District of Columbia License Plates

District of Columbia High Plates	Print

Passenger plates since about the DJ 9000 series have had slightly shorter serial characters that are seen on many, but not all, personalized plates. All of the DK prefix plates spotted so far also have them. Some Taxi plates have the same font. It seems that D.C. plates are now using the shorter serial font that is also now used on U.S. Government plates. This font began to appear on USG plates when they switched to a new base with a full-color (rather than bluescale) U.S. flag in the background. Some DJ/DK series have the shorter letters but full-size numbers. Some USG plates have reverted to full-size font.
Serial fonts continue to be all over the place, with, since the DJ 9xxx series have included 4 variations: normal, full-size letters and numbers; short letters and numbers; short letters and full-size numbers; and, starting tin the DM series, full-height characters but with a slightly thinner stroke.

Type	Plate	Notes	Reporter
Passenger	DP 1139	AP not confirmed yet in passenger. Reported for Apportioned Truck. Jeff Ellis reports that no AS, AT, or AU series plates were issued. The "Taxation Without Representation" legend began with the AZ series and appears on the BA, BC, BD, BE, BF, BG, BH, BK, BL, BM, BN, BP, BR, BS, BT, BU, BV, BW, BX, BY, BZ, CA, CB, CC, CD, CE, CF, CG, CH, CJ, CK, CM, CN, CP, CR, CS, CT, CU, CV, CW, CX, CY, CZ, DA, DB, DD, DE, DF, DG, DH, DJ, DK, DL, DM, DN, and DP series. BI, BO, BQ, CI, CL, CO, CQ, DC, and DI have not been reported, so they were apparently skipped. (DC was not used for Passenger, but the DC series does exist in the form of Government Fleet plates with DC stacked, and a DC flag representation in the place of the second letter, and a four numeral serial following.) The BB and BJ series have the alternate legend with the District's web site address. The BB series is embossed, with "WWW.Washingtondc.gov" slogan, with that odd capitalization, although these didn't appear to make it all the way to BB 9999, and the BJ series is flat, with "www.washingtondc.gov" slogan. Also, DC is now issuing flat screened plates. Embossed high - BG-1673 Flat low - BG-2033 DC changed from license plate validation stickers to windshield validation stickers on 22 APR 02. Plates have been seen with stickers reading "See windshield sticker" in the usual sticker locations on the plate. Newer issues have it screened on the plate. Wally Punzmann reports the highest DC taxation plate with the "Washington, D.C." script at the top before it went to the "WASHINGTON, DC" block font is BP-0908. The switch to the "WASHINGTON, DC" block font may have occurred at BP-1000. DM-series plates seem to be back to the full-height serial font, but somehow the characters appear to have more space between them horizontally, as though the stroke is narrower. Craig Donsanto reports an oddity of EA 0005 on 2010-07-27, but the E series has not yet been reached. It is unlikely that what will be a standard issue combination would be issued as a vanity, plus this plate had the flag, which vanities usually do not have. Bradley Gallagher reports website plates are no longer available because the D.C. city council is seeking unity of message. It it possible that the remaining 1100 or so plates in the BJ series have been set aside for executive branch use.	Bradley Gallagher 9/03/10
Bicentennial	200 OYZ	All have number 200, only the letters change.	Jeff Ellis 1/20/02
Numeric	853-040	Highest all-numeric (not counting the 1985-issued 900-000 series)	Jeff 3/19/05
Non-passenger Plates
Apportioned	AP 0627	Flat. AP-0307 is high on the embossed base. AP-0530 is the low on the flat base. DC Apportioned plates are very uncommon.	Bradley Gallagher 7/17/10
Bus	B 44911	Flat, "Taxation" legend	Dave Edmondson 6/19/10
Clergy	993	Plate number in two lines, "CLERGY" embossed above plate number	Dave Edmondson 5/30/09
Commercial	C 74291	Taxation legend, flat A few C77nnn plates were issued out of sequence.	Bradley Gallagher 5/21/10
D.C. Water and Sewer Authority	0946	"WASA" stacked vertically at left. This is the only D.C. government agency that has its own plate type and therefore does not use the standard D.C. Government Fleet plates. This type went flat between 0695 and 0741.	Bradley Gallagher 3/03/10
DC Government	D C 9420	Police Vehicles, Parking Enforcement, etc. DC Government MC - DC5077 Flat, blue on white, no separator, "GVT Motorcycle" in Arial-like font. The GT series has also been used for D.C. Government plates, and some of those are still in use.	Dave Edmondson 8/22/09
Dealer	DLR 8400	Washington DC's original Dealer tags were embossed with the original format of D-1234, with the screened "D.C. Dealer" on the top & "Washington, D.C." on the bottom (both in script fonts), while later original versions had the screened "Washington, D.C." on the top & "D.C. Dealer" on the bottom (both also in script fonts.) DC's current Dealer tags (now in the flat format), first issued in 2004, now have the DLR-1234 format with screened "WASHINGTON, DC" on the top & "DEALER" on the bottom (both in block fonts). As of 2004, all DC Dealer tags expire annually on October 31. The 2005 version (first issued in 2004) has the white lettering & characters with the red background. The 2006 version has the white lettering & characters with the blue background. The 2007 version is black on yellow. The 2008 version is black on purple. The 2009 version is black on green. The 2010 version is white on light blue. DLR 7820 is the high on the 2009 issue. DLR 8041 is the low in the 2010 issue.	Bradley Gallagher 5/27/10
