Vanity Plates

What you need to know to request a vanity plate.

For new and renewal registration, please bring the Application for Vanity Plates to your Town/City clerk's office to process your registration and vanity plate application. You can also apply for a new vanity plate at any DMV office that processes registrations after processing the town/city portion of your registration. You may also mail the application, town portion of the registration and a check for the appropriate fees to the Concord DMV at:

NH Dept. of Safety
DMV - Registration Bureau
23 Hazen Drive
Concord NH 03305

If you are changing your plate anytime other than the time of your renewal, please bring the Application for Vanity Plates along with your current vehicle registration to either your Town/City clerk's office or to your nearest DMV location.

Approval or Denial

If your choice of Vanity Plate is approved, the plates will be mailed to you. If your choice of vanity plate is denied, you will receive a letter by mail along with a set of number plates and a new registration. A credit for the paid vanity fees will be credited to your customer account. You will have a choice of selecting a new plate, or applying for a refund of the Vanity Plate fees.

Fees

The cost is your town/city and state registration fees, plus $40.00 (for 12 months, prorated per month) for the Vanity Plate fee, plus the $8.00 plate fee (one-time fee). Please note: The following plates have an additional yearly non-prorated fee:

  • Conservation (Moose) Plates $30.00
  • State Park Plates $85.00
  • Decal Plates (Passenger) $15.00
  • Decal Plates (Veteran) $15.00

If you choose to change your plate before your next renewal, the cost will be $23.00 which includes the $8.00 one-time plate fee, and a $15.00 certified registration fee in addition to prorated vanity plate fees when applicable.

Compliance

All Vanity Plate requests shall comply with Administrative Rule, Saf-C 514.62(c):

(c)  An initial or vanity registration plate shall not:
 

  1. Include a zero;
  2. Imply an affiliation with a government entity that is not true;
  3. Refer to or be associated with any of the following subjects, in any language, whether read forward, backward, by mirror image or by phonetic spelling:
    1. Intimate body parts or genitals;
    2. Sexual or excretory acts or functions;
    3. Words or terms of profanity or obscenity;
    4. Violence;
    5. Illegal activities;
    6. Drugs, drug culture or illegal intoxicants;
    7. Gangs; or
    8. Racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual orientation hatred or bigotry;
  4. Have more than 7 characters;
  5. Have more than 2 ampersands, plus signs, or minus signs, and which shall not be consecutive, such as &&;
  6. Have any characters other than ampersands, numerals, plus signs, minus signs, or letters;
  7. Have only numerals or only numerals and ampersands, plus signs, or minus signs; and
  8. Have characters or combinations of characters which may cause difficulty of distinction or identification.

Types of Vanity Plates and Maximum Number of Characters

  • Passenger Seven characters
  • Apportioned, Conservation, Commercial, Trailer, Veteran, State Park, Active Duty Military Six characters
  • Antique Six characters (four with Old Man Replica)
  • Walking Disability, Purple Heart, Street Rod, Conservation State Park, Disabled Veteran Four characters
  • National Guard, Decal, Veteran Decal Five characters
  • Motorcycle Five characters (ampersand (&) NOT available)
  • Veteran Motorcycle Four characters (ampersand (&) NOT available)
  • Purple Heart Motorcycle, Walking Disability Motorcycle Three characters (two must be letters, ampersand (&) NOT available)

All vanity plates are centered by the graphic on the plate (Old Man, Flag, etc.), and not by the center of the plate.

You may check on the availability of a Vanity Plate by visiting our Vanity Plate Search. Please note that although this Vanity Plate Search feature may indicate that your plate choice is available, it cannot save the plate for you and as a result, the plate may not be available when you visit our office. Please note that the graphic showing how your plate will look in this search is not an accurate representation of the actual manufactured plate.