Florida Form HSMV 83146 is the one-page application you use to replace a license plate, validation decal, or parking permit that has been lost, stolen, damaged, defaced, or never delivered by mail. You fill it out, attach a police report if the plate was stolen, and submit it to your county tax collector’s office or an authorized license plate agent. The base fee is $28 plus a $2.50 service charge, though stolen plates with a police report and plates lost in transit within 180 days are replaced at no cost. The PDF is on the FLHSMV website, or you can pick one up at any tax collector counter.
When to Use HSMV 83146
The form covers any situation where your plate, decal, or parking permit is no longer usable or no longer in your hands. That includes plates that were:
- Lost or destroyed
- Stolen
- Damaged or defaced (peeling, delaminated, or faded until the characters can’t be read)
- Surrendered or seized and now needed again
- Mailed by the tax collector but never received (“lost in transit”)
- Being replaced voluntarily
A law enforcement officer or department inspector can inspect your plate at any time and require replacement if it’s too damaged to read. Florida sun and humidity wear plates down quickly, so once a plate starts peeling, replace it before an officer flags it.
What to Gather Before You Start
Have these on hand:
- Your Florida driver license number
- The license plate number, decal number, or parking permit number you’re replacing (it’s on your registration certificate if you don’t have the plate itself)
- Vehicle year, make, and VIN
- A copy of the police report if the plate was stolen. An agency card showing the case number also works.
- A copy of your Florida vehicle registration certificate if you’re submitting by mail
One thing you do not need: proof of insurance. Older write-ups sometimes list it, but neither the form nor the FLHSMV procedure manual (RS-06) requires insurance documentation for a replacement. You need active coverage to drive, but you won’t attach anything to the form.
Filling Out the Form
The form is a single page in four working sections. Take them in order.
Reason for Replacement
Check one box: damaged, defaced, surrendered, seized, stolen, lost or destroyed, lost in transit, or voluntary replacement. Only one. If you check “stolen,” you’ll attach the police report.
Owner Information
Enter your full legal name (or the lessee’s name for a leased vehicle), your Florida driver license number, and your current street address. Make sure this matches what FLHSMV has on file. If you’ve moved and haven’t updated your address, do that first. Mismatched data slows processing.
Vehicle Information
Fill in the VIN, model year, make, and the plate, decal, or permit number being replaced.
Certification and Signature
Sign and date. Your signature certifies under penalty of perjury that the item is no longer in your possession for the reason checked and that everything on the form is true. Only the registered owner or lessee should sign. If you’re handing in a damaged plate at the counter, the clerk signs a field confirming the surrender.
Where to Submit and What It Costs
You have two options: walk it in to your county tax collector’s office or an authorized license plate agent, or mail it to the same office. In person is faster, and you can usually walk out with the replacement the same day. By mail or through the MyDMV Portal, expect 7 to 10 business days. If you mail the form, include a copy of your Florida vehicle registration certificate.
Specialty plates your local office doesn’t stock have to be ordered from the state directly. Mail those to the Division of Motorist Services, Direct Mail MS #72, Neil Kirkman Building, Tallahassee, FL 32399.
Fees
The base replacement fee is $28, with a $2.50 service charge on top. Counties may add small processing fees, so the total varies slightly by location. For reference, tax collector offices in Lee and Pinellas counties currently charge $36.90 for a replacement plate and $34.10 for a replacement decal.
When It’s Free
Two situations waive every fee, including the service charge:
- Stolen plates with a police report. Attach the report, or a law enforcement agency card showing the case number, and pay nothing. Without that paperwork, you pay full fees even if the plate really was stolen.
- Lost-in-transit plates within 180 days. If the tax collector or license plate agent mailed the plate and it never arrived, and you apply within 180 calendar days of the issuance date, the replacement is free. Your application has to include a statement that the item was lost in the mail, the audit number of the lost item, and the date it was issued. Past 180 days, standard fees apply.
Stolen Plates: Report It First
Before you touch the form, report the theft to local law enforcement and get a copy of the report or a card with the case number. You need one of the two for the fee waiver, and the report also protects you if the stolen plate is used in a crime or to rack up toll violations later.
Then complete HSMV 83146 with “Stolen” checked, attach the report, and submit. Your replacement plate will carry a new number, and the old number gets entered into law enforcement databases so it’s flagged if anyone tries to use it.
Personalized and Specialty Plates
If you have a vanity plate, the rules shift depending on why it’s being replaced.
- Lost or destroyed. You can get the same character combination reissued. Standard fees apply.
- Stolen. By default, the replacement comes with a different configuration and is free with a police report. If you want your original characters back, law enforcement first has to confirm the stolen plate has been removed from the FCIC database. After that, the plate can be reissued with the same characters, but replacement fees apply at that point.
Specialty plates the local office doesn’t stock go to the Tallahassee address above. Same form, different destination.
Driving Legally While You Wait
If the plate style you need isn’t in stock, the office can issue a temporary tag good for 90 days while your plate is manufactured. Standard plates are almost always available on the spot, so this usually only comes up with specialty or personalized orders.
What to Do With a Damaged Plate
If you still have the old plate and it’s damaged, bring it with you. Agency staff note the surrender on the form and hand you the replacement. Don’t toss a damaged plate in the trash or hand it off to anyone. It’s still tied to your registration and can still generate toll charges and camera citations until it’s formally accounted for. Surrender at the counter closes that loop.
After the Replacement
The new plate or decal links to your existing registration. Your renewal date doesn’t change. Florida registrations expire at midnight on the first listed owner’s birthday, and a replacement carries forward the same cycle. No fresh registration period, no extended expiration.
If you replaced a stolen plate, keep the police report with your vehicle records. If the old plate turns up later on another car, in a tow lot, or tied to a violation, that report proves it wasn’t yours anymore and can save you from fighting fraudulent toll bills or red-light tickets.