PA Personalized Plates

There are various forms of special or personalized plates in PA, including those that help the organizations of the state, and those that represent the schools and even veteran drivers in Pennsylvania. Choosing personalized plates is going to bring up different costs in addition to your initial registration and plating costs, but will offer the chance to make your vehicle truly your own.

Personalized plates in Pennsylvania are called vanity plates, and offer a selection of up to 7 characters, which can include letters, numbers, and one space or one hyphen. For motorcyclists, there is only the ability to choose up to 5 characters due to the space limitations on bike tags.

Apply for Personalized Plates in PA

  1. Bring your valid standard license plates and tag sticker, which will be surrendered to PennDOT when you receive your personalized license plates.
  2. Complete and submit your Application for Special Registration Plate – which you can download and complete before visiting the office.
  3. Include check written to “Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” for a total of $20.
You will receive your plates by mail within no more than 8 to 10 weeks after your application is submitted.

You should remember that just like with anything else state-related, there are regulations on the choice that you can make for your plate customization and personalization. The characters you choose are limited to non-offensive material only – which means no terms or words that are derogatory.

If PennDOT feels that the choice is inappropriate, it will be denied from use.

PA Organizational License Plates

There are 134 specialty organizational license plates offered through PennDOT, which primarily focus on the state’s colleges. These plates will display the state colors, which are blue, yellow, and white, with the organization emblem featured on the left side of the plate, with the name of the organization on the bottom.

These plates are not offered to those with motorcycle plates or trailer plates and you must obtain the application for the plates from the organization itself.

Using personalized plates goes outside of the norm and offers a great way to give your car a more personal look – while telling the other drivers on the road just who is really behind the wheel.