Running on empty: California is about to run out of license plate combinations

[Shawn Knight]

TL;DR: California is on pace to run out of license plate character combinations by the end of the year. Since 1980, the state has used a sequence consisting of one number, followed by three letters, followed by three more numbers. Fortunately, the state already has a solution and it's relatively simple: they're just going to reverse the current order.

The current sequence for non-commercial vehicles started with 1AAA000 and will end with 9ZZZ999. Try as I might, I was unable to determine exactly why California went with the one number / three letters / three numbers sequence to begin with. Perhaps it has something to do with regional registrations or sheer consistency?

Why not just allow for each of the seven character slots to be either a number or a letter? If my math is correct, that'd result in more than 78 billion possible combinations – plenty for the foreseeable future and beyond.

Other options could include adding an eighth character or reusing retired sequences, although that would probably get cumbersome from a legal standpoint.

Fortunately, the state already has a solution and it's relatively simple: they're just going to reverse the current order. Once 9ZZZ999 has been issued, the next plate will be in the format of three digits, three letters, and one number. So, 000AAA1 or 001AAA1, depending on how they decide to do it. 100AAA1 could also be an option if the "no leading zeroes" rule stands.

License plate collectors will no doubt be keeping an eye on the transition, and it is expected that the last old plate and the first new plate could become quite valuable. Most residents, on the other hand, likely won't even notice the change.

It's worth reiterating that this change only applies to standard-issue, non-commercial plates. Like many other states, California also offers special interest license plates for those interested in supporting specific causes or organizations such as breast cancer awareness, environmental causes, pets, or colleges. You'll usually pay extra for these and depending on what you choose, a portion of the fee could go to support said organization.

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Running on empty: California is about to run out of license plate combinations

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Huh....

So, they're not actually going to run out of license plate combinations after all! Whew! You had me scared there for a second about something that no one actually cares about.

 

[VitalyT]

Oh my, this is the end of the world.

 

[human7]

Agree with the author that it's perplexing why they don't allow for almost any permutation of chars/numbers. I could understand some restrictions that are used by other licensing/registration systems, such as omitting certain letters (like I, L, and O) from the list of valid characters in order to reduce confusion between them or prefixing commercial vs private vehicles with a different letter. Restricting the letter placement might make it easier to prevent "obscene" license plates. Otherwise it seems silly.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Agree with the author that it's perplexing why they don't allow for almost any permutation of chars/numbers. I could understand some restrictions that are used by other licensing/registration systems, such as omitting certain letters (like I, L, and O) from the list of valid characters in order to reduce confusion between them or prefixing commercial vs private vehicles with a different letter. Restricting the letter placement might make it easier to prevent "obscene" license plates. Otherwise it seems silly.

I wonder if this is to not risk duplicating other plates from other states... Does each state have their own separate index?

Sounds like something that should be handled federally...

 

[ScottSoapbox]

Don't worry, California is doing their best to drive people elsewhere.

 

[Underdog]

And it seems to be working. I left California in 1970 and have watched it go downhill ever since.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I wonder if this is to not risk duplicating other plates from other states... Does each state have their own separate index?

Yes each state is handled separately. The plates are even labeled separately for each individual state.

Sounds like something that should be handled federally...

Of course, the answer is always "give the federal government more power" isnt it? Not that it makes any sense. If Cali is running out of plates, how would having the feds do the same thing to the whole country at once make the problem any easier? They would have run out of combinations decades ago.

Not to mention it would become a constitutional issue. Any power not outlined in the constitution explicitly falls to the hands of the States. Licensing requirements is a state issue, not a fed issue.

The easiest solution to this is to remove plates that have not been registered after a certain amount of time. Are plates issues in the 70s and have not been reissued since the 90s really THAT important to keep out of circulation? Even if one does come up, the owner would need to re register with a new plate anyway, given the age of the old plates.

We did this in the midwest without incident. You couldnt re register an old plate, it had to be a new plate. No duplicates could legally be registered, and if the cops see an old plate registered to something else it gets pulled over and the plate confiscated.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Yes each state is handled separately. The plates are even labeled separately for each individual state.


Of course, the answer is always "give the federal government more power" isnt it? Not that it makes any sense. If Cali is running out of plates, how would having the feds do the same thing to the whole country at once make the problem any easier? They would have run out of combinations decades ago.

Not to mention it would become a constitutional issue. Any power not outlined in the constitution explicitly falls to the hands of the States. Licensing requirements is a state issue, not a fed issue.

The easiest solution to this is to remove plates that have not been registered after a certain amount of time. Are plates issues in the 70s and have not been reissued since the 90s really THAT important to keep out of circulation? Even if one does come up, the owner would need to re register with a new plate anyway, given the age of the old plates.

We did this in the midwest without incident. You couldnt re register an old plate, it had to be a new plate. No duplicates could legally be registered, and if the cops see an old plate registered to something else it gets pulled over and the plate confiscated.

So there are duplicate plates in your country? Like, a plate in Delaware might be the same as one in Texas? But the plate just says “Texas” on the bottom instead of “Delaware”?

I feel that’s rather dumb… Canada has each province in charge of their plates but… there’s a central registry so that every plate is unique.

Remember, there would be BILLIONS of different possible combinations if you used letters/numbers for each slot… that’s enough for the entire world, let alone any single state…

 

[Lew Zealand]

So there are duplicate plates in your country? Like, a plate in Delaware might be the same as one in Texas? But the plate just says “Texas” on the bottom instead of “Delaware”?

