit the request.
A guy who used to work at my company had a slammed minitruck with the Arizona plate “FQN LOW” which made me wonder who was asleep at the switch when that one got approved.
In New York, PRO NRA was initially refused because it was “Obscene, Lewd, Lascivious, and Derogatory to a particular ethnic group or patently offensive.”
If you follow the links through the smoking gun, you eventually get to a page listing all of Florida’s banned plates. A lot of the list is ham radio callsigns starting with AA and KC . Anyone know why they would be prohibited?