Nevada drivers love their vanity plates

On the streets around the Las Vegas Valley, odds are motorists will see a custom-made message on the back of the car in front of them.

These vanity license plates range from the simple (“Wowie”) to the expressive (“OhhhGod”).

Some remain open to interpretation: Is MTHRHN a doting “mother hen,” or perhaps a fan of the Alps’ Matterhorn mountain?

For drivers, the volume of vanity plates on Las Vegas roads is no lucky streak. Data from state agencies across the country show Nevadans rank near the top in number of vanity plates.

BY THE NUMBERS

Based on complete or partial vanity plate data from 29 states, Nevada is No. 3 for the percentage of active license plates with a custom message.

The only other participating states with a higher percentage than Nevada were Virginia followed by Illinois.

Texas ranked at the bottom for participating states for 2013, 2014 and 2016 with about 0.8 percent of its plates having custom letters and numbers. Texas’ fee for a vanity plate starts at $150 for a one-year-term.

Alabama ranked lowest in 2011 of the states that sent in data at 0.1 percent of cars with vanity plates, uncharacteristically low based on the other years the state reported. New Jersey ranked lowest in 2015, the only year it reported, with .6 percent. Colorado ranked lowest in 2012 with 1 percent. Data for Texas before 2013 were not readily available.

Twenty-two states either did not have the data on hand, did not respond to requests for their license plate data or asked to charge for the data.

From 2011 to 2016, Nevada’s total number of plates and vanity plates has risen by about 48,000 plates. The percentage of vanity plates rose from 9.08 percent in 2011 to 10.16 percent in 2013 but has declined slightly to 10 percent.

The number of vanity plates issued by year rose by 11,000 from 2011 to 2014. Since then, it has declined by about 2,000 plates.

Variation is normal for the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, which supplied the data, spokesman Kevin Malone said. The dip doesn’t imply a trend.

“There does not seem to be a reason for it,” Malone said. “It’s not unusual for vehicle registration figures to vary by hundreds if not thousands. The 2015 figure is not out of line with previous years in terms of percentage.”

Virginia’s percentage has declined over the years, going from about 13 percent in 2011 to 12 percent in 2016. Illinois has gone from about 12 percent in 2011 to 10.44 percent in 2016.

The participating states self-reported their numbers or referred to annual reports on the types of license plates given in a year. Some states’ data followed a calendar year; others followed a fiscal year with varying start and end times.

A study from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators ranked all 50 states and Washington, D.C., for vanity plates issued from 2006 to 2007.

They ranked Virginia, New Hampshire, Illinois, Nevada and Montana in the top five. Back then, 16 percent of Virginia’s license plates had custom letters. Nevada posted about 13 percent. New Hampshire could only give the most current data on its vanity plates when requested by the Review-Journal.

The bottom state was Texas at 0.56 percent of license plates, followed by Tennessee, Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky. In Nevada, vanity plates for vehicles cost $44 and an annual fee of $20. The initial cost is $40 for a motorcycle.

The cost of a plate was originally $25 plus a 50 cent per plate prison industry fee, Malone said. The annual renewal fee was $15.

The initial fee increased to $35 in 1991 and the annual fee to $20. Twenty-two years later, the DMV added a plate cost recovery fee of $3.50 per standard “sunset” or “Home Means Nevada” plate to fund a new license plate factory.

In 2015, the DMV added a $1 technology fee to fund a new computer system. The state will hear complaints about vanity plates and recall them for reasons that include ridicule of races and creeds, profanity, drug and gang activity references or defamation.

In Virginia, a state with a higher percent of vanity plates, the cost is $10 plus vehicle registration and special plate fees.

ONE COUPLE’S STORY

Nevada native Brenda Graham and her boyfriend paid the money for a personalized plate that reads “NewHam,” a combination of their last names.

They decided on the plate a couple of nights before they had to register a car they share. After she got it, Graham shared the photo on Facebook for her friends to see.

The number of out-of-state visitors and new residents means a wide range of plates on the valley’s streets, she said.

“There’s a chance to see some from all over,” she said. “But I’ll have to agree, I’ve noticed way more Nevada personalized plates than any other state.”

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.