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Vanity plate

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A vanity plate (US), prestige plate, personalised registration (UK) or personalised plate (Australia) is a special type of number plate (license plate in America), on an automobile or other vehicle. The owner of the vehicle will have paid extra money to have his or her own choice of numbers or letters, usually forming a recognisable phrase, slogan, or initialism on their plate. Sales of vanity plates are often a significant source of revenue for North American provincial and state licencing agencies. In the Canadian province of British Columbia, the vanity plates look totally different than the regular issue plates. In some states and provinces, optional plates can also be vanity plates and are a choice of motorists who want a more distinctive personalised plate.

All American states and Canadian provinces that issue vanity plates have a "Blue List" of vanity plates that list banned words, phrases or letter/number combinations. The American state of Florida, for example, has banned such plates as "PIMPALA", whilst the state of New York bans any plates with the letters "FDNY" or "NYPD" among others. [1]

In the United Kingdom, number plates are issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. They do not approve personalised registrations if they contain words which are offensive in any (widely used) language. Additionally, plates containing the number 666 are not issued, because vehicles bearing them are belived more likely to be involved in accidents (perhaps because of the kind of person who wants such a plate).

In Australia the various states offer personalised plate schemes, with some states having a yearly fee to maintain the cherished number. In the Australian state of Queensland the personalised plate scheme helps fund the Road Safety Activities Fund.

Examples

Some examples of vanity plates seen in North America include:

File:MVC-261S.JPG
Chip designer Jeri Ellsworth holds the plate of one of her fans who chose to honour her work.

Vanity plates in film and television

Trivia

See also