What's up with TX vanity plate cost?

It all goes back to those various "no new taxes" promises. Fees started going up, steeply, when that happened. Also, the state now uses a private firm to fulfill vanity plates. Fees have gone up steeply since that started.


There are still some plates, mostly the "charity" plates where some part of the fee goes toward an institution, that are still fulfilled directly by the state. The web site for these is terrible... but the fees are still fairly reasonable. And there are some fairly nice logos/themes. Some even nicer than the ones that have been outsourced, IMHO.

Therefore, me personally, I'm going to stick to the cheaper plates. The only expensive one we have is "IONIC" on my Wife's Leaf. She balked at the renewal fee, and I told her that I thought that was the coolest, cleverest, plate I've ever seen on a BEV... and, for the record, she came up with it and ordered the plate back when she got the Leaf, and I didn't even know. Entirely her creativity and humor.

Anyway... I believe that's the real forces behind those fees.

The new plates have a lot more artistic options than before, sports teams, colleges, military, etc.

I have the original style plates when the state sold them, and they are far cheaper. However you can't buy them that way unless you are grandfathered. All new sales are via MYPLATES.COM .

IMO, what the state is doing is out-sourcing the personalized plate sales, and of course MYPLATES makes a hefty amount by selling the plates. Since the plates are still made by prison inmates, they get brownie points for giving inmates jobs and job skills. And with better marketing, the state nets more money than before. The lawmaker's take on this is that the plates are voluntary, so you don't have to buy them if you feel they are too expensive. Thus it's not really a tax.

reddy said:

However you can't buy them that way unless you are grandfathered. All new sales are via MYPLATES.COM .

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Some of these: TxDMV.GOV - Specialty License Plates, such as https://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=71, are still sold through the state for $30 assigned or $20+$40 personal. Others are sold through myplates.com for the very steep fees. Our Leaf "IONIC" plate was $215.25 to renew.

Danal said:

Some of these: TxDMV.GOV - Specialty License Plates, such as https://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/NASApp/txdotrts/SpecialPlateOrderServlet?grpid=60&pltid=71, are still sold through the state for $30 assigned or $20+$40 personal. Others are sold through myplates.com for the very steep fees. Our Leaf "IONIC" plate was $215.25 to renew.

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I stand corrected.

I might point out that the fee there is for TWO items - 1) The special plate , and 2) The personalization with your custom license , which adds up to about the same.

My annual cost for the 'grandfathered' type plates is $40 total and is added to my state registration fee every year. It was formerly $75 and came down a few years ago. When it was $75 they also mailed new plates EVERY YEAR , now I get them every 7 years like everybody else.

Also, we have Amateur Radio plates on some cars. These are great, because the initial fee is $1 and then nothing after that. And they have one other unique feature, unless they changed it recently you can actually have up to 5 cars all with the same Amateur Radio license plate. You have to request that and get cleared for it, but it makes remembering your tag number pretty easy.