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On this page I will report breaking news regarding North Carolina license plates and vehicle registrations. The newest articles are posted at the top of the page. This page was last updated on March 2, 2010Latest noteworthy updates to this page, other than the addition of new articles and plate images, and updates to the Highest Plate Numbers section:
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March 2, 2010 – There aren't too many North Carolina plates that are still reissued on an annual basis. The categories I'm aware of include Highway Patrol vehicle plates and plates issued to government officials and senior National Guard members for their personal vehicles.
In 2009, while Highway Patrol plates were still embossed as they have always been, all other annual plate types were flat, with screened serial numbers and a screened registration year in the upper corners. Just about a year ago, in late February 2009, the NC DMV announced that flat plates would stop being made once the thinner aluminum used to make them was used up, which was projected to be in May 2009. However, various plate types continued to be made with flat characters througout 2009.
I've now seen two 2010 annual North Carolina plates in use. The Highway Patrol plates are once again embossed, as expected. However, the 2010 judge plate I saw a few days ago was flat, just like in 2009. I'll therefore project that all non-Highway Patrol annual plates are again flat for 2010.
When, or even whether, North Carolina will actually discontinue making flat plates, I can't say. I'ts entirely possible that they've changed their minds and will conntinue to produce them indefinitely. Besides government official and senior National Guard plates, vanity, special interest, amateur radio operator, and antique vehicle plates have all been made flat since the summer of 2008.
February 25, 2010 – Yesterday, in traffic, I spotted a North Carolina plate type I had never seen before – a Permanent Commerical vanity plate. The plate I saw was completely flat, and was similar to a recently-issued Weighted vanity plate. Being flat, it had to have been issued within the past year-and-a-half or so.
If you're not familiar with North Carolina Permanent Commercial plates, they're issued to non-apportioned heavy trucks over 26,000 pounds G.V.W. They bear the legends N.C. Permanent and Commercial at the top and bottom of the plate, respectively. Regular versions of this plate type have serial formats of YA-00000 or YA000000.
Janaury 3, 2010 – Fellow plate spotter Mike Sager reports having seen a North Carolina graphic specialty plate promoting the National Rifle Association. Mike says that the plate had "R/A" suffix letters and flat serial characters. As of today, this new plate is not yet listed or shown on the N.C. DMV web site.
Below is a list of the highest numbered plates I've spotted for various types of North Carolina plates.
| Plate type | High number | Date spotted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger car (blue serial characters, pre-red series) | WTF-1956 | Nov. 24, 2009 | Lowest blue number plates still on the road are in the K series. |
| Passenger car (red serial characters) | ZNC-8nnn | Jan. 4, 2010 | Lowest red number plate I've seen is WTF-4338. However, I've seen a photo that shows part of a red character plate in the WTF-2000 series. |
| Passenger car (blue serial characters, post-red series) | ZRN-8505 | Feb. 26, 2010 | Lowest blue number I've spotted in the post-red series is ZNE-1380. |
| Apportioned bus and light/medium truck | LA-13559 | Oct. 25, 2008 | |
| Apportioned heavy truck | MA-6806 | Jan. 6, 2010 | Original format was Lx-0000, now Mx-0000. |
| Dealer Transporter | TP111986 | Apr. 21, 2009 | Black on white plate, used by dealers when driving unregistered vehicles for purposes other than test drives. |
| Farm Truck | XT-1814 | Oct. 30, 2009 | |
| For Hire | ZD-9509 | Nov. 10, 2009 | Issued to commercial vehicles for hire, excluding taxis, which have their own plate type. |
| Handicapped |  H/D62120 |
Nov. 7, 2009 | Original format was
HD0000, then
0000HD, now
H/D00000. |
| Motorcycle | 4D4373 | Sept. 28, 2009 | Letter changes before the leftmost number. 4H and 5H series plates were issued way out of sequence for unknown reasons. |
| Multi Year trailer | AA-16927 | Jan. 6, 2010 | Initially AY prefix was issued, then AZ, now AA. |
| Permanent (black on silver) | 23867-T | Feb. 24, 2010 | Issued to local government and nonprofit vehicles Suffixes P, R, S, and T have been used to date. |
| Permanent Commericial | YA015434 | Mar. 11, 2009 | Issued to heavy trucks. Original format was YA-00000. |
| Permanent Trailer | PT-75646 | Dec. 2, 2009 | Issued to some semi-trailers. |
| Taxi | TA-7945 | Aug. 21, 2009 | |
| Trailer (standard) | BY-14528 | Nov. 4, 2009 | Original format was x-00000, then Ax-00000 (starting with prefix AN, and excluding the AY and AZ prefixes), now Bx-00000. |
