Is your license plate legal?

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — Have you taken a look at the state of your license plate lately? Well, if the paint has peeled or the registration sticker is covered, you may get pulled over and given a citation.

“A lot of times we’ll make traffic stops whenever they have a plate cover or if the paint’s peeling or if there’s some kind of a large dent. A lot of times people don’t realize it’s illegal or they not paid attention to their plate and realized how bad that it started to peel,” said senior West Virginia State Trooper Gabriel Starcher.

Obstruction of plates even includes plate frames that are meant to protect from plates getting bent but some also end up covering the registration sticker, Starcher said this is illegal. “So if they’ve got a tag cover or even ones that come from the dealership and you can’t see the sticker for the year that it expires,” said Starcher. Other covers that could also get you pulled over include some of the clear or tinted plastic covers.

Not only are plates that don’t meet requirements illegal, but they can also slow down investigations. “It just makes it a lot harder to track down because instead of just being able to run the plate and number and get a response, we’ll have to go and get with the DMV and see if we can find plates that have the same rest of the numbers and not just the one that’s obstructed… So sometimes the plates could get mixed up with somebody else’s plate which causes even a further investigation that needs to be done,” said Starcher.

Over the past few years, there appear to have been anomalies in the license plate production process. “When it comes to the paint peeling off, it seems like in recent years there’s been a lot of bad batches that’s come out with the new plates, and they’re peeling off within a few years,” said Starcher.

12 News spoke with the West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) about this issue, and here’s what Director of Vehicles Services John Springer had to say:

Nothing that we’ve seen that would speak to an overall problem, I mean they do wear out,” said Springer. The DMV said the average lifespan for a license plate should be around 7-10 years.

“And it doesn’t take long, once it starts to peel, it usually peels off pretty quick, so it’s better to just go ahead and get on it,” said Trooper Starcher.

If your plate is peeling or has completely peeled, you can get a replacement at no extra charge when you renew your vehicle registration, and the DMV said you can even ask for a replica plate. These requests can be made either online or in person at the time of renewal.

“There is a checkbox you can check to say, ‘Hey, I need a new license plate, mine is worn, damaged.’ Whatever case may be. We’ll also allow you to do that at time of renewal if you’re walking to an office you could tell that specialist that ‘Hey, my plate’s worn I need to get a new one,’” said Springer.

But if your plate is in so bad a shape that you cannot wait until renewal, the DMV’s website said it is $10 for a new plate and an additional cost for a replica plate.

And if you want a license plate frame to keep the plate from getting bent you can choose ones that have cutouts on the corner to allow for a clear view of the registration sticker.

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