North Dakota Banned License Plates

All the US states have banned license plates. North Dakota is not an exception as well. Furthermore, the state takes the process seriously. North Dakota rejected more than 120 vanity plates in 2020. And the reasons vary. In some cases, they may be tasteless. In other cases, the reasons may be vague.

Banning some license plates is necessary as they may be harmful to someone. Moreover, the states banned license plates also for vehicle owner safety. Because controversial license plates may be the reason for a fight as well.

North Dakota has a special department responsible for all license plates. ND Department of Transportation (NDDOT) issues license plates. Hence, it is a legal body to make decisions about license plates. It can accept or deny your personalized license plate based on some criteria.

Why ND Banned So me Vanity License Plates?

As we have already mentioned, the state is rather strict with vanity plates. Perhaps, one of the reasons is the popularity of vanity plates. North Dakota is among the 10 states with the most personalized plates. More than 6% of car holders prefer to personalize their plates. Thus, the risk is more with a big demand, and some vanity license plates are banned.

The big demand may also be connected with the lower fees. In addition, the vanity plates are quite affordable in the state. It will cost you an additional $25 to personalize your plates. The fee is in addition to the standard plates fee.

NDDOT decides to allow or deny the use of vanity plates. Overall, the decision is under major criteria.

1. The character limit should not exceed 7. The characters may include letters, numbers, and spaces. Thus, any special character will automatically make your license plate not acceptable.
2. The plate should not also contain any word, which is offensive for any group. For instance, it may be a religious, racial, or ethnic group.
3. There should also be no reference to any illegal drugs.
4. Propaganda of lawlessness is also banned.
5. Using any offensive words is also not acceptable. The character combination should not contain any vulgarity.
6. The word’s dictionary meaning is also very important. Because the character combination of a plate cannot have any meaning which is defined as obscene or profane.
7. The words should be neutral not to provoke any violent reaction from the viewer’s side.

All these laws refer to foreign words as well. Besides, it does not only refer to the character combination from the forward. They should also meet all these criteria even if you read them from backward.

How to Check is Vanity Plate Allowed?

Generally, vanity license plate approval takes no longer than 6 weeks. If the license plate is denied, you get a notification. But it is not a final decision. You can appeal the decision to the NDDOT director. The director’s decision is final.

However, you can use a very handy method to avoid rejections. There is a Special Request Plate Search section. It allows you to search your desired plate. If the plate is available, it shows the plate’s prototype. In other cases, it shows that the license plate is not available. Thus, it is better to start the search there. And only after request your personalized license plate.