| Weighted (medium-duty) truck | DA-2805 | Dec. 22, 2009 | Serials began at AA-1001; issued to medium-duty (usually 6-wheeled) trucks. |
| Plate type | High number | Date spotted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Indians | A/I 503A | Apr. 20, 2009 | Original format was A/I 0000, now A/I 000x. |
| Antique Auto | 36014 | May 30, 2009 | Highest embossed plate seen is 34007; lowest flat plate seen is 36014. |
| Appalachian State University | A4126 | Dec. 15, 2009 | Embossed. |
| Appalachian Trail | 6660 A/T | Sept. 1, 2009 | Highest embossed plate seen is 5435 A/T; lowest flat plate is 6482 A/T. |
| Blue Ridge Parkway | 4B64 B/P | Feb. 19, 2010 | Original format was 0000 B/P, then x000 B/P, now 0x00 B/P. Mike Sager reports that 0X00 serials advance right to left, so 1A99 is followed by 1B01, not 2A01. Highest embossed plate seen is 2H82 B/P; lowest flat plate seen is 2Z26 B/P. |
| Bronze Star | 1691 B/S | Apr. 14, 2009 | |
| Campbell University | 1451 C/U | Nov. 21, 2009 | |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 3822 C/H | Feb. 18, 2010 | Lowest flat plate seen is 3821 C/H. |
| Carolina Panthers | 8486 C/P | Jan. 20, 2010 | Highest emboseed plate seen is 7022 C/P; lowest flat plate seen is 8459 C/P. |
| Coastal Federation | 5864 C/F | Feb. 5, 2010 | Lowest flat plate seen is 5262 C/F. |
| Disabled Veteran | C164 D/V |
Mar. 8, 2009 | Original format was
D/V 0000, then
0000 D/V, now
x000 D/V. |
| Ducks Unlimited (generation 1) | 1376 D/U | Mar. 24, 2009 | Generation 1 plates have a Ducks Unlimited logo on a regular First in Flight base. |
| Ducks Unlimited (generation 2) | 2556 D/U | June 19, 2009 | Generation 2 plates have a graphic lighthouse scene; all have flat serial characters thus far. Lowest gen 2 I've seen had serial 1545 D/U. |
| Eagle Scout | 2286 E/S | Dec. 3, 2009 | Highest embossed plate seen is 2040 E/S; lowest flat plate is 2250 E/S. |
| East Carolina University | E4243 | Nov. 10, 2009 | Lowest flat plate number seen is E4139. |
| Fire Fighter | V/F 9151 | Apr. 15, 2009 | Issued to volunteer firefighters. |
| First in Forestry | 0613 F/F | Jan. 7, 2010 | All of these are flat thus far. |
| Fraternal Order of Police | 3367 F/P | Mar. 1, 2010 | |
| Highway Patrol, Retired | 1231 H/P | Nov. 17, 2008 | |
| I Care (Animal Lover) | B733 I/C | Dec. 15, 2009 | Original format was 0000 I/C, now x000 I/C. Highest embossed plate seen is B302 I/C; lowest flat plate seen is B571 I/C. |
| In God We Trust | 1318 S/A | June 9, 2009 | Highest embossed plate spotted was 1047 S/A; lowest flat is 1318 S/A. |
| Korean Veteran | 0450 K/V | Apr. 14, 2009 | |
| Lenoir-Rhyne University (generation 2) | 0512 L/R | Feb. 18, 2009 | Generation 2 says University rather than College. Plate 0512 L/R is flat. |
| Mason | 4633M | Dec. 10, 2009 | Plate number 4633M is flat. |
| National Guard, Retired | NC 7953 | Feb. 5, 2010 | |
| N.C. State University | S541B | Feb. 15, 2010 | Original format was S0000, now S000x. Highest embossed plate seen is S142B; lowest flat plate seen is S165B. |
| Purple Heart | P/H 8021 | Sept. 26, 2009 | |
| Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation | 3953 E/F | Feb. 26, 2010 | Highest embossed plate seen is 3773 E/F; lowest flat plate seen is 3953 E/F. |
| Scuba Diver | 0755 D/I | Feb. 18, 2010 | Highest embossed plate seen is 0694 D/I; lowest flat plate seen is 0755 D/I. |
| Smoky Mountains (generation 1) | H004 S/M | Apr. 2009 | Generation 1 plates showed evergreen trees against a pink sky, and had two legends – First in Flight and Friends of Great Smoky Mountains. Original format was 0000 S/M, then x000 S/M, theoretically through H999 S/M. |
| Smoky Mountains (generation 2) | 2B67 S/M | Feb. 4, 2010 | Generation 2 features a bear's head graphic and says Friends of the Smokies. Serial format was first x000 S/M, now 0x00 S/M. Gen 2 plate serials began at J001 S/M in early 2007. Highest embossed plate seen is W333 S/M; lowest flat plate seen is X004 S/M. Mike Sager reports that 0x00 serials' numbers advance right to left, then the letter, so 1A99 is followed by 2A01, not 1B01. |
| State Parks | 1449 S/P | Feb. 26, 2010 | All issued thus far are flat. |
| Tennis Foundation | 0347 T/F | Nov. 7, 2009 | All issued thus far are flat. |
| Trout Unlimited | 0344 T/U | Aug. 6, 2009 | All issued thus far are flat. |
| University of Florida | 1573 U/F | Jan. 28, 2010 | |
| University of North Carolina | U562F | May 20, 2009 | Original format was U0000, now U000x. |
| UNC Wilmington | W1282 | May 15, 2009 | |
| Vietnam Veteran | A661 V/V | May 13, 2009 | Original format was 0000 V/V, now x000 V/V. |
| Wake Forest University | F2142 | Apr. 21, 2009 | |
| Watermelon | 0786 W/M | Nov. 7, 2009 | |
| Wildlife (cardinal) | 4554 W/C | Sept. 26, 2009 | Highest embossed plate number seen is 4264 W/C. Lowest flat plate number seen is 4485 W/C. |
| World War II Veteran | 0466 W/V | Aug. 21, 2009 |
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Elsewhere on the web |
Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the information on this page: Mike Sager.
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