# Texas license plate: Standard

> The Texas standard license plate: format LLL-9999, for example ABC-1234, 2012 to today, car, van, truck, and bus.

Page: https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard · 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 (2012 to today)](https://vehiclesdb.com/plates/us-tx/us-tx-standard/texas-license-plate-standard.svg)

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Format | `LLL-9999` (L is any letter, 9 any digit) |
| Years | 2012 → today |
| Class | standard |
| Issued for | car, van, truck, bus |
| Plate size | 12 × 6 in |
| Colours | background #FFFFFF; characters #000000 |
| 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` (https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard) |

The Texas Classic (2012–present): TxDMV's stated goal was public-safety legibility, reversing the full-colour graphic base that preceded it.

Nothing in ABC-1234 encodes anything: no county, no date, one statewide sequence — and vowels and Q are banned, so a serial can never spell a word. The one legislated character is the separator: a half-inch silhouette of Texas between the letters and numerals.

Sources:

- [TxDMV: 'Current Design: The Texas Classic. Introduced in July 2012'; 'the first license plate in the country to feature two, high-visibility security threads'; 'As of November 1, 2016, the State of Texas no longer requires automatically replacing your plates after 7 years'; general-issue plate numbers 'assigned to you by TxDMV and cannot be personalized'](https://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license-plates)
- [§ 504.005(a) sole control over design/typeface/color/alphanumeric pattern; § 504.005(c) the half-inch Texas silhouette between letters and numerals, omittable on specially designed plates; § 504.005(d) reflectorized material; § 504.007 $6 replacement fee; § 504.010(b) one plate or set per registration period](https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TN/htm/TN.504.htm)
- ['The general issue plates MUST be distributed in sequential order' — the progression claim](https://www.txdmv.gov/sites/default/files/body-files/ENF%20HB%20718%20FAQ%20Dealer%20Handout%20032125.pdf)
- [None of these is asserted as sourced.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Texas)

## About this plate

TEXAS CLASSIC, THE CURRENT GENERAL ISSUE. Note what Texas does NOT have: no statutory dimension, no statutory colour, no statutory character cap, no replacement cycle, no geographic encoding, and no published alphabet. The one thing the statute does specify is the silhouette separator, and that turns out to be the normatively interesting fact in the whole file.

## Region code notes

Texas encodes NOTHING geographic in the serial and never has in the modern era; the county of registration appears on no part of the plate. Contrast Oklahoma, whose 1981-2009 letter prefixes were county-coded (see us-ok).

## How numbers are issued

strictly sequential. TxDMV, in its HB 718 dealer FAQ: 'The general issue plates MUST be distributed in sequential order.'

## Replacement

statutory or authority text: TxDMV: 'As of November 1, 2016, the State of Texas no longer requires automatically replacing your plates after 7 years. However, you may apply at your county tax office for replacement plates if your license plates need to be replaced for cosmetic or readability reasons.'. note: TEXAS IS THE COUNTEREXAMPLE TO AAMVA §1.1. Florida legislated 10 years, the top of AAMVA's recommended 7-to-10 band. Texas abolished the concept on 1 November 2016 and now replaces on request only. Voluntary replacement is $6 plus a $0.50 automation fee (§ 504.007(a)(2); TxDMV states the same figures).

## Before and after

| Relation | Series | Years |
|---|---|---|
| It replaced | [Standard lone star](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard-lone-star) | 2009 to 2012 |

## Other standard plates here

- [Standard lone star](https://vehiclesdb.com/license-plates/united-states--texas/standard-lone-star) (2009 to 2012)

## Use it

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