Texas license plate: Specialty index

Format, years and the law

Format

LLL-9999, for example BDE-7833 (L is any letter, 9 any digit)

The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued.

Years issued

Documented since 2012; the format is likely older than the first year documented. Still issued.

Vehicle class

Specialty: optional-design programs on standard serials (US state programs). Issued for car, van, truck, bus, and motorcycle.

Colours

Characters #111111

Size

12 × 6 in (305 × 152 mm) · every country's size

About this plate

Two things are worth carrying forward. First, Texas is the US state where the specialty program is most thoroughly PRIVATISED: § 504.851 puts a vendor in the middle and §§ 504.6011-504.6012 route the money through it, so the operative catalogue is a commercial website and there is no FLHSMV-style official brochure to count from. Second, and pulling the other way, Texas legislates individual plates by statute more than any other state in this group, which means a large slice of the catalogue can be enumerated from Chapter 504 itself, an edict of government, without touching the vendor at all. That is the route a future L4 pass should take.

Legal basis and sources

1. § 504.008 specialty design authority and eligibility; § 504.601 the $30/$8 default fee split; § 504.6011 the sponsor-vendor route; § 504.009 souvenir plates; §§ 504.301-504.518 the individually legislated... https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.504.htm
2. TxDMV: order through myplates.com, 'the state's plate marketing vendor'; 1/3/5-year specialty terms; the 60-day cancellation rule; souvenir plates 'are not street legal and are not insignias of vehicle registration' https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license-plates
3. en.wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Texas