Where can I find which states require for vehicles to have front licence plates?

Question

I got a ticket for not having a licence plate in front of my car ($60) and I decided to find out which states require them in the front and which do not. Can someone help?

Answer 1

The safest bet is to assume that your state DOES require a front plate unless you hear specific information that they don't. Pennsylvania is one of the few that doesn't ... matter of fact, PA doesn't even issue a front plate.

If you just recently moved from a state that doesn't require a front plate, you might be able to appeal and beat the ticket. They probably won't drop it entirely until you show proof that you've re-registered your vehicle in your current state, so either way you're going to have to shell out a few bucks.

Also, if you're active-duty military and your home state doesn't require front plates, you should be able to get the ticket dismissed without having to re-register. If you bought the car and registered it in your home state, they can't force you to re-register just because you got posted someplace else.

BUT ... if your situation is that you lost your front plate and you got a ticket instead of a warning, you're just going to have to accept the slap on the wrist and pay the piper. Pay the ticket, buy a new plate, do whatever you need to do to get them off of your back. Best of luck.

EDIT: Found a list of front-plate-only states and provinces on Wikipedia ...

The Canadian provinces of Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.

The U.S. states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Some vanity and specialty plates in Arizona and Kansas are issued in pairs, but only the rear plate is required to be displayed; the optional front plate is something of a bonus for paying an extra fee for the plate.

Massachusetts is a unique case for license plate mounting, arising from that all license plates issued there since 1978 are currently valid. Prior to the introduction of the current "Spirit of America" base starting in 1986 for commercial vehicles and vanity plates and 1988 for all other vehicles, the state issued only a single green-on-white plate to be mounted on the rear bumper. With the current-issue base, two plates are issued, to be mounted on both the front and rear bumpers. The result of this is that while most passenger vehicles registered in Massachusetts display two plates, those with the older green-on-white plates only display one.

Answer 2

My dear, no matter if all 49 other states don't have two plates, front and rear, if your state issues two plates, pay your fine - that is, unless you were driving an out-of-state car that issues only one plate, which would be on the rear.

Answer 3

Visit the DMV's websites of all the states. KY does not, but I know NJ, NY does. So 47 states left to go.

Answer 4

Check the state government's websites for laws. You'll have to do some searching.