Missouri License Plate Tab Colors

Posted on by admin

Most Missouri license plates require an expiration year tab, which is color-coded and includes the expiration year of the registration. The tabs are issued when a new or renewal registration transaction is processed. Click here for information on how to replace stolen license plates or tabs. The flat plate design includes actual photographs taken in our state of a buffalo, the state’s beautiful skies and majestic badlands. North Dakota's plate design won second place honors in the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association Best Plate of 2015 Contest. The type depicting the state's name was modified in 2016.

The Missouri Department of Revenue offers many options to personalize the license plates on your vehicle. Personalized plates allow you to select a configuration of up to 6 characters (depending on the type of plate and vehicle) to appear on your plate. You may now Personalize and Renew standard license plates online. Specialty plates provide similar license plate configuration options, but also offer plate designs with even more individuality, including plates showing support for colleges and universities, military personnel, charitable groups, and various other organizations.

1971 Missouri License Plate $ 21.99. 1971 Missouri License Plate $ 21.99 ← Previous 1 2 3 Next. 1915 Missouri good passenger, good color as shown $1 Missouri. 1977 Missouri replacement passenger (lost plate) $7.99 1978 Missouri passenger pair.

Missouri License Plate Tab Colors Chart

Additional Plates Available:

Missouri license plate tab colors chart

Applying for Personalized or Specialty License Plates

To obtain a set of personalized or specialty license plates for your vehicle, you must submit a completed Application for Missouri Personalized and Special License Plates (Form 1716), Application for Missouri Military Personalized License Plates (Form 4601), or Application for Missouri Historic or Personalized Historic License Plates (DOR-570) and the application fee (a fee of $15 applies to personalized, specialty, or military plates and a fee of $43.75 applies to personalized historic plates) to the Department of Revenue. These forms are available online, at any Missouri license office, or you may request a copy to be sent by mail or you may click here to Personalize & Reserve license plates online.

If you are requesting a specialty plate bearing the emblem of a particular organization, you may also be required to submit the proper Emblem Use Authorization Statement (EUAS) from that organization, or your membership card to the organization if applicable. If you are requesting a personalized or specialty military plate you will need to submit proof of your honorable discharge (or active duty status if applicable) and that you have received the necessary military award or decoration that makes you eligible for the particular military plate.

This application process is separate from any regular fees or documents that may be required when you register your vehicle.

Mail to:
Motor Vehicle Bureau
301 West High Street - Room 370
PO Box 569
Jefferson City MO 65105-0569

If your requested plate configuration is not available, you may submit additional configuration choices with your paid receipt or you may apply for a refund of the $15 application fee.

If your requested plate configuration is available, your plates will be ordered (turnaround time may be six to eight weeks). Our staff will then mail a notification letter to you when your plates are available for pickup at your designated license office. Additional fees to transfer the plate to your vehicle will be required at that time.

NOTE: A $15 reservation fee and EUAS (if applicable) are required for each year the plate is renewed.

Personalized Plate Configurations

Refer to the list below for the maximum number of characters allowed in a personalized plate configuration:

  • Regular personalized license plate design with no emblem or wheelchair symbol: up to 6 characters (plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)
  • Plates with an emblem or wheelchair symbol: up to 6 characters (or 5 characters plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)
  • Plates with an emblem and wheelchair symbol: up to 4 characters (or 3 characters plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)
  • Cycle plates with no emblem or wheelchair symbol: up to 6 characters (or 5 characters plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)
  • Cycle plates with an emblem or wheelchair symbol: up to 5 characters (or 4 characters plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)
  • Cycle plates with an emblem and wheelchair symbol: up to 3 characters (or 2 characters plus one space, dash, or apostrophe if desired)

NOTE: For disabled person plates, the wheelchair accessibility symbol will appear on the left side of the plate (or immediately to the right of the emblem on an emblem plate).

Missouri License Plate Tab Colors 2020

The Department cannot guarantee that your selected configuration is available, nor is it possible to reserve a configuration without applying and paying the appropriate fees.

Check the availability of a configuration and to reserve standard personalized license plates online. No personalized license plates shall be issued containing any letters, numbers, or combination of letters and numbers which are obscene, profane, patently offensive or contemptuous of a racial or ethnic group, offensive to good taste or decency, or would present an unreasonable danger to the health or safety of the applicant, or other users of streets and highways, or of the public in any location where the vehicle with such a license plate may be found. Any license plates that are inadvertently issued may be recalled. The department will not issue license plates that conflict with the regular license numbering system.

