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This page contains news from 2009 regarding North Carolina license plates and vehicle registrations. The newest articles are posted at the top of the page. Latest noteworthy updates to this page
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 Fat plate frames such as this one are no longer legal (plate was in actual use when photographed in 2006) |
December 5, 2009 – Effective December 1, 2009, license plate frames that hide the state name or stickers are now illegal on North Carolina roads. For the next year, motorists in violation of this new law will be given a warning only. Beginning in December 2010, vehicle operators will be fined $100 per infraction. The law would seem to apply to both North Carolina vehicles and out-of-state vehicles driven on North Carolina roads with obstructive plate frames.
License plate frames that don't cover or partially cover the state name, month sticker, year sticker, or plate number will remain legal, however.
November 22, 2009 – Brandon McDade recently renewed his vehicle registration that was due to expire in early 2010, and received a 2011 renewal sticker. Brandon reports that this 2011 sticker consists of white characters on what he calls a "lemon yellow" background. To my knowledge, this is the first time that North Carolina registration stickers have ever been yellow. I would imagine that the low contrast between white and yellow will make these stickers hard to read, similar to the 2000 and 2005 stickers, which where colored white on light blue.
 (plate in actual use) |
November 12, 2009 – Here's another first image of a North Carolina plate design that was introduced earlier this year. Proceeds from this plate benefit the N.C. Tennis Foundation. I still think this is an exceptionally ugly and hard-to-read design. (See related article dated Arpil 15, 2009 below.)
November 12, 2009 – Fellow plate collector Richard Baucom of Lincolnton wondered the same thing, so he wrote to the N.C. DMV and aksed them. They actually replied with an answer, too. All seven-character First in Flight passenger car plates issued to date have had the second letter limited to the range of N to Z. Richard reports that once ZZZ-9999 is made, the DMV has indicated that they will go back and make plates with the second letter in the range of A to M. In other words, after ZZZ-9999 will come AAA-1001; then plates will be sequential until AMZ-9999. After AMZ-9999 will come BAA-1001, and so on. The N-to-Z format will have lasted 25 years, from 1985 until 2010, so the A-to-M plates should keep us going for another 20 to 25 years before they're used up.
 (plate in actual use) |
November 9, 2009 – I was able to check out several new North Carolina plate designs recently, and took photos of a few of them. Shown at right is a brand-new, blue-numbered First in Flight passenger car plate in the Z series. These look exactly like the older blue-numbered plates. (See related article dated October 23, 2009 below.) More information and photos of new plate types will be forthcoming, as time permits.
November 3, 2009 – Today, I saw my first red-numbered Z-series plate, with plate number ZNC-6073. Also today, I saw my lowest blue-numbered Z-series plate to date, with plate number ZNJ-1809. Therefore, obviously, the switch from red back to blue serial numbers occurred somewhere between these two numbers. So far, I haven't been able to get a photo of any Z-series plate, either red or blue.
November 3, 2009 – The NC DMV recently introduced another special interest plate in its collegiate series, this one for High Point University. The fixed serial suffix letters for this type are H/U. (H/P is already in use for Retired Highway Patrol Officer plates.) The logo consists of the letters "HPU" with the words High Point University underneath.
October 23, 2009 – Yesterday, for the first time since April 2007, I saw a newly-issued North Carolina standard passenger car plate with blue serial characters. I couldn't get a photo, but the plate number was ZNR-1146, and it had an October 2010 expiration, indicating that it was registered some time this month. As reported here earlier, the state has now discontinued making red-numbered plates, and has gone back to blue, mainly because the red characters are harder to read at a distance. However, any remaining red plates will continue to be issued until inventories are depleted.
October 19, 2009 – Today while driving, for the first time, I saw a flat North Carolina motorcycle plate, which I did not know even existed. It was a 7-character vanity registration, and had blue serial characters. I couldn't tell whether the plate had a blue border similar to the flat amateur radio plate (shown below), as the plate had a frame around it.
