You can check the availability of a personalized plate with the department's online service,
Plate It Your Way.
Personalized (vanity) license plates may be purchased in lieu of regular
license plates for passenger vehicles, motor homes, buses, pickups, vans,
hearses and motorcycles. Vehicles titled as "utility" or registered with a Gross
Vehicle Weight plate are not eligible.
Personalized plates are available in the standard,
Spectacular Peninsulas, veteran, fundraising and special cause series.
Applications for personalized plates are processed only at Secretary of State
offices. Owners receive a receipt pending Department of State approval. Approved
personalized plates are mailed to the owner from Lansing within three weeks.
When personalizing a plate, you will pay for the plate (and
your registration fee if purchase is made when renewing the vehicle's
registration) plus
an initial $30 service fee. The $30 service fee is prorated for the number of
months until the plate's expiration date. If your vehicle is already
registered, the time remaining on your current plate may be used as credit
toward the new personalized plate. The expiration date remains the same. An additional fee is due if you decide to
change the style of the plate on your vehicle when ordering the personalized
plate (for example, changing from a standard plate to a Spectacular Peninsulas
or Mackinac Bridge personalized plate).
Normally, owners are sent one personalized plate. At the time of application,
however, owners have the option of ordering a second personalized plate for an
additional fee. This second plate may not be used for vehicle registration
purposes.
Letter combinations and restrictions on personalized plate selections are as
follows:
- The number of characters allowed depends upon the license plate design and
vehicle type.
- Some plate designs are not available for certain vehicle types (such as
motorcycles).
- Spaces are allowed and are counted as characters.
- Only letters and numbers (A-Z, 0-9) are allowed on personalized plates.
Other characters are not allowed.
- Selections cannot use the same letter/number combinations used with any
standard or specialty license plate sequence.
- Selections cannot be offensive to good taste or decency (as judged by the
Department of State).
Final approval of the personalized plate selection is granted by the Department of State.
