How to Fill Out North Dakota’s Blackout License Plate Form (SFN 53612)

To order a blackout plate in North Dakota, you fill out the North Dakota blackout license plate form, SFN 53612, and submit it with payment either by mail to the NDDOT Motor Vehicle Division in Bismarck or in person at any NDDOT motor vehicle office. The plate costs $25 per year on top of your regular registration, and you cannot order it online.¹

Pick the Blackout Style That Matches Your Vehicle

The form covers all NDDOT specialty plates, so you have to tell it which blackout variant you want. There are four:²

Standard blackout, for passenger cars and trucks registered at 20,000 pounds or less. Up to 7 characters if personalized.
Blackout motorcycle. Up to 6 characters.
Blackout mobility impaired, for owners who hold a mobility-impairment parking certificate. Up to 6 characters.
Blackout mobility impaired motorcycle. Up to 5 characters.

Heavy commercial vehicles, trailers, and fleet-registered equipment are not eligible for the blackout design.¹ If you have a mobility-impairment parking certificate and want the blackout look, choose one of the mobility-impaired styles so the plate carries the international accessibility symbol.

What to Have in Front of You

Before you start writing on the form, pull together:

Your current vehicle registration card, so you can copy the VIN, year, and make exactly.
Your driver’s license number.
The mailing address where you want the plates shipped.
A daytime phone number the office can call if something needs correcting.
Payment. A check made payable to NDDOT, or a completed credit card authorization on form SFN 61787. Not cash.

If you want custom characters, also work out two combinations and a written explanation of what each one means before you sit down.

Filling Out SFN 53612

The form is titled “Special Plate Request/Personalized” and is available on the NDDOT website or at any motor vehicle office.³

The top section takes your legal name, driver’s license number, phone, and full mailing address. Use the name that matches your vehicle registration. A mismatch between the applicant and the registered owner slows the request down.

Next, enter the year, make, and full VIN of the vehicle. Copy the VIN character by character from your registration card. One transposed letter links the plate to the wrong vehicle record and the office will have to call you to fix it.³

Then select the blackout style that matches your vehicle type. If you only want a state-assigned number in the blackout design, skip the personalization section.

If You Want Personalized Characters

The form asks for a first choice and a second choice. The two cannot be identical. The second is a fallback if your first is already taken or gets denied.³

Each choice needs a detailed meaning. The form specifically says a nickname is not an acceptable explanation. Spell out what the characters represent and why you chose them. If the letters are an abbreviation, say what they abbreviate. “It’s my nickname” gets the application kicked back.

Stay within the character limit for your plate style: 7 for standard blackout, 6 for blackout motorcycle, 6 for blackout mobility impaired, and 5 for blackout mobility impaired motorcycle.² You can check whether a combination is already taken using the NDDOT plate search tool before you commit to it.

Every personalized request goes to the Motor Vehicle Plate Review Committee before the plate is made. The Motor Vehicle Division reserves the right to reject any combination that could read as offensive in any language, forward or backward, or that could be misleading.⁴ If neither of your choices can be issued, the office will call the number on your form so you can suggest a new combination or switch to a standard state-assigned blackout number.

Fees

The blackout plate itself costs $25 per year on top of standard registration and any applicable taxes. This recurs at every renewal for as long as the plate stays on the vehicle.¹

Personalizing adds another $25 per registration period under state law.⁵ A personalized blackout plate therefore runs $50 per year above your base registration: $25 for the design and $25 for the custom characters.

Paying by Check or Credit Card

Checks go to NDDOT. To pay by credit card, complete form SFN 61787, the Credit Card Payment Authorization, which accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. A convenience fee may apply.⁶ The credit card form cannot be faxed or emailed. It has to be mailed or handed over in person, and NDDOT shreds the original after processing. Do not send cash.

Where to Send the Form

Blackout plates cannot be ordered online. You have two options:¹

By mail: send the completed SFN 53612 with your check or SFN 61787 to Motor Vehicle Division, NDDOT, 608 East Boulevard Ave, Bismarck, ND 58505-0606.
In person: bring the form and payment to any NDDOT motor vehicle office. Staff can check the form on the spot and flag errors before you leave.

All personalized requests route through the central review committee in Bismarck no matter where you submit.

What Happens After You Submit

Once NDDOT has your application and payment, the request enters the review and manufacturing queue. For personalized plates, the Plate Review Committee has to approve your combination before production starts. If your payment has an issue or your character choices are unavailable, the Bismarck office will call.

Finished plates ship to the mailing address on the form along with updated registration decals. Mount them as soon as they arrive. The $25 blackout fee returns at every renewal; if you later want to go back to standard plates, stop paying the surcharge at your next renewal and the state will issue standard plates instead.

1
North Dakota Department of Transportation. Blackout Plate
2
North Dakota Department of Transportation. Motor Vehicle – Special Request Plate Search
3
North Dakota Department of Transportation. SFN 53612 – Special Plate Request/Personalized
4
North Dakota Department of Transportation. Motor Vehicle – Special Request Plate Search
5
North Dakota Legislative Branch. North Dakota Century Code Title 39 Chapter 04
6
North Dakota Department of Transportation. SFN 61787 Credit Card Payment Authorization