Personalized Plates or Specialty Plates

California has vanity plates and personalized plates and allows you to pick your letters and numbers on a specialized background or a plain background. The plain background is called the “Environmental License Plate” and is California’s standard plate. You may choose your own letters and numbers for specialized plates, or you may choose a random assignment, which is cheaper.

You may also order specialized plates. These license plates have background graphics or symbols of various organizations; buying this license plate gives that organization a donation. For example, you may choose a plate that supports Yosemite National Park; the plate features a graphic of Half Dome, and some proceeds benefit Yosemite.

Order Custom License Plates

The DMV Web site has an online database where you can check to see if your chosen personalized plate is available, but before you order a custom plate, note that:

• Only cars, trucks, motorcycles, and trailers are eligible. Also, not all organizations have motorcycle plates.
• The DMV will not allow you to use profanity, vulgar references, or other indecent words and symbols on your license plates.
• If you want to give a customer license plate as a gift, there's a space on both the online and hard copy form that allows you to do this.
• There are certain plates that only qualified applicants may order. See below for details.

To order any type of personalized plate or specialty plate make sure you have handy your car registration card and the applicable fee (which depends on the specialty plate and ranges from $50-$100 for the first registration), and then choose one of the following ordering methods:

• Fill out the online application on the CA DMV Web site. Here you can choose the design and whether you want a random configuration.
• Fill out a written application, also available online. You must mail this to the DMV office address on the form, along with your fees.

Restricted Eligibility Plates

Some specialty plates are only issues to qualified applicants. These specialty plates are:

Amateur Radio, American Ex-Prisoner of War, Antique Motorcycle, Congressional Medal of Honor, Historical Vehicle, Honorary Consul, Horseless Carriage, Legion of Valor, Pearl Harbor Survivor, Personalized Livery Purple Heart Recipient, Press Photographer, and Year of Manufacture License Plates.

For these:

1. Make an appointment at a CA DMV office.
2. Complete the Special License Plate Application.
3. Show the DMV your documentation that you qualify for the plate you want.