Foreign Organization	t p e 0018	Embossed	Bradley Gallagher 10/07/09
Handicapped	21165	Flat, "Taxation" legend Original format was H/P 0000	Bradley Gallagher 11/03/09
Historic Motor Vehicle	h m v 1475	Now flat, "Historic Motor Vehicle" legend	Dave Edmondson 5/10/10
Livery	L 5957	Flat with "TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION" From dcplates.com: Livery vehicles are vehicle/driver combinations for hire, as are taxis, with the difference between the two types being that livery cars cannot solicit passengers on the street. Instead, livery services must be prearranged for.	Christopher F. 8/29/08
Manufacturer	MFR 0519	First issued in 2004, DC's Manufacturer tags have the MFR-0000 format with screened "WASHINGTON, DC" on the top & "MANUFACTURER" on the bottom (both in block fonts.) Dealer and Manufacturer plates - annual issues both - used to be the same color each year, but it appears that this is no longer the case, as 2010 MFR plates are black on pink.	Dave Edmondson 3/05/09
Motorcycle	M R 0108	Flat; black letters on white; "Motorcycle/Washington, D.C." in old italic typeface. The M/T series was use before the current M/R series.	Bradley Gallagher 9/04/10
Rental	R 24727	Embossed Many rental cars are now using standard Passenger plates. The R series has not been issued since 1991, but some plates are still in use. They are embossed with "A Capital City" in Italic typeface.	Kyle Wasson 3/16/10
Special Annual Permit	3018 65	Black on blue. Issued for trucks and equipment weighing over 65,000 lbs GVW that are used but not registered in DC. They are displayed along with the license plates from the registering jurisdiction (usually MD or VA). Numbering system alternated between nnnn-65 and 65-nnnn; the 65 was fixed, but now it appears that this type is using a TC prefix. Bradley Gallagher advises that the 65 plates are for trucks, and TC plates are apparently for truck-cranes, although they often are displayed on normal trucks as well. Black/blue plates expired 6/30/09; 6/30/10 plates are white on mint green in the 0000 and 1000 range with the 65 suffix. 6/30/11 plates are black on magenta and continue where the white on green 6/30/10 plates left off in the 2nnn 65 series. There are also TT xxxx and TC xxxx plates on the black/magenta base, as in years past. Dave Edmondson reports TT-1451 (white on green) on a flatbed truck. TT = Tractor Trailer.	Bradley Gallagher 7/26/10
Taxi	H 99603	Flat with "Taxation" Some, or perhaps all, taxi plates in the H 98000 range use a smaller font for the district name, such that the name is only about 2/3 as wide as it is on all other plates.	Bradley Gallagher 9/03/10
Temporary (30 Day)	K 84000	Red on White cardboard A new type of Temporary is also in use, but we don't know yet how it differs from the original, other than it appaers to be laminated paper rather than cardboard, and the numbering system is changed. The format is 01NC234. Maybe NC is for new car, and possibly even for New Car Dealer. The high for this type is 08NC034.	Bradley Gallagher 9/04/10
Trailer	T 18000	Correction: Original format of DC's Trailer license plate was T-1234, but it has expanded to the T-12345 format. Trailer plates were still embossed with the "Celebrate & Discover" slogan through at least T-15500, but they now have "Taxation" in the flat format. Flat low - T 15672	Bradley Gallagher 9/04/10
Transporter	TRP 760	Still embossed; "D.C. Transporter" on top in old italic typeface.	Dave Edmondson 12/29/06
Specialty Plates
Disabled Veteran	DAV 2317	Plain font for district name. These were previously issued without a space in the serial with the district name in the older script font, and those plates had higher serials, so it is likely that this type started over at DAV 000 after reaching DAV999. Bradley Gallagher speculates that the DAV 123 (sans-serif) plates are remakes of older DAV123 (script font) plates. DAV 2208, while unexpectedly high, had the D.C. flag between the letters and the numbers. The six-digit DAV plates did not have the D.C. flag. Bradley hasn't seen any 7 digits under DAV 2200. Disabled Veteran - Handicapped: DAV009 This appears to be a new type with a wheelchair to the left of the serial. Bradley speculates that non-handicapped went to 7 characters to free up the 6 character series for handicapped.	Bradley Gallagher 11/22/09
Environmental	E N V 2001		Bradley Gallagher 8/26/10
Firefighter	f f a 2700		Bradley Gallagher 6/30/10
Florida A&M University	f a m 0201		Bradley Gallagher 10/05/09
Fraternal Order Of Police	f o p 5004	Flat, black on white with FOP logo, but there is also a design with the elements in blue. Plates seen in the 0000 series have been black on white, but plates in the 2000 and 5000 series have been blue on white.	Bradley Gallagher 6/30/10

District of Columbia High Plates