# Texas license plate: Standard lone star

> The Texas standard lone star license plate: format LL9-L999, for example AB1-C234, 2009 to 2012, car, van, truck, and bus.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard-lone-star · 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 [Texas license plates](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas) (5 registration series).

![Texas (United States) license plate, Standard lone star (2009 to 2012)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-tx/us-tx-standard-lone-star/texas-license-plate-standard-lone-star.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LL9-L999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 2009–2012 |
| Class | standard |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus |
| Plate size | 12 × 6 in |
| Rear plate differs from the front | no |
| Checking a registration | The format above follows the issuing rules: a registration that fits it is one this series could have issued. |
| Series id | `us-tx-standard-lone-star` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard-lone-star) |

Lone Star Texas (2009–2012): the first fully digital full-colour Texas plate, and the origin of the seven-character format — retired after law enforcement disfavoured it.

Seven characters as pure capacity math: after thirty-three years of six-character serials ran dry, Texas added a seventh in 2009. The mixed AB1-C234 arrangement is TxDMV's odometer, not a code — no letter or digit means anything.

Sources:

- [TxDMV 'Previous General-Issue Plate Designs — Lone Star Texas': first digital general-issue plate, first full colour and full-plate graphics, 'launched in June 2009', 'it began the seven-character plate number', the two-letters/number/letter/three-numbers pattern, the e-Vote selection and the law-enforcement objection](https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license-plates)
- [§ 504.005(c)-(d): the silhouette separator and the reflectorized-material requirement, which apply to this base identically](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.504.htm)
- [en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Texas)

## About this plate

LONE STAR TEXAS, THE SEVEN-CHARACTER TRANSITION. This series is the reason the modern Texas format exists: TxDMV states that thirty-three years of six-character patterns ran out and the plate went to seven characters here, in 2009.

## Before and after

| Relation | Series | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Replaced by | [Standard](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard) | 2012 to today |

## Other standard plates here

- [Standard](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard) (2012 to today)

## Use it

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