# Alabama license plate: Distinctive index

> The Alabama distinctive index license plate: format 999999, for example 148657, documented since 2021, car, van, truck, and motorcycle.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--alabama/distinctive-index · Markdown version of the HTML page, which is canonical. Site map: https://vehiclesdb.com/llms.txt · Terms of use: https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/terms

Part of [Alabama license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--alabama) (5 registration series).

![Alabama (United States) license plate, Distinctive index (documented since 2021)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-al/us-al-distinctive-index/alabama-license-plate-distinctive-index.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `999999` (9 any digit) |
| Years | ~2021 → today (documented from 2021; the format is likely older) |
| Class | specialty |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, motorcycle |
| Plate size | 12 × 6 in |
| Other sizes | 7 × 4 in |
| Checking a registration | The format above is broad: a registration that fits it has the right shape, which does not show that this series issued it. |
| Series id | `us-al-distinctive-index` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--alabama/distinctive-index) |

Sources:

- [ALDOR's own plate catalogue: 'Showing 50 of 398 Plates' and the fourteen-category taxonomy](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/license-plates/)
- [the six-character distinctive cap, the quantity class 1 vs class 2 rules, the 3.22x2.3 in logo maximum, the white-background requirement for class 1, the 0.25 in clearance rule](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/License-Plate-Design-Specifications-040821.pdf)
- [MVD Memo 2026-004: 'Alabama Is Aviation, will be available for issuance beginning August 1, 2026'; the pre-commitment report and ALVIN ordering mechanism](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/memo-new-license-plate-mvd-memo-2026-004/)
- [Memo 2026-001: Mental Health Matters, beginning April 1, 2026](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/memo-new-license-plate-memo-2026-001/)
- [Protect Wildlife, beginning July 1, 2026](https://www.revenue.alabama.gov/memo-new-license-plate/)

## About this plate

Two things worth carrying forward. First, Alabama is the best-instrumented specialty program found in this group: an exact published count, a fourteen-category taxonomy, a dated memo series for new issues, and a public pre-commitment portal. Second, the SIX versus SEVEN character split is the most consequential single fact here for a parse API, an Alabama serial of seven characters cannot be a distinctive plate, and that is a sourced discriminator, not a heuristic.

## Use it

- Plate image (SVG): https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-al/us-al-distinctive-index.svg
- Make it with your own text: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plate-generator/alabama?series=us-al-distinctive-index
- API: `GET https://vehiclesdb.com/api/v1/plates/us-al` returns this series as the entry with `"id": "us-al-distinctive-index"` (https://vehiclesdb.com/api)

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Open data, CC BY 4.0: reuse it with a visible credit to VehiclesDB and a link (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/attribution). Plate images show sample serials and are not open data (https://vehiclesdb.com/legal/image-license). Dataset commit db0ec0a: https://github.com/vehiclesdb/vehiclesdb