Louisiana License Plate
Overview
The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles is an agency responsible for the registration of vehicles. It issues driver’s licenses and provides license plates. It is possible either to register your car, request a personalized or a special plate on the office’s website. No matter if you have a new or an old car, it has to be registered with OMV. It issues personalized and special plates. The latter is ordered if you meet the eligibility criteria. You can submit a request to pick a custom plate. Once the request is reviewed you will be informed about the decision.
Once you buy a new car, the first thing you need to think about is a Louisiana license plate attached to your vehicle. With most services being available online, you may need less time and effort than you might expect.
Title and Vehicle Registering in Louisiana
If you want to register a new car, you have to do it within 30 days after the purchase. All forms for registration and other details are available on the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles website.
It does not matter if you purchased a new car or a used one, all vehicles must be titled with OMV. The title fee is $68.50, and $8 is a handling fee. Information on other fees is available on the office’s website.
Local certified dealers may issue a temporary tag before the driver gets a permanent one. Temporary tags are registered through a special database.
Louisiana License Plate Lookup
Just as in Florida, in Louisiana you do not need two plates. A standard one has a white background with blue lettering. In 2020 a bill proposing a classic black variant was introduced but failed to pass.
You can check if the car was owned by a company or an individual using LPSC Passenger Vehicle and Driver database that offers to search;
Additional details are available on the OMV website. You can also search for more information using different databases available online. They usually contain information on damages, sales records, warranty, etc.
Louisiana Custom License Plate
In addition to standard ones, the state offers drivers to choose between a variety of special and personalized plates.
A tag can contain:
- any letter from A to Z
- numbers 0 to 9
- spaces, periods, and hyphens
Note: only 6 letters and numbers are acceptable for motorbikes and tags for the disabled.
Before submitting a request, read the rules carefully as there are some restrictions. Drivers should not use special symbols, offensive or vulgar words.
Special Plates
Any resident can pick one of over 100 special plates available for passenger vehicles, trucks up to 16,000 lbs, motorbikes, and buses.
They fall into the following categories:
- military
- educational
- for particular organizations
- of special interest
The fee varies and is calculated with an easy-to-use tool. You have just to choose the category, check the eligibility criteria, and order it.
One of the best examples is the White Tail Deer plate (with WD letters on it). Local legislators approved drawing attention to the endangered deer. As of 2018, it was one of the local bestsellers.
Can I cancel a license plate in Louisiana?
It is possible to cancel a plate through an email. Using an online service that will send a receipt once the cancellation is complete is an alternative.
For the process, fill in the form, provide your DLN, ZIP code, and other details.