Missouri License Plate Tab Colors By Year

Use the license plate graphic below to select a personalized plate, and see how your personalized characters would appear on a license plate.

Personalize & Reserve Regular Personalized License Plates

You may click on the logo (at right) to select a personalized configuration (up to 6 characters) to be displayed on your regular Personalized license plates, and then submit your application. When the plates are ready, they will be delivered to your local license office for you to pick up (additional fees and documents may be required).

NOTE: The online personalization and reservation feature is currently available for the following Specialty license plates; Be An Organ Donor, Breast Cancer Awareness, Children’s Trust Fund, Don’t Tread on Me, Fight Terrorism, God Bless America, Missouri Remembers, Some Gave All, and Back the Blue.

Preview Specialty Plates

You may use the drop-down menus, below, to view the various Missouri specialty and personalized license plates. Due to normal variations in computer screens and displays, colors may appear slightly different from their appearance on the actual license plates.

NOTE: At this time, Specialty license plates must be renewed by mail or at a Missouri license office.

Choose a Design Category and Plate:

Check the Status of a Personalized or Specialty Plate Order

If you submitted an application for a personalized or special license plate more than three weeks ago, you may use our website to check the status of your personalized or specialty plate order. Before submitting your inquiry, please note that processing for personalized and specialty plates may take six to eight weeks.

Additional Plates Available:

About the Missouri License Plate

On August 10, 2021, Missouri will celebrate 200 years of statehood, or its bicentennial. To commemorate this historic occasion, the Missouri Legislature passed a law in 2016 requiring the Department of Revenue to begin a reissuance of license plates with a new bicentennial design, no later than January 1, 2019. The new bicentennial design will replace the Missouri bluebird license plate introduced in 2008.

The License Plate Design Advisory Committee was responsible for determining the new plate design. The committee was made up of the director of the Department of Revenue or his or her designee, the superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the correctional enterprises administrator, the director of the Department of Transportation, the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, and the respective chairpersons of both the Senate and House of Representatives Transportation Committees. (301.125, RSMo)

This design is representative of the entire state, not specific to a certain region. The plate celebrates the bicentennial with red waves at the top of the plate and blue waves at the bottom of the plate to symbolize our Missouri flag and Missouri rivers, which figure prominently in the state’s historic role as a gateway for American exploration and transportation. The design also features Missouri’s state seal in the center of the plate, the years 1821 and 2021, and a star. Additionally, the Missouri State Highway Patrol noted this new design offers the greatest readability of all plates tested for visibility during the day and nighttime hours.

Missouri license plates are made of aluminum and are manufactured by the Missouri Department of Corrections at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Standard license plates are embossed (raised lettering), while personalized license plates are made by a computer graphics process that produces a flat license plate. This process allows the Department to produce very detailed specialty license plates (which may or may not be personalized) that commemorate a particular organization, activity, or charity. You may view the various specialty license plates by clicking here.

Year Tabs

Most Missouri license plates require an expiration year tab, which is color-coded and includes the expiration year of the registration. The tabs are issued when a new or renewal registration transaction is processed.

Temporary Third License Plate (for motor vehicle with an obscured rear license plate)

If a rear Missouri license plate is obstructed from view by a bicycle rack, luggage rack, or other similar device, the vehicle owner has the option to obtain a Temporary Third License Plate. This 'third license plate' is printed on 8½' x 11' non-secure white paper and will contain the same license plate configuration and expiration date as the permanent license plate assigned to the motor vehicle. It is to be placed in the interior of the vehicle’s rear window such that the driver’s view out of the rear vehicle is not obstructed and the plate configuration is clearly visible from the outside of the vehicle.

In order to obtain a Temporary Third License Plate, the vehicle owner must submit the following items to our central office:

Missouri License Plate Tag Colors By Year

  • A completed Temporary Third License Plate Application (Form 5429); and
  • The $11.00 Temporary Third License Plate fee (includes the $5.00 license fee and $6.00 processing fee).

Missouri License Plate Tag Colors

Applicants should mail the completed form and fee to the address listed on the application form.

Missouri License Plate Tab Colors

If you have questions about how to apply for Missouri license plates, Ask Motor Vehicle!