 (plate in actual use) |
October 19, 2009 – Last week, I was able to capture an image of a flat National Guard annual assigned number license plate. As luck would have it, I managed to get National Guard plate number 1 N/G. Since the plate numbers of these annual National Guard plates are assigned by seniority, you can draw your own conclusions. Only plate numbers 1 to 3000 are reissued according to seniority each year, and bear the year on the plate itself; in recent years, National Guard plate numbers above 3000 are renewed with stickers like other plates.
October 2, 2009 – A new North Carolina special interest plate has been made available that promotes Auburn University, which is located in Alabama. This plate features Auburn's "AU" logo, and also uses the letters A/U as serial suffix letters.
The North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University special interest plate has been redesigned. The new plate's graphic features the letters "A&T" above a bulldog with its front paws extended, looking directly at the viewer. The previous graphic showed a cartoon bulldog standing on its hind legs and facing left, wearing a ball cap an a jersey with the letter "A" on the front. The new plate retains the "T" serial prefix used on the original plate.
September 26, 2009 – I recently encountered my first Retired U.S. Marine Corps special interest plate with flat, blue serial characters. There's nothing strange about that, but the serial number of the plate I saw was 74R94. This is the first North Carolina retired military plate I've seen that didn't have the letter "R" as either a prefix or suffix letter. If this is a consecutively-numbered plate, they've sure issued a lot of them (7,494 of them, possibly) with the letter "R" in the middle postion without me ever having seen one before. If, instead, this is a vanity plate, then there's still no explanation for the letter "R" in the middle position, as vanity special interest plates are always required to have the appropriate prefix or suffix letter or letters for that specific plate type.
Update: October 2, 2009 – Mike Sager reports that unlike other special interest plate types with vanity registrations, retired military vanity plates are not required to have the prefix or suffix letter used for sequentially-numbered versions of these plates. Mike also reports that he's recently spotted two retired military plates with plate numbers M1014 and M1059, leading him to believe that new, sequential plates are now being issued with an "M" prefix. I know that the available numbers on the "R" prefix and suffix plates were close to being used up.
 (plate in actual use) |
September 19, 2009 – Yesterday, I was at last able to take a photograph of a flat amateur radio operator plate, shown at right. I've only seen a few of these, but until now, it was always in rush-hour freeway traffic, where I would be risking my life to try to get an image of the plate. Notice the effort to make the plate look as much like the embossed version as possible, even including the border around the edge of the plate.
September 17, 2009 – Although I haven't personally confirmed this, I've read two second-hand accounts that report that regular First in Flight passenger car plates have reached the Z series and are also once again being made with blue serial numbers. According to these reports, red-numbered plates did make it into the early Z series, with the highest letter prefix seen so far being ZNC, while a newly-made, blue-numbered plate was observed with serial letters ZNX. I've personally seen red-numbered plates as high as the YZX series, but have yet to see any Z-series serials in either color. Of course, the North Carolina passenger car plate numbering scheme limits the second letter to the N-Z range, so the lowest Z-series plate would be plate number ZNA-1001. Anyway, a more specific break point between the two colors will be identified as additional plates are spotted.
Update: October 2, 2009 – According to one report passed on by fellow plate enthusiast Alan Iverson of Florida, blue-numbered First in Flight plates have been issued in the ZNE series.
 (plate in actual use) |
September 5, 2009 – This probably isn't news for those of you who live in North Carolina and follow license plate trends carefully, but I only recently became aware of this, and just this week was able to get a photo. It seems that sometime in the past year or so, the Appalachian Trail plate was modified slightly to show the sponsoring group's web site address, www.AppalachianTrail.org, in black mixed-case letters at the top of the plate, rather than the previous legend, which was simply Appalachian Trail in green capital letters. I don't know if this change to the background sheeting occurred before, simultaneously with, or after the switch to flat serial numbers.
See the earlier version of this plate here.
