Missouri issued over 8,000 personalized license plates last year. These 16 were rejected

This story references profanity and may be offensive to some readers.

With $15 and a short saying, Missouri residents can personalize their car tags. But not every vanity license plate application gets approved.

That’s because the state has strict rules for what goes on custom license plates.

Of the 1.1 million new Missouri passenger vehicle registrations processed during 2023, over 8,000 of them were personalized plates according to Anne Marie Moy, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Each license plate issued in Missouri must follow state obscenity laws , which declare that personalized license plates cannot be dangerous or “obscene, profane, patently offensive or contemptuous of a racial or ethnic group, or offensive to good taste or decency.”

For this story, The Star reviewed license plate requests rejected from June 2023 to May 2024, obtained through a Missouri Sunshine Law request.

What vanity license plates were rejected in Missouri?

The Star looked through 475 unique license plate configurations that were rejected for being “not allowed by statute.” Here is a selection of these plates:

• 5L0WAF

• FB1CAR

• 1ETAS5

• G0LF69

• PFAAF0

• FCRDF0

• UFAUF0

• BEAUCH

• CANABL

• KCM0AF

• B1SHHH

• HANKYP

• PNSCAR

• M0F0H

• DAHMER

• PHAQU

The Department of Revenue managed to catch and reject profanities in both Spanish and Korean. In addition, the state rejected a number of license plate applications that disparaged President Biden or referenced drugs or violence.

How are personalized license plates reviewed?

License plates are reviewed by multiple state employees before they are either approved or rejected, Moy wrote in an email. The Department of Revenue does its work without the help of a database, according to Moy.

Before the department rejects a license plate application, the Department of Revenue’s General Counsel’s Office gives it a legal once-over.

Have more questions about oddities in Missouri? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com .