Tennessee License Plates

Starting January 2022, this is the new general use license plate.

Evan Couture - 16 Nov ’23

In the news: <a href=//www.tennessean.com/story/news/religion/2022/05/19/tennessee-license-plate-in-god-we-trust-nashville-drivers/9811564002/>County-by-county stats on IGWT plate penetration</a> (May 2022)

Evan Couture - 16 Nov ’23

Available tax-free to employees of Tennessee automobile manufacturers.

This series always employs the letters "OEM" at some position in the serial.

Evan Couture - 17 Sep ’23

Flat

Original series used A/A prefix.

Ricky Rose - 22 Oct ’23

Keith Foreman reports an Apportioned Trailer in a new style on a black on deep yellow plate with the state name at top and APPORTIONED on the bottom, no stickers. The plate number was A184907.

Ricky Rose - 2 Nov ’23

Commonly found on for-hire entertainer coaches such as those operated by Roberts Brothers, Nite Train, and Diamond Coach of Nashville. Current all-flat series started in 2011.

Creighton Rabs - 14 Sep ’23

Bill Southwick

Flat

Black on white.

This type is used for Franchised New Car Dealers.

Ricky Rose - 27 Oct ’23

Flat

White on red.

This type is used for Used Car Dealers.

Ricky Rose - 22 Sep ’23

Bradley Co.

D/D nnnnn, then nnnnn D/D, then n D/D nnnn, then nn D/D nnn, then nnn D/D nn, now nnnn D/D n.

Evan Couture - 28 Feb ’23

Alpha sequences are going backwards from P/D to P/C.

Evan Couture - 14 Nov ’23

Seen in Cordova TN

Evan Couture - 17 Jul ’23

Flat. Formerly used older style embossed plate after other types had switched to flat. Amateur Radio plates with call signs also have the EMERGENCY legend.

Ricky Rose - 2 Sep ’23

Flat

Format reversed after GZ-9999

Also seen - embossed S5-VC69 in the white on green format

Ricky Rose - 9 Apr ’23

Flat, black on white

DP-4267 spotted in California by Gunther Frostyburger on 2014-05-26.

Kyle Wasson - 29 Nov ’22

Series progressed from 9999ZZ to 0ZB000, now 00ZA00

Handicapped Motorcycle: 3A14 2015--04-21 Ken Reager

Ricky Rose - 13 Nov ’23

MC = Music City bus. These plates are used on privately-owned, non-apportioned entertainer coaches such as those operated by Russell Coaches of Knoxville. Only observed on the fully-embossed 2001 "Sounds good to me" base.

Ken Reager - 6 Apr ’14

Embossed

Ricky Rose - 24 Oct ’21

U series follows T series.

T series high: T954712 2014-04-13 Gunther Frostyburger

Ricky Rose - 9 Oct ’23

Flat, white characters on green background.

Heriberto Tapia - 30 Sep ’22

The plate often matches the color of the squad car.

Some cars have the usual white on green State Gov't. plates, so it is possible they are changing back to using those instead of the special State Trooper plates.

Ken Reager - 25 May ’13

Spotted in Hamilton County.

Dealer name/logo appears in the open area at the left.

Temporary license plates, also known as in Tennessee as "Drive-out Tags", have a whole new look. The ID numbers are much larger in a gray Arial printed fonts, and the expiration dates are smaller, following the identification number.

After reaching the end of the Z prefix series, it appears these have rolled over to the A prefix series.

Brett Weisbrot - 6 Apr ’23

Brett Weisbrot - 16 Jul ’23

Evan Couture - 12 Jun ’23

Shane Ford - 24 Sep ’15

Liam Warner - 18 Aug ’21

This is the "Jazz Cat" plate.

Evan Couture - 3 May ’23

"Art is...A Rainbow" slogan with rainbow graphic

Ken Reager - 6 Apr ’13

Joshua Fickett - 2 Dec ’15

Flat, now with different font

Ricky Rose - 28 May ’23

Ken Reager - 1 Aug ’14

Shane Ford - 26 Mar ’14

G has moved from the last position to the second position.

Ken Reager - 6 Mar ’13

Evan Couture - 5 Mar ’23

Flat

Shane Ford - 23 Sep ’13

Proceeds help provide emotional and physical support in a loving home for children awaiting foster placement in Tennessee.

Evan Couture - 13 Oct ’23

Shane Ford - 2 May ’14

Flat

Shane Ford - 12 Sep ’13

Evan Couture - 5 Mar ’23

Adam Garstka - 20 Sep ’19

Shane Ford - 6 Jul ’15

Proceeds benefit the Millennial Debt Foundation’s management of educating the public on the need for fiscal stewardship in government.

