Special plate designs cannot be ordered through DMV. You must visit the individual organization's website to find out information about purchasing these plates including designs for Bristol Fourth of July; Conservation Through Education, Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation, New England Patriots, Plum Beach Lighthouse, RI Community Food Bank – Mr. Potato Head, and the Red Sox Foundation. A link to the websites of these organizations can be found through dmv.ri.gov. Please note that RI law requires that a minimum of 900 sets of plates must be ordered before production can begin. This is currently the case on orders pending for the Bristol Fourth of July design and for the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation design.
Vanity plates are available in either the standard wave or optional sailboat plate design. These plates can be reserved online or by completing the Application for Remake and Vanity License Plates. Costs are listed in the DMV Fee Table.
To make an online vanity plate reservation, you will need a Visa, MasterCard or Discover credit card and a great idea for a vanity plate! This online vanity plate service is available only for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, and commercial vehicles under 9001 lbs. If your vehicle displays a combination plate, you cannot request a vanity plate.
A passenger vehicle vanity plate can be any combination of two to six letters or up to six letters and numbers. A motorcycle vanity plate is any combination of two to five letters and numbers. For a commercial vehicle under 9001 lbs, a vanity plate is any combination of two to six letters and numbers, same as for passenger vehicles. There cannot be any duplication of vanity plates in any of the three categories. So if the plate you've requested for your passenger car is already displayed on a pickup truck or motorcycle, your request for that same combination of letters and/or numbers will be denied.
Your online purchase is simply a reservation for your selected vanity plate and is still subject to review by the DMV. Any vanity plate request deemed offensive to good taste and decency will not be processed by the DMV. You should know that additional registration and transfer fees will be due when you pick up your vanity plates at the DMV. Your annual registration fees for vanity plates are also higher than traditional plates.
For more information about how to order special design plates or vanity plates and other online services including license renewal, please visit our website at www.dmv.ri.gov.