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August 21, 2009 – Despite the N.C. DMV's previous announcement that they were going to cease production of flat plates in May 2009, they're nevertheless still issuing at least some flat special interest plates. At least they were two weeks ago, when I ordered and received the Trout Unlimited plate shown at right for one of my vehicles.
Based on the registration number I was issued, and the time that has elapsed since these plates were introduced, it appears that this design is a slow seller, and so it may take longer to use up the stock of flat plates than for other, more popular designs. (North Carolina specialty plates must have 300 pre-paid orders before they are authorized for production, so it would seem that only 44 plates have been issued since the plate debuted in mid-April.)
August 21, 2009 – It should come as no surprise, but I've confirmed that the state has discontinued replacing older blue numbered First in Flight passenger car plates. In 2007-2008, the state replaced all 5- and 6-character plates, and all 7-character plates in the A- to H-series as they came up for renewal; then, from June 2008 through May 2009, all 7-character J-series plates were replaced. I've now verified that K-series plates with summer expiration months are being renewed rather than replaced.
The DMV had originally announced that the number of plates to be replaced each year would depend on the amount of money the state legislature budgeted for the replacement program. However, the state is presently in the midst of a severe budget crisis, and so it seems that no money for plate replacement was budgeted for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, which began on July 1.
June 8, 2009 – The popular Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) special interest plate is now available in a scaled-down version for use on motorcycles. This is the very first North Carolina special interest plate; indeed, the first graphic plate of any kind to be made available for motorcycles. The motorcycle version of the BRP plate has some minor differences from the full-sized version, mostly to accommodate the smaller size and slightly different shape of the motorcycle plate. The motorcycle plate gets serial format 0000 B/R, while the standard-sized plate has always had a B/P serial suffix.
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May 4, 2009 – Yet another new specialty plate is now available to North Carolina motorists. This one promotes North Carolina as being First in Forestry, and has suffix letters F/F. It's mostly yellow in color, showing a stand of trees with mountains in the background, and has red serial characters, legend, and state name. Early issues are flat, of course, but it won't be long before they'll be making these with embossed serial characters.
April 25, 2009 – Two college and university special interest plates have been refreshed with new designs. The logo on the Lenoir-Rhyne plate is revised to reflect their new name, Lenoir-Rhyne University, rather than the previous Lenoir-Rhyne College. The Winston-Salem State University plate also features an updated logo. More significant, however, is the serial format change made to the Winston-Salem plate. While the previously-issued Winston-Salem plate had an "X" serial prefix, the new design plate is instead being made with a stacked "W/S" serial suffix. As far as I know, this is the first instance of a special interest plate changing its identifying prefix or suffix letter(s).
 (plate in actual use) |
April 25, 2009 – Two days ago, I observed in traffic for the first time a brand-new First in Flight vanity plate with flat serial characters that are blue in color. These will be made for only a couple of months, from about March to May 2009, when the state will stop making flat plates and will resume making all plates with embossed characters. See articles below dated March 10 and February 27 for more information on these changes. Beginning some time in May, newly made vanity plates will look just like vanity plates made prior to April 2007.
April 19, 2009 – For reasons that escape me, the N.C. DMV continues to roll out new NASCAR special interest plates each spring, as various drivers rise to the top level of racing, or change teams and car numbers. Relatively few NASCAR plates are actually issued, except for those that promote racers with a large fan base, such as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Also each year, several designs are discontinued as drivers retire from racing or change teams.
The one completely new NASCAR plate this year features Clint Bowyer #33. Revised designs for drivers who have changed car numbers include Mark Martin (now #5), Ryan Newman (now #39), Reed Sorenson (now #43), Tony Stewart (now #14), and David Stremme (now #12). In each case, the revised designs use the same suffix letters identifying the driver as the previous designs. Newly obsolete designs apparently include those for Dario Franchitti #40, Denny Hamlin #11, Dale Jarrett #44, Bobby Labonte #43, Casey Mears #5, Ryan Newman #12, Kyle Petty #45, Reed Sorenson #41, and Tony Stewart #20.
