Reassigning License Plates: A Quick Guide

If you're transitioning from an old vehicle to a new one, understanding the process of reassigning your license plates can save you time and effort. This article outlines what you need to know about transferring your existing plates and ordering new ones.

Transferring Existing Plates

If you are simply reassigning your current license plates from your old vehicle to your new vehicle, there’s good news! You won’t need to obtain new plates. Instead, you'll receive:

• A registration card for the new vehicle
• A sticker for the new vehicle's plate

This means that as long as the existing registration matches with the details of your newly acquired car, you're all set!

Ordering New Plates When Necessary

In some cases, however, you may still need to order new plates. Here are key points regarding this situation:

• Current Registration Matches: If your current registration does match but requires different plate numbers or types (e.g., standard vs. personalized), then ordering is necessary.
• No Legacy Plate Reassignment via E-File: Unfortunately, if you're looking at legacy plates for a brand-new car through e-file options without opting for personalized versions, this won't be possible.
• Legacy Plate Reassignment: However, if legacy plates are available and not currently assigned elsewhere, they can be reassigned without any issues.

Special Interest License Plates Information

If you're interested in obtaining special interest license plates or have specific questions about them, more information is available on the California DMV website. For detailed guidelines on how to order these unique licenses and understand their requirements better,click here.

Need Assistance?

If you have further questions or require assistance with anything else related to license plate assignments or registrations feel free to ask! We're here to help make this transition as smooth as possible.