Personalized Vehicle Plate In Michigan

When personalizing a Michigan license plate, you can only use seven characters, including spaces and dashes. Remember that your license plate must be unique and cannot be a duplicate of an existing license plate. A custom license plate in Michigan costs $30 plus the standard registration fee. To keep the custom plates, you must pay $15 per year in addition to the standard registration fee.

Overview Of Personalized Plate

A custom license plate in Michigan will cost you $30 plus the standard registration fee. To keep the custom plates, you must pay $15 in addition to the standard registration fee each year. If a personalized plate expires, MOOS has a policy that the owner on record has 60 days after the plate's expiration before it becomes available to another person. This will allow for the correction of errors in our current system. Anyone else may apply for an original personalized plate using the expired configuration after 60 days. All personalized license plates are subject to the Michigan Vehicle Code Act 300 of 1949.

Standard and Spectacular Peninsula

There is a maximum of 7 characters for passenger plates and 5 characters for motorcycle plates in the regular Standard and Spectacular Peninsula plate series. A person with a disability is given a red handicap sticker placed on the lower left-hand corner of the license plate.

Special Cause and University

Unless it is a handicap plate, a personalized plate with a maximum of 6 characters is available in the Special Cause and University plate series. Because each handicap plate in this series has an embossed handicap symbol, a personalized plate could only have 5 characters. This plate series does not include motorcycle plates.

Veteran and Military Service

A personalized plate with a maximum of 6 characters is available in the Veteran and Military Service plate series unless it is a handicap plate. Because each handicap plate in this series has an embossed handicap symbol, a personalized plate could only have 5 characters. Personalized plates are not available for this series of motorcycles.

Guidelines On The Use Of Personalized Plates

Based on the preceding, the department has interpreted the term "connotation offensive to good taste and decency" to include configurations in the following categories over the years:
  • Phrases or letter combinations are commonly perceived as impolite. In this context, "profanity" refers to irreverence toward sacred things, particularly an irreverent or blasphemous use of God's name. "Obscene language" refers to something morally repugnant; its primary appeal is to prurient interest, is socially taboo, or is otherwise grossly repugnant to commonly accepted notions of what is appropriate, such as references to excretion.
  • Sexual configurations, including those indicating sexual organs, functions, or acts.
  • Words or phrases portray a negative image of a specific racial, religious, ethnic, or socioeconomic group, including individuals of a specific gender or sexual orientation.
  • Configurations that are incompatible with society's collective values. "COPKILR" is an example of such a configuration.
  • Words or phrases that refer to illegal drugs or their use.
When attempting to identify offensive words and phrases, keep the following guidelines in mind:
  • Even if they represent a legitimate person, place, or thing, some configurations should be denied due to their phonetic meaning.
  • Configurations may also be denied on a specialty plate (university and special cause plates) if the emblem or logo (such as the S for MSU or the M for U of M) combined with the choice may imply a meaning that is not obvious in the choice itself, such as "HIT" on an MSU plate.
  • The foreign language equivalents of the aforementioned offensive expressions, coded phrases (such as those used by court reporters), and reverse image phrases would be rejected.
Plate layouts that may be rejected for reasons other than offensiveness. These are classified as one of the following:
  • Plates with configurations that may cause unintended problems for the department and applicant, such as "ONLINE," "SAMPLE," "SAMPL," "NONE," or "0", which duplicate plates used by the department for administrative purposes.
  • A duplicate of another legitimate registration plate.

How To Get A Personalized License Plate

Thru Online

To personalize a plate online, you must first:
  • Before ordering, make sure the personalized plate you want is in stock. Navigate to Online Services. Select "Check Personalized Plate Availability" in the "Vehicle Searches" section and follow the prompts to see if your personalization is available.
  • Select the "log in to order your plate online" link if your personalization is available. It's under "Ordering Information" in the second bullet point.
  • Follow the prompts to create or log into your online Secretary of State account before proceeding to the option to order a plate.
  • You can pay with a credit or debit card (additional fees apply) or an e-check/bank account number. There will be a fee for personalized plate service. When registering a vehicle for the first time or changing the type of plate already on your vehicle, you must also pay a license plate fee.

In Person

You will need the following items to order a personalized plate at a Secretary of State office:
  • Your unique plate number/letter combination. Before visiting a Secretary of State office, ensure the personalized plate you want is available. Navigate to Online Services. Select "Check Personalized Plate Availability" in the "Vehicle Searches" section and follow the prompts to see if your personalization is available.
  • Cash, check, money order (payable to the State of Michigan), or credit or debit card (additional fees apply).