ARKANSAS, USA — Right now, there are about 50,000 personalized license plates on the roads in Arkansas. But the question is, how many personalized plates never saw the light of day?
By paying an additional $25 charge and then an extra $25 each year at renewal, any driver in Arkansas can get a unique license plate on their vehicle and get a chance to showcase their personality, hobby, or just a silly phrase, and stand out among the randomized-letter-and-number crowd.
However, to receive the plate, the application has to be approved by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA).
There are two reasons a personalized plate could be rejected, Scott Hardin with DFA says.
The first reason a plate is rejected is when a duplicate plate already exists. Which, for obvious reasons, wouldn't bode well. Hardin said this usually happens with applications requesting their personalized plate to involve a common last name or sports teams.
"The second reason is the plate could be considered vulgar or offensive," Hardin said.
To make sure a vulgar or offensive plate doesn't slip by, the DFA keeps up with a list of over 11,000 banned license plate combinations. While Hardin couldn't give us all 11,000 examples, he passed along a few:
List of Banned License Plates in Arkansas
- OFART
- 1HTMOM
- 1PIMP
- ASOLE
- B000GR
- LETURD
- NICEBUT
- SHEETR
- MILFHNT
- MYBUNS
- OHBARF
Hardin said only two personalized plates over the last couple of years have slipped passed DFA: "MDLFNGR" and "MLFHNTR" but they were recalled and added to the list.
If you see an inappropriate plate, it can be reported to DFA and they will determine whether it's recalled or not.
“A personalized plate should certainly be family-friendly,” Hardin said. "Although there are 11,000 combinations on the banned list, DFA must proactively remain aware of a wide variety of words and phrases. Thankfully, Arkansans use these plates for the right reasons and efforts to sneak a plate by us are limited.”
And for any Seinfeld fans out there, a license plate shown on an iconic episode is also included on the DFA's banned plates list.
Plan on getting a personalized license plate in Arkansas?
Now that we know some examples of what doesn't get approved, here are some parameters to be aware of before you apply for your unique license plate in Arkansas.
Three Letters
- Three letters are allowable. Example: ABC
- The three letters may be spaced. Example: A B C
Four Letters
- Four letters are allowable. Example: ABCD
- The four letters may be spaced. Example: A B C D
- The four letters may be preceded or followed by one, two, or three numbers. Letters and numbers may not be divided by an ampersand (&), hyphen (-), or any other symbol. Example: 1ABCD, ABCD22, 1ABCD22
Five Letters
- Five letters are allowable. Example: ABCDE
- Some spacing is allowed. Example: BOB JR, TED SR
- The five letters may be preceded or followed by one or two numbers. Letters and numbers may not be divided by an ampersand (&), hyphen (-), or any other symbol. Example: 1STATE2, 11ABCDE, PLATE99
Six Letters
- Six letters are allowable. Example: ROBERT
- Spacing is allowed. Example: ABC 123
- The six letters may be preceded or followed by one number. Example: 1ABCDE, ABCDE9
- Motorcycles are limited to six characters online.
Seven Letters
- Seven letters are allowable. Example: ABCDEFG
- Numbers and letters are allowed. Example: 1234ABC
Not Allowed
- Any combination of letters or numbers that conflict with the numbering system adopted by the Office of Motor Vehicle.
- The use of a period (.), plus sign (+), ampersand (&), hyphen (-), or other symbols.
- Duplication of a license plate.
- Vulgar or profane words.
- Interchangeable characters. Example: 0TT3R, PR1CE, PLAT3, 5TATE (0 and O, 1 and I, 3 and E, 5 and S, 8 and B, etc.)
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