Ricky Rose - 20 Sep ’23

Brian Menius - 27 Mar ’23

Shane Ford - 24 Sep ’15

Smoky Mtn. National Park, similar to the NC version.

Ken Reager - 23 Feb ’21

Ken Reager - 6 Apr ’13

Shane Ford - 13 May ’14

Original series was R/L nnnn.

Ken Reager - 16 Nov ’23

Flat

Shane Ford - 16 Oct ’13

Shane Ford - 2 May ’14

Flat

C/H series has also been used.

S/J prefix was used before suffix.

- 30 Oct ’18

A suffix is for officers, R suffix is for retired, all-numeric is for regular Guard members.

Shane Ford - 19 Sep ’13

Earlier format was E/V 1234

Evan Couture - 6 Apr ’23

"Celebrating Homeownership" in script at bottom.

Brian Menius - 27 Mar ’23

Flat

Evan Couture - 9 Oct ’22

Ken Reager - 29 Oct ’14

Original series had A/L prefix. Following A/L9999, switched to A/L suffix.

Brian Menius - 27 Mar ’23

Brett Weisbrot - 14 Oct ’23

Flat

Shane Ford - 11 Dec ’15

Started with U/K as prefix, then advance to U/K suffix.

Shane Ford - 24 Sep ’13

Flat

Martin Houle - 6 Sep ’23

Ken Reager - 6 Apr ’14

Shane Ford - 18 Sep ’13

Flat

Shane Ford - 13 May ’14

Flat

Shane Ford - 24 Sep ’15

Now flat

Shane Ford - 29 Apr ’14

Ken Reager - 27 Mar ’12

Evan Couture - 1 Jan ’23

Flat

Disabled Veteran - Handicapped - D/V 8112

Evan Couture - 28 Jun ’23

After reaching H9999, "H" now at the 5th position.

Low: H0001 (the lowest possible) 2013-04-11 Ken Reager

Walter Pilley - 18 Sep ’14

Willie C. Brock, Jr. - 8 Oct ’15

Flat - New design has blue bird logo on the left side of the plate.

National Guard plates with a letter suffix are for officers. N/G nnnn format is for enlisted.

Enlisted high: N/G 20815 2013-09-20 Shane Ford

Evan Couture - 16 Oct ’23

Flat

The last high we had in the previous format was P/H 15 752 in 2007.

Evan Couture - 25 Sep ’22

Flat

Joseph - 7 Jun ’20

Series ran BBB - ZZZ, then Y, A, E, P, S, and U series in that order, with the letter in the first position only (i.e. no BYY or YYY)

Evan Couture - 4 Mar ’23

Evan Couture - 4 Mar ’23

Davidson Co.

New bases have "www.tnvacation.com" added to the area right above the County Sticker.

The current low on the new base is 096-BBB from Wilson Co. Dave Hermanson confirms that vowels are not used on the new base. Vincent Perillo reported 327-NFD in Nashville, which is almost certainly a continuation of the plates issued to members of the Nashville Fire Dept. as on the last base. He also reports 992-MPD, which corresponds to the previous issue for the Metro Nashville Police Dept. for their personal vehicles.

Upon reaching 999-ZZZ in 2011, the current format of A12-34A began.

New format low: A00-06A Knox Co. 2013-07-27 Ken Reager

Numbering Sequence: A00-00A, then A00-01A, etc. through A99-99A then A00-00B, A00-01B, etc. The letter Q is not used.

Some Z series plates are now showing up, but we don't know what they are for yet. If anyone finds out, please let us know. Ken Reager and David Wilson have seen Z series plates with TN FLEET stickers, so our best guess for now is that the Z series is for Fleet plates. These plates have been seen from at least 4 different counties.

Z high: Z58-35Z Williamson Co. 2015-09-16 Joshua Fickett

Ricky Rose reports that Tennessee began issuing just one validation sticker in July 2014, and it has the plate number on it, but Dave Hermanson updates that it is for selected counties only and is machine printed with the plate number and if necessary "Local Tax" also noted.

From Dave Hermanson: Additional counties are adopting new machine printed validation stickers along with registration cards. Knox County came on-line around the end of September. Exp. 15 stickers look nearly identical to the earlier serial-numbered style with the plate number centered at the bottom. TN is stacked in small letters on the right side and if local-tax has been paid TP is noted. This change will probably eliminate the additional Local Tax Stickers. Still issuing separate month stickers.

Evan Couture - 26 Jul ’22

Evan Couture - 6 May ’23

Evan Couture - 5 Sep ’22