Information About Personalized License Plates
Visit us at www.NJMVC.gov New Jersey is an Equal Opportunity Employer SP-2 (R9/19)
Management Operation Services
Special Plate Unit
225 East State Street
P.O. Box 015
Trenton, NJ 08666
609-292-6500 ext. 5061
General Information
Personalized license plates are available for the one-time fee of $50; in addition to the regular registration fee. Should the
registration expire for a period of more than two years, an additional fee of $50 is necessary to reactivate use of the personalized
license plates.
The license plates will be issued to the registered owner as shown on the application. Personalized license plates may be reissued
to a different name, but another $50 is required.
Requests will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reservations are accepted only upon filing of an application and
payment of the fee. No reservation will be accepted without payment. Application forms are available online at NJMVC.gov.
Leased Vehicle Warning
All courtesy, personalized or special issue license plates are issued in the name of the registered owner of the vehicle.
If you change leasing companies, purchase the leased vehicle from the company, or purchase some other vehicle in your name,
you will need to reapply and pay $4.50 for an updated registration or $15.50 to update the registration and remake the license
plates.
A lessee must get a permission letter from the owner (the leasing company) of the vehicle before putting a special plate on the
vehicle. The new vehicle will need to be registered with standard license plates. Please include a copy of the old and new
lease agreements with your application.
Restrictions
Any combination of alphabetic characters or numbers, or both, that may carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency, will
be rejected. Some license plate combinations have already been reserved for special vehicles or groups such as government
agencies, automobile dealers, doctors and automobile collectors. These plates are not available as personalized plates.
Personalized license plates may be issued to passenger vehicles, commercial codes 11 and 15 vehicles, and motorcycles.
Motorcycle plates are limited to five spaces.
The law governing issuance of personalized license plate states that such plates may not be issued to any person who has been
convicted of one or more of the following offences listed within the last 10 years:
R.S. 39: 4-50 “Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or while ability is impaired by alcohol or refusing to take a
breathalyzer test.”
R.S. 39: 4-96 “Reckless driving”
The law forbids the issuance to any person who has been convicted of:
R.S. 2C: 11-5 “Death by vehicular homicide”
No person whose driving privilege in New Jersey has been revoked or suspended “for any reason whatsoever, within the two-year
period preceding the date of application may be issued personalized or courtesy plates. Such persons may reapply two years after
the privilege is restored.
Combinations You May Select
Personalized license plate combinations are limited to a minimum of three letters and a maximum of seven characters (letters, or
letters and numbers). No punctuation marks or symbols, such as the silhouette of New Jersey, can be used. The plate can
accommodate seven characters or spaces and each character takes a full space. The same combination can be issued for more
than one vehicle if owned or leased by the same person, provided no more than six spaces are used in the combination. The
additional set(s) of plates will have a smaller dash number (-2, -3, etc.) following the registration number (KEVIN-2, JOAN-3, etc.).
A separate application and $50 fee is required for each additional set. Combinations having three letters and the number 1 through
20 are “Courtesy Plates” and the Senator of your election district must approve your request before it is submitted. The fee for a
“Courtesy Plate” is $30.
