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Vehicle registration plates of Arizona

The U.S. state of Arizona first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1912. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1914, when the state began to issue plates.

Plates are currently issued by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) through its Motor Vehicle Division (MVD). Only rear plates have been required since 1989.

In Arizona, the license plate belongs to the vehicle owner. This allows for the transfer of a plate from one vehicle to another.[1]

The current design was introduced in 1996 and was designed by Walter Punzmann.[2]

Passenger baseplates

1914 to 1955

1956 to present

In 1956, the United States, Canada, and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association, and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at 6 inches (15 cm) in height by 12 inches (30 cm) in width, with standardized mounting holes.[3] The 1955 (dated 1956) issue was the first Arizona license plate that complied with these standards.

County coding

Note: La Paz County was not formed until 1983, by which time the county-coding policy had ended.

Non-passenger plates

1997 to present

1980 to 1996

Optional plates

Arizona offers its motorists a number of optional issue designs that are available upon the payment of an additional fee. Below is a partial list.

Notes

  1. ^ Because of the non-standard nature of the serials, sixty-four serial formats were available, though only eight were used. Read from left to right in a conventional format:
    • ABC1DEF
    • A1B2CDE
    • ABC1D2E
    • A1B2C3D
    • 1AB2CDE
    • 12A3BCD
    • 1AB2C3D
    • 12A3B4C
  2. ^ Because of the non-standard nature of the serials, thirty-two serial formats are available.

References

  1. ^ "Selling Your Vehicle". Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  2. ^ "Here's how the Arizona license plate got its look". 29 October 2020.
  3. ^ Garrish, Christopher (October 2016). "Reconsidering the Standard Plate Size". Plates. Vol. 62, no. 5. Automobile License Plate Collectors Association.
  4. ^ a b c Tanner, Eric N. "Arizona Passenger License Plates". allaboutlicenseplates.com. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  5. ^ Faherty, John (April 30, 2008). "Ariz. plates get extra character". The Arizona Republic. The change in the number of characters happened when the Arizona Department of Transportation ran out of combinations when it issued plate 999 ZZZ in mid-January.
  6. ^ Randazzo, Ryan (June 17, 2020). "Arizona has made a subtle but significant change to its license plates. Have you noticed?". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  7. ^ Staff (June 17, 2020). "Your Eyes Don't Deceive You, New License Plates Numbers Are Different". Arizona Department of Transportation. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  8. ^ Carson, Ron; Northup, John (June 1, 1997). "Arizona Non-Passenger Plates". ALPCA Newsletter 43. pp. 138–139.
  9. ^ Ricca, Aaron (December 29, 2016). "Arizona gives Route 66 a license plate". The Kingman Daily Miner. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  10. ^ "New license plate helps Special Olympics". Eastern Arizona Courier. Safford, AZ. December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

External links