To apply for a Texas personalized license plate, use Form VTR-999, “Application for Specialty License Plate,” submitted to your local county tax assessor-collector’s office, or order online through myplates.com, the state’s contracted vendor. The form sometimes referenced as “MCD-469” is not a public application; the file posted under that number on the TxDMV website is an internal administrative spreadsheet. Texas Transportation Code § 504.101 directs the department to issue personalized plates, and § 504.851 authorizes the online vendor.
Two Ways to Apply
You have a paper path and an online path, and they cost roughly the same year to year.
The paper route is Form VTR-999. Download it from the TxDMV website, complete it, and take or mail it with payment to your county tax assessor-collector. This works for any state-sponsored specialty design you want to personalize with your own letters and numbers.
The online route is myplates.com. You can browse designs, type in the combination you want, see instantly whether it’s available, and pay by credit card. Multi-year terms of three or five years are available, and My Plates advertises savings of up to 49 percent on a five-year term compared with paying annually.
Filling Out Form VTR-999
The form asks for two blocks of information. If what you write doesn’t match what TxDMV already has on file, the application gets rejected, so pull your current registration card before you start.
Applicant Information
Enter your first name, middle name, last name, and suffix if any. Add your county of residence, mailing address, email, and phone number. The county matters because your finished plates ship to that county’s tax assessor-collector office, not to your home.
Vehicle Information
Check the box for your vehicle type: passenger car, truck, motorcycle or moped, or trailer. Enter your current license plate number, the month and year it expires, and the date it was issued. You don’t need to write your VIN on VTR-999, but you’ll need the VIN or your current plate number when you pick up the finished plates.
Some situations require an attachment:
- Vehicle not titled in your name: a written statement affirming you have legal right of possession and control of the vehicle at all times.
- Recently applied for title: a copy of your title application (VTR-500 RTS) receipt.
- Leased vehicle: a copy of the lease agreement.
- Disability symbol on the plate: a signed Form VTR-214, Application for Persons with Disabilities Parking Placard and/or License Plate.
Submit a separate VTR-999 for each vehicle. You cannot combine two vehicles on one form.
Character Limits and Symbols
Texas plates hold fewer characters than most people expect. Passenger cars, trucks, and trailers allow five characters total, including punctuation. The Alamo, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and Keep Texas Beautiful designs allow six because of how the plate is laid out. Motorcycles and mopeds allow four characters, or five on the Alamo and Keep Texas Beautiful designs.
You can use a period, a dash, a blank space, a Texas silhouette (entered as an asterisk on the form), a heart (entered as @), and a star (entered as an ampersand). Every one of these counts toward your limit. A five-character plate with a heart and a space leaves room for three letters or numbers.
If you qualify for the International Symbol of Access, that symbol takes two character positions at the beginning of the plate, entered as a percent sign on the form. A passenger-car plate with the access symbol holds three personalized characters; a motorcycle or moped plate holds two.
The form gives you space for a first, second, and third choice. List them in order of preference. TxDMV evaluates them one at a time, so if your top pick is taken or rejected, they move to the next. You are not required to use every available character block; a three-character message on a five-character plate is fine.
What TxDMV Will Reject
TxDMV will deny any combination it considers objectionable under Texas Administrative Code § 217.27(d)(2), cross-referenced by § 217.45. The rules cover:
- Indecent references to sexual acts, body parts, or bodily fluids and functions. The number “69” is specifically banned unless it appears as part of a full year (like 1969) or clearly refers to a vehicle.
- Vulgar language, profanity, swear words, or curse words, whether direct or indirect.
- Derogatory content that demeans a person, group, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation, including references to organizations that advocate such views.
- References to gangs, illegal activities, threats of harm, or expressions that glorify violence or unlawful conduct.
- References to controlled substances or intoxicated states.
- Anything that mimics law enforcement or implies the driver holds a government office.
- Patterns that could confuse law enforcement during a traffic stop or plate check.
The review isn’t limited to plain English. Slang in any language, phonetic spelling, reverse spelling, acronyms, mirror-image patterns, and coded messages that even a small segment of the public might recognize can all trigger a rejection. Filling in all three preference slots protects you from having to reapply.
Fees
Personalized plates carry two annual charges on top of your regular registration fee. The specialty design itself costs either $30 or $40 per year, depending on the design; VTR-999’s second page lists the fee next to each plate name. Personalizing the text adds another $40 per year. Neither fee is refundable if you later cancel or switch plates.
For paper submissions, pay by personal check, money order, or cashier’s check. Do not send cash. County offices may accept credit or debit cards at the window, but the VTR-999 instructions specify the three paper methods for mailed applications. Online orders through My Plates take credit cards and let you pay a multi-year term up front.
Where to Submit the Form
Take or mail your completed VTR-999, payment, and any attachments to your local county tax assessor-collector’s office. Do not send it to TxDMV headquarters in Austin; the form directs applicants to the county office. Filing in person lets the clerk check your paperwork on the spot and flag anything missing before you leave.
Processing Time and Pickup
Standard personalized plates arrive at your county tax office in about three to four weeks. Embossed designs take four to five weeks because of the extra manufacturing steps. If you applied by mail, call your county office after about three weeks to check whether the plates are ready.
TxDMV does not mail finished plates to your home. You pick them up in person. Bring a government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, or military ID) and your VIN or current plate number. If your new plates carry the International Symbol of Access, bring the original Form VTR-214 to pickup as well.
Renewal and Transfer
The personalized plate fee renews as a line item on the annual registration renewal notice TxDMV sends you. You can renew online at texas.gov in most counties, by mail, or in person. Plates purchased through My Plates on a multi-year term (one, three, or five years for plates bought after December 1, 2014) stay valid for the full term; when it ends, you can pick a new specialty design or return to a general-issue plate.
If a plate design is discontinued because the sponsoring organization pulls out or the design misses the state’s minimum sales threshold, it stays valid through the end of your purchased term. You won’t be able to renew it after that.
You can also transfer your personalized plates to a different vehicle rather than surrendering them when you sell or replace a car. The transfer is free and handled by your county tax office, which issues a new registration sticker for the replacement vehicle. If you decide not to keep the plates, deface the front with permanent black ink or a similar method to prevent fraudulent use.