How to Fill Out Virginia DMV Form VSA 10B: Certifications and Filing

Virginia DMV Form VSA 10B, the Antique and Vintage License Plate Certification, is the notarized document you file with a registration application to put antique or vintage plates on a collector vehicle. On it, you certify four things: who owns the vehicle, that you have another vehicle for daily driving, that the antique is insured with a Virginia-licensed carrier, and that it meets the safety equipment standards for its model year. Submit it with a companion registration form and a one-time $50 fee, in person at any DMV customer service center or by mail to Richmond.¹

Before You Start: Eligibility and Plate Choice

A passenger vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer, or motorcycle qualifies as antique if its model year is more than 25 years before January 1 of the current calendar year.¹ For 2026, that means model year 2000 or older. Virginia law adds one more condition: the vehicle must be owned solely as a collector’s item.²

The form has a checkbox for each of three plate options, and the one you pick determines what you can do with the car afterward:

Antique plates (yellow with blue lettering), issued by DMV, for limited hobby use only. Not transferable to another vehicle.
Vintage plates (black and white), meaning original Virginia plates you already own, issued before 1973 for vehicles and trailers or before 1976 for motorcycles. The plate year must match the vehicle’s model year, and DMV inspects the plates’ physical condition. Same limited-use rules as antique plates.
Vintage plates registered for general daily use, which allows everyday driving but requires month and year decals, annual renewal fees, and a safety inspection.³

If you don’t already own a set of original pre-1973 plates, the first option is the one you want.

Filling Out the Form

Owner and Vehicle Information

Enter your full legal name (last, first, middle initial), phone number, and street address. A co-owner’s information goes on the same line. Then list the antique vehicle’s make, model, current license plate number if any, VIN, and Virginia title number.⁴ Anything that doesn’t match DMV’s records will hold the application up.

Daily-Driver Certification

You must certify that you have another properly registered vehicle available for everyday transportation. The form gives you two paths. If you own that vehicle yourself, check the first box and fill in its make, model, plate number, VIN, and title number. If you use someone else’s vehicle instead, check the second box, and that vehicle’s owner signs the form to confirm you have regular access to it.⁴

Insurance Certification

Write in the name of the insurance company covering the antique vehicle. You are certifying that the policy is with a carrier licensed to do business in Virginia, and that coverage will remain in force for as long as the vehicle is registered, whether or not you’re driving it.⁴

Safety Certification

Under Virginia Code § 46.2-730, you certify that the vehicle meets the safety equipment requirements for its model year and can be safely operated on Virginia highways. This is a self-inspection; no state inspector examines the car. The standard is what applied when the vehicle was built, not current requirements, but a car missing equipment that was standard for its year can still be cited for defective equipment during a traffic stop.⁵

Signature and Notarization

The last section is a certification under penalty of perjury. Both the owner and any co-owner sign and date the form. Do not sign it yet: the VSA 10B must be signed in front of a notary.⁵ Bring a valid government-issued photo ID. Virginia caps notary fees at $10 per act on paper documents and $25 for electronic notarizations.⁶

What to Submit With It

The VSA 10B is a certification, not a registration application on its own. Submit it alongside one of the following, all available on the DMV forms page or at any DMV office:⁷

VSA 10, License Plate Application, if you are applying for plates specifically.
VSA 14, Vehicle Registration Application, if you are registering the vehicle for the first time or updating your registration.
VSA 17A, depending on your situation.

The registration fee for antique or permanent vintage plates is a one-time, nonrefundable $50. There is no annual renewal for those plates. The vintage general-use option carries standard annual renewal fees instead.¹

Where to Send It

Bring the notarized VSA 10B and your companion application to any Virginia DMV customer service center, or mail everything with the fee to:

DMV, Special Plates, P.O. Box 26668, Richmond, VA 23261-6668.⁴

In-person visits are faster if you want to leave with plates the same day. Mail takes longer to process.

What You’re Agreeing To

Antique and permanent vintage plates come with real limits on how the vehicle can be used. Allowed uses are club activities, exhibits, tours, parades, driving to and from those events, testing or repair trips, showing the car to a potential buyer, occasional pleasure driving within 250 miles of home, and carrying passengers or other antique vehicles to a show. Daily transportation, including commuting and errands, is not allowed. The 250-mile pleasure-driving radius is an outer boundary, not a daily allowance.¹

Using an antique-plated vehicle for daily transportation is a Class 4 misdemeanor with a fine of up to $250. DMV also revokes the antique or permanent vintage plates for five years from the date it’s notified of the conviction.¹ The five-year revocation is the part that stings.

The trade for accepting those limits is that vehicles registered on antique or permanent vintage plates are exempt from Virginia’s annual state safety inspection; the VSA 10B’s self-certification replaces it. Vintage plates registered for general daily use do not get the exemption and require the standard annual inspection.⁵ The exemption does not shield you from a defective-equipment citation if an officer spots a problem during a stop.

1
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Antique Motor Vehicles and Trailers
2
Virginia Code Commission. Code of Virginia Title 46.2 Subtitle I – General Provisions
3
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Vintage License Plates
4
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. VSA 10B – Antique and Vintage License Plate Certification
5
Virginia State Police. Antique Vehicle Registration
6
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 47.1-19 – Fees
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Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Download Vehicle Forms