Yes. So there are 51 different plates with BATMAN on them. It's just CA registration or FL or TX. Consider each state to be another character on the license plate.

And there are few restrictions on words other than obscenity, but States generally only use max 3-letter combinations on default serialized plates to keep unwanted words to a minimum and fees to a maximum.

You want words, feel free to pay extra for a vanity plate.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

So there are duplicate plates in your country? Like, a plate in Delaware might be the same as one in Texas? But the plate just says “Texas” on the bottom instead of “Delaware”?

I feel that’s rather dumb… Canada has each province in charge of their plates but… there’s a central registry so that every plate is unique.

Remember, there would be BILLIONS of different possible combinations if you used letters/numbers for each slot… that’s enough for the entire world, let alone any single state…

It is easy to forget that it is the UNITED STATES of America. A united republic of smaller sovereign nations (states). Each has its own laws and constitutions. What might be illegal in Texas might not be in, say, California. Recreational marijuana is a prime example.

When it comes to license plates, each state has different rules. Just one of many examples is registration fees. Some states have a flat registration rate, while others charge by the value of the car. Some states' registration is good for several years--I believe Nevada was five years while I was living there, while California charges you every year. Registration is not the same as plates, but you get the idea. There are different rules regarding plates, too.

Long story short, you can think of state license plates the same way you think of country license plates because that's what they are. There are no USA plates. Just state plates. Just as people in Canada can easily recognize plates coming from outside Canada, each state in the US can recognize plates from a different state, so there is never any confusion, even if plate numbers happen to match up. A LEO calling in a California plate that reads BATMAN is going to come back to a different vehicle than the Texas license plate that says BATMAN. As confusing as it might sound, it really isn't.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Don't worry, California is doing their best to drive people elsewhere.

-As a native Californian, I completely support this.

Let's deport all the flyover state folks who immigrated here looking for work over the last *checks watch* 80 years... back to Oklahoma. They can find their way home from there.

It's a great state, but it's got an immigration issue from at least 30 of the other 49...

 

[NumberNine]

Sounds like their systems are just ancient. Emojis have unicode and California loves to spend money. What's the problem?

 

[airbornex]

Reversing the sequence is probably the most government-approved form of “Have you tried turning it off and back on again?”

 

[p51d007]

I worked 911 for decades and the combinations in some states, are regional.
Our plate combinations are still AAA-000 to ZZZ-999. For patrol officers, you
get "use" to certain combinations of letters, in your area, so if you are on patrol
in a neighborhood at night and see a combination that isn't from your area, it
will peak your interest to keep an eye on that vehicle.
I remember one of our local license offices kept waiting for a certain combination
to show up and when it did they contacted a certain person who's last name was
GAW. He ended up with a NON personalized license plate, GAW-001.

 

[daffy duck]

Allow special characters I say.

 

[psycros]

-As a native Californian, I completely support this.

Let's deport all the flyover state folks who immigrated here looking for work over the last *checks watch* 80 years... back to Oklahoma. They can find their way home from there.

It's a great state, but it's got an immigration issue from at least 30 of the other 49...

I assume you want to get rid of all the illegals too, right?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I assume you want to get rid of all the illegals too, right?

-Yeah, all the illegals from poor taker states fleeing their failed societies.

 

[FaTaL]

License plate collectors will no doubt be keeping an eye on the transition, and it is expected that the last old plate and the first new plate could become quite valuable.

lmfao.

 

[netman]

" I was unable to determine exactly why California went with the one number / three letters / three numbers sequence to begin with."

Simple answer: It was done for the convenience of California Highway Patrol...!

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

The current sequence for non-commercial vehicles started with 1AAA000 and will end with 9ZZZ999. Try as I might, I was unable to determine exactly why California went with the one number / three letters / three numbers sequence to begin with. Perhaps it has something to do with regional registrations or sheer consistency?

Because it would become a mess to try to prevent offensive plates on a systematic way. They have regulation on this: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handb...ersonalized-configurations-mandatory-refusal/

Allow special characters I say.

They allow four special characters, a hand, heart, star, and plus sign. These are not counted as being part of the license plate number though, it's only for visual representation.

 

[DrSuess]

So there are duplicate plates in your country? Like, a plate in Delaware might be the same as one in Texas? But the plate just says “Texas” on the bottom instead of “Delaware”?

I feel that’s rather dumb… Canada has each province in charge of their plates but… there’s a central registry so that every plate is unique.

Remember, there would be BILLIONS of different possible combinations if you used letters/numbers for each slot… that’s enough for the entire world, let alone any single state…

I doesn't matter, the issuing state is the qualifier when there are multiple identical plates from different states (the issuing state is the differentiator), all plates issued by any one state are unique.

Each state manages its only vehicle licensing scheme, but all plates in all states are searchable in a national database

 

[Robby-san]

So there are duplicate plates in your country? Like, a plate in Delaware might be the same as one in Texas? But the plate just says “Texas” on the bottom instead of “Delaware”?

I feel that’s rather dumb… Canada has each province in charge of their plates but… there’s a central registry so that every plate is unique.

Remember, there would be BILLIONS of different possible combinations if you used letters/numbers for each slot… that’s enough for the entire world, let alone any single state…

There is not only the state name on the plate, but each state has different backgrounds. Some with pictures and words, and some with different colors. It is very easy to tell if the plate in question is from a different state or your state. Most have different schemes, like the pattern listed in the article, so a lot of states could not have the same combination anyway.