April 19, 2009 – Yet another new special interest plate is now being issued; this one benefits an organization called Trout Unlimited. This plate is white, with a graphic image of a trout on the left side. The legend Trout Unlimited appears in blue across the top, and smaller legend saying Back the Brookie appears in green next to the trout graphic; the state name is red in color and occupies the usual position along the bottom of the plate. The serial characters are also blue, and the format is 0000 T/U.
April 15, 2009 – Another new special interest plate is now being issued, this time to benefit the North Carolina Tennis Foundation. The plate is a bright green color, apparently intended to represent a tennis court, and shows a tennis racquet, ball, and net. The plate has the legend Play Tennis across the top; both it and the state name are red in color. The serial characters are dark blue, and the format is 0000 T/F.
Having now seen one of these plates in person, I have to say that in my opinion, this has to be one of the ugliest and most hard-to-read plates that I've ever encountered.
April 15, 2009 – Yesterday while driving to work, I got a very good look at the license plate on a North Carolina Highway Patrol motorcycle that was in the next lane, stopped at a traffic light. The plate appeared to be identical in appearance to a normal motorcycle vanity plate. The plate number was HPMU-6. "HPMU" stands for "Highway Patrol motorcycle unit", in case you didn't know. Anyway, the plate was a normal blue-on-white embossed motorcycle plate. The state abbreviation N.C. was embossed at the top center, but unlike Highway Patrol car plates, there was no year embossed on the plate. Instead, the plate bore December 2009 expiration stickers, just like a civilian motorcycle plate would. I couldn't tell whether there were any year stickers under the 2009 sticker, and so I don't know whether these plates are replaced annually or not. I would suspect that they are.
 Eagle Scout plate with flat serial characters |
April 10, 2009 – As reported earlier, many North Carolina plates have been switching over to flat serial characters in recent weeks, despite the fact that the state has announced that they will discontinue making flat plates sometime in May. Several higher-volume specialty plates, such as the Friends of the Smokies plate shown below, have been reported to have been seen with flat characters. Shown at right is an example of a freshly-issued, low volume Eagle Scout specialty plate with flat numbers. There won't be many of these made before the state switches back to embossed numbers.
March 22, 2009 – Last week in traffic, I saw my first 2009 Highway Patrol vehicle plate. Each year, North Carolina Highway Patrol vehicles are issued new graphic First in Flight plates with the current year indicated in the upper corners. Serial formats of these plates are SHP-000 and SHP-0000. The 2009 plates are identical to previous issues, with both the serial characters and the year embossed and blue in color.
March 11, 2009 – Today in traffic, I saw my first N.C. National Guard annual plate for 2009. New plates are issued annualy to officers and senior non-commissioned officers, and the lower the plate number, the higher the rank and seniority of its owner. These annual plates have the year actually on the plate in the upper corners. Anyway, for 2009, annual National Guard plates were made with flat serial numbers and flat year digits. No doubt, they'll be embossed again for 2010.
March 10, 2009 – In a report carried by several Raleigh-area media outlets, including WRAL-TV, WTVD-TV, and the Raleigh News and Observer, the N.C. DMV has announced that it is discontinuing using red serial letters and numbers, and red vanity plate characters, on its standard First in Flight license plates. Red character plates have been issued for just under the past two years. Existing red numbered sequential plates will continue to be distributed until they're gone from inventory, which is projected to be in October 2009. Newly ordered vanity plates will be made with blue characters effective immediately. Until about May, vanity plates will continue to be made with flat characters, however. (See related story immediately following.)
