How are the numbers on License Plates Determined?

Question

Are they random? My grandma has her birthday on her plates, and they were not personal plates, they were the random issue. Thanks

Answer 1

Most places (in North America) they are simply random, starting at AAA-001 and increasing, less "prohibited" combinations. When they hit ZZZ-999 they either do a new issue, with a different plate design, or "flip" the sequence so they can then issue 001-AAA through 999-ZZZ, then they flip again, and add 1 more letter (or number) so you can have AAAA-001 or AAA-0001 for the next cycle through.

In Eurpoe, they tend to do things differently, and some letters/numbers on the plate stand for the year of the vehicle and/or the part of the year it was registered in.

Answer 2

Every state is different on the way they work their license plates. However in the state I live, there are 3 different types of license plates.

Standard - $79 a year, includes letters & numbers, selected by the DMV at random

Personalized - a little more expense than stanard, must have letters followed by numbers, you select whats on it.

Vanity - most expensive, have numbers or letters only (not both), you select whats on it.

My guess would be that if your grandma have her birthday on her plates, but they were not personalized or vanity plates, than they were selected at random & its just a coincidence.

Answer 3

Coincidence. When I lived in Ohio, the place I got my plates from would let you "reserve" a plate that they would be selling. You paid for it and received it when that plate came to the top of the pile.

Answer 4

They are issued serially. aaa001 - aaa002 - aaa003, etc.

Answer 5

WHY DON'T YOU JUST CALL YOUR LOCAL DMV OFFICE, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO ANSWER ANY AND ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL BE GETTING THE CORRECT ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION.