Politics & Government

Now Your Vanity Plate Can Have Up to 7 Letters

Until now the DMV allowed only six characters on a personalized license plate.

By Patch Editor Leslie Yager

The Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Tuesday that for the first time it will offer customers 7-character vanity plates for their vehicles. The change opens up more combinations of special letters and numbers than previously possible.


“This is a great opportunity for all those who want new and different plates with a customized touch of seven characters,” said DMV Commissioner Melody A. Currey.  “We see this as another of DMV’s improvements in customer services and responding to customer requests for this kind of plate,” she added.

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Customers can look on the DMV website for more informationor to see if a desired 7-character plate is now available. Regular and special program plates are listed there. In addition, those with special non-profit organization plates can also obtain the new 7-character vanity plates and need to contact their organization’s DMV liaison to order one.


The fee remains the same for this new style of vanity plate and must be submitted with the completed application form. The cost is $94 to order a vanity plate in state’s standard light blue background with dark blue letters and numbers. The fee can be paid with a check or money order made payable to “DMV.”

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There is a new form to fill out called Special Order Plate Application, M-22, Revised 8-13. Only that form mailed to the DMV will be accepted. Older forms cannot be used.


The postmark will serve as the priority rank for awarding a combination requested. The completed form and vanity plate fee must be mailed to DMV, Special Plate Unit, 60 State Street, Wethersfield, CT 06161-0504. Dropped off forms will be not accepted.


Until Tuesday, Connecticut’s license plates allowed for a maximum of six numbers, letters or combinations of both with the option of a dot. Customer demand and changes in computer technology now allow DMV to meet requests for vanity plates with an additional letter or number.


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