February 27, 2009 – The North Carolina DMV has announced that it will be ending the production of flat license plates after it uses up its supply of the thinner aluminum used to make them, according to a news segment that aired on Raleigh-based WRAL-TV yesterday. Some types of license plates that are one of a kind, such as vanity plates, or produced in low volumes, have been made for the past several months with the serial characters screened on rather than embossed. High-volume plates such as standard passenger car plates have continued to be embossed all along. The switch back to embossing all types of plates is projected to take place in May.
Flat plates were supposed to be less expensive to make than embossed plates, but in practice, that hasn't been the case. Plus, they haven't been terribly popular anyway, either with the general public or with law enforcement. The flat plate numbers are harder to read from a distance, and plates made with screened numbers tend to be perceived as ugly, cheap looking, and even fake.
The state does not plan to recall or replace flat plates that have been issued to date, or those that will be issued between now and May.
 Smoky Mountain plate with flat serial characters (plate in actual use) |
February 24, 2009 – Yesterday I spotted two current-style Smoky Mountain special interest plates – the green and navy blue ones with the bear's head. Both were higher numbers than any I had seen previously. The lower number of the two, plate number V798 S/M had embossed serial characters, as they all have until now. However, the higher numbered plate, plate number X591 S/M, had flat serial characters. Therefore, the switch to flat serials took place somewhere between these two numbers. This is the first instance I know of where sequentially-numbered plates on an existing special interest base have been switched from embossed to flat numbers.
Update: March 22, 2009 – I managed to get a candid photo of one of these flat character Smoky Mountain plates with plate number X297 S/M, shown at right. One other difference I didn't notice earlier is that the variable serial characters are black in color, in contrast to the suffix characters which are still navy blue.
February 24, 2009 – Last week in Raleigh, I passed on the highway a car bearing one of those low-volume, annual, government official plates on the First in Flight base. I believe it said "Clerk of the Superior Court", or "Clerk of the Circuit Court", or something like that. Anyway, both the serial number and the year 2009 ("20" in the upper left corner, and "09" in the upper right corner) were flat rather than embossed. Also, these elements remained in the traditional dark blue color.
February 13, 2009 – Plate spotter Curtis Barwick reports seeing the first example of an apportioned heavy truck plate with serial format Mx-0000, in the MA series. Until now, such plates had only been made in the Lx-0000 format, and were recently being issued in the upper LZ series. (Apportioned buses and light and medium trucks use serial format LA-00000.)
The MD, ME, and MF series will have to be skipped, as these prefixes are already used for motorcycle dealers, special mobile equipment, and vehicle manufacturers, respectively. The MG series will likely be skipped, too, because for some reason North Carolina almost always avoids using the letter G in any plate number.
 (Casadonte photo / plate) |
February 11, 2009 – Plate spotter Mike Sager reports seeing a new North Carolina special interest plate promoting, and presumably raising money for state parks. Mike says the serial format is 0000 S/P. Mike didn't say what they look like, and they're not on the N.C. DMV web site yet, so I don't have any other details at this point. I expect that they're only being made with flat serial characters.
Update: February 13, 2009 – Mike has sent me the link to an
N.C. State Parks web page
showing the design of the new state parks plate.
Update: February 24, 2009 – The state parks plate is now on the N.C.
DMV web site.
Update: March 10, 2009 – Fellow collector Paul Casadonte has provided a
photo of his new state parks plate, shown at right.
February 11, 2009 – I've been meaning to post this item for some time now, but kept forgetting to do so. For at least a few months now, newly issued North Carolina amateur radio operator plates have been completely flat. In the past, they've closely resembled "weighted" truck plates or other non-graphic, non-passenger, blue character plate types. Although the shade of blue is now a bit darker, the new flat radio plates otherwise mimic the previous all-embossed version, even including the blue border around the outside edge of the plate. Sorry, I haven't managed to get a photo of one of these yet.
Related pages on this site |
Elsewhere on the web |
Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the information on this page: Mike Sager, Paul Casadonte, Richard Baucom, and Brandon McDade.
Casadonte photo is presumed to be copyrighted by Paul Casadonte, and is used with permission.
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