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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 DZ-4000 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, DP, DR, DS, DT, DU, DX, DY, and DZ series. BI, BO, BQ, CI, CL, CO, CQ, DC*, DI, DO, DV, and DW 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, BJ, and EA 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.
DV was used for Disabled Veteran.
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.

The EA series is appearing with the website. Although it is higher than the "Taxation" standard issue, we will continue to report the "Taxation" series as the high since it is the standard issue.

EA website high: EA-0600 2011-12-02 Bradley Gallagher
Bradley Gallagher
Bicentennial 200 OYZ All have number 200, only the letters change. Jeff Ellis
Numeric 853-040 Highest all-numeric (not counting the 1985-issued 900-000 series) Jeff
Non-passenger Plates
Apportioned AP 0686 Flat
Embossed high: AP-0452
Flat low: AP-0508
DC Apportioned plates ae very uncommon.
Bradley Gallagher
Bus B 46310 Flat, "Taxation" legend Bradley Gallagher
Clergy 993 Plate number in two lines, "CLERGY" embossed above plate number Dave Edmondson
Commercial C 75630 Taxation legend, flat
A few C77nnn plates were issued out of sequence.
Dave Edmondson
D.C. Water
D
C
W
0478
D.C. Water was known as D.C. Water and Sewer Authority until 2010, when it was shortened to D.C. Water. Earlier plates featured "WASA" stacked vertically at left. This was 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.

Starting around October 7, 2011, its vehicles began receiving new plates with the new agency logo. The prefix has changed from W/A/S/A to D/C/W. It appears that the DCW plates are replacing the WASA plates.
Bradley Gallagher
DC Government
D
C
9420
Police Vehicles, Parking Enforcement, etc.
DC Government MC - DC5186 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
Dealer DLR-9530 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.
The 2011 version is black on yellow.
The 2012 version is white on dark green.
DLR 7820 is the high on the 2009 issue.
DLR 8041 is the low in the 2010 issue.
Bradley Gallagher observes that Dealer plates are being issued in blocks of 1,000 each year. It appears that 2005 plates were in the 0 range, 2006 in 3 range, 2007 in 5 range, 2008 in 6 range, 2009 in 7 range, 2010 in 8 range, and now 2011 in 9 range.
Bradley Gallagher
Foreign Organization
t
p
e
0018
Embossed Bradley Gallagher
Handicapped 21169 Flat, "Taxation" legend
Original format was H/P 0000
Jordan Irazabal
Historic Motor Vehicle
h
m
v
1569
Now flat, "Historic Motor Vehicle" legend Dave Edmondson
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.
Manufacturer MFR 0607 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. 2011 plates are black on orange. Bradley Gallagher
Motorcycle
M
R
1500
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
Rental R 25379 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.
Bruce Bufalini
Special Annual Permit 1469-65 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 were 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.
6/30/12 plates are white on black and seem to have started over with the 0 series.

Dave Edmondson reports TT-1451 (white on green) on a flatbed truck. TT = Tractor Trailer.
Bradley Gallagher
Taxi 00715-H Flat with "Taxation"
Series reversed to 00001-H after H-99999.
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.
Dave Edmondson
Temporary (30 Day) N 14800 Red on White cardboard
N series followed K series on approximately May 21, 2011.
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
Trailer T 18300 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
Transporter TRP 760 Still embossed; "D.C. Transporter" on top in old italic typeface. Dave Edmondson
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.
Another variation of the handicapped version of this plate: DV[wheelchair][D.C. flag]008. Legend is "DISABLED AMERICAN VETERAN"
Bradley Gallagher
Environmental
E
N
V
2519
Bradley Gallagher
Firefighter
f
f
a
2700
Bradley Gallagher
Florida A&M University
f
a
m
0201
Bradley Gallagher
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
St. John's College
S
J
C
1001
Bradley Gallagher