France was the first country to introduce a registration plate by 1893. Germany and the Netherlands followed suit. In the U.S., New York required tags by 1903. And Florida required residents to register their vehicles by 1905, asking them to make their own until 1918 when the Sunshine State started to issue license plates.
A license plate, tag or vehicle registration plate basically identifies a vehicle to its owner. In Florida, it’s the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles that issues tags, but companies such as eTags can renew registration and tags sending out license plates by mail. Today’s standardized size is six inches by twelve inches with mounting holes, but it wasn’t until 1956 that the first Florida license plate complied with these measurements.
Through the years, the look of Florida tags changed from various colors for letters and digits, to different colors for the plate like red, black, and blue, to embossed lettering and mottos too. There are various types of license plates in the Sunshine State, not to mention a specific way of disposing old ones that aren’t in use anymore.
The standard Florida tag
The most common tag is the standard license plate. There are a little over 22 million standard tags in the Sunshine State. Options include county name plate (but not available for all counties, so verify with your local tax collector’s office), Sunshine State plate or In God We Trust plate.
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The personalized license plate
A personalized license plate is a little different than a specialty tag. If you have unique digits or letters you’d like on your license plate, then that’s considered personalized. You can have up to seven characters with additional space or a hyphen or just go for five characters. You can check if the configuration is available here. MIAMI, WIFEY and ALISON!, and SURFN can work if available.
The specialty registration Plate
If you’d like to support a specific organization or cause, you can order a specialty plate. You can support the environment, a special interest, a college or university and the like. There are even military license plates for those who have served the country.
The temporary tag
In some cases, the state of Florida allows temporary license plates for 10,30 or 90 days depending on why the plate is issued. The most common situation for a Florida temporary tag is for car dealerships. When a dealer sells a car, and the buyer doesn’t have a license plate, a temporary tag is placed on the vehicle. Typically, this is for a month’s time giving the buyer the chance to register for a new plate.
Other times, a temporary license plate is given to vehicles required to weighed or if a motorcycle has to have their VIN number verified or inspected for title purposes. These types of temporary Florida plates are given for 10 days.
Another 30-day temporary tags go out to private car sales, or if a vehicle is sold in Florida but driven to another state. If you’re waiting on a specialty or personalized plate, you may get a temporary Florida tag for 90 days. The same goes for someone who’s temporarily employed in Florida.
Disposing of Florida license plates
It’s important to note that license plates in Florida belong to the state. They have to be returned either in person or by mail to a motor vehicle service center, if the decal hasn’t expired and if car insurance is not maintained. You can look online for your county’s service center. If a Florida tag is lost, damaged or stolen, there’s an affidavit called “Surrender of a License Plate by Owner” that has to be completed than mailed.
8 comments
I hope I’m not asking an obvious question, but could you walk me thru this a little more? I’m an Orange County buyer, purchasing from an Osceola private seller who is only available weekends (DMV is closed). He has the paper title which he’ll complete the details of the sale & odometer deets as well as the VIN verification. CAN I HAVE THOSE ITEMS IN HAND AND NO TEMPORARY PLATE in order to drive home and get to the DMV during business hours?
I’ll have the insurance covered, and does it matter which county I bring those items to, in order to get the temporary plate? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!
eTags is a private company that offers title and registration online so there’s no actual visit needed. Should you want to use our services, you can go to https://www.etags.com/app/fl?utm_source=blogquestion
If you’d like to go in-person to your local DMV, here’s some information on temporary tags in FL
https://www.flhsmv.gov/safety-center/consumer-education/buying-vehicle-florida/buying-private-sale/#:~:text=The%20buyer%20may%20purchase%20a,when%20purchasing%20the%20temporary%20tag.
Florida law provides for a variety of legal uses of temporary license plates. Temporary license plates may be used for a period of 10, 30, or 90 days according to the purpose for which the plate is issued.
Hello. If I’m to go off of the above post… I’m trying to get a vehicle from NC to FL and it will be driven. Do I need to obtain temporary tags through NC in order to drive it to FL? Then once it’s in FL I apply for FL tags? What about registration for the car? I know I can put the car on my insurance before it’s driven just wanted to double check on the plates and registration process first. Thanks.
Hi there, you can place a Florida title and registration order with etags to get Florida plates and we will mail the plates to NC and then you can drive the car. Visit https://www.etags.com/app/fl?utm_source=blogquestion
You can also apply for temporary tags to have the car on the road thru the NC DMV.
I am considering purchasing a vehicle from out of state (Pennsylvania) from a private seller. How can I legally drive the vehicle from PA to Florida and register here?
Hey there, you can either get temporary PA plates which he would have to do directly with PennDot since eTags doesn’t offer temp tags. Then drive the car to FL where you can apply for his FL tags at https://www.etags.com/app/fl?utm_source=blogquestion. Unless you have an immediate need to drive the car to FL, you could simply just apply for you FL tags with us online and get the FL tags delivered to you in PA where you could them drive the vehicle to FL with the permanent FL tags.
My car is ready for an antique tag.Will I get sent one automatically get sent one?
Assuming you did not register with etags, If your vehicle is due for renewal, the FL DMV should’ve sent you a renewal notice.