A custom license plate in Pennsylvania costs $103 for a standard personalized design. You apply by completing Form MV-904 and mailing it, with a check or money order payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to PennDOT’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Harrisburg. Plan on eight to ten weeks for the plate to arrive after PennDOT processes your application.1Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Personalized Registration Plates Fact Sheet
Choosing Your Combination
Passenger vehicle plates allow up to seven letters and numbers in any combination. Motorcycle plates are limited to five. You can include one hyphen or one space, but not both, and no other special characters are permitted.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Personalized Registration Plates
Before you mail anything, run your choice through PennDOT’s online Personalized Registration Plate Availability Tool. Requests are processed first-come, first-served, so if someone already has your combination you will need a backup.3Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Personalized Registration Plate Guidelines
PennDOT will reject any configuration it considers profane, obscene, suggestive of sexual content, referencing excretory functions, or potentially misleading to law enforcement. Combinations that too closely resemble existing plate numbers are also rejected, as are messages that read as slurs, epithets, or attempts to interfere with the plate’s function as an identification mark.
How to Apply
Complete Form MV-904, the Application for Personalized, Amateur Radio Operator or Press Photographer Registration Plate.4PA.gov. Application for Personalized, Amateur Radio Operator or Press Photographer Registration Plate You will need your current vehicle information and existing plate number. Personalized plates are mail-only; there is no online application. Send the form with your payment to:
Bureau of Motor Vehicles
PO Box 68293
Harrisburg, PA 171065Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Apply for a Personalized Registration Plate
You must already hold a valid Pennsylvania registration to apply, and you keep your current plate on the vehicle until the new one arrives. Do not send cash. The $103 fee covers the plate itself and does not renew your registration, so if your registration is coming due, handle that separately.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Personalized Registration Plates
Other Custom Plate Options and What They Cost
“Custom” can mean more than a vanity combination on a standard plate. Pennsylvania also offers designs tied to causes, organizations, and military service, and each category has its own price and application path.6Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Payments and Fees
- Standard personalized plate: $103, applied for on Form MV-904.
- Special fund plates (Wildlife Resource Conservation, Honoring Our Veterans, Pennsylvania Monuments, Share the Road, Distracted Driving Awareness, Pollinator Conservation, and others): $40 to $64 for one-year registration, depending on design. A $14 to $25 slice of that fee goes to the associated cause.
- Special organization plates (colleges, charities, fraternal groups): $34 base fee to PennDOT, plus any additional fees the organization charges. You apply through the organization, which submits paperwork to PennDOT on your behalf.7Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Apply for Special Organization Registration Plates
- Adding your own personalized characters to a special fund or organization plate: $136 on top of that plate’s base fee.
- Military and veteran plates: range from $12 for certain medal plates up to $43 for some veteran designs, applied for using the MV-150 series of forms. Most require a copy of DD Form 214 showing a discharge other than dishonorable.8Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. US Military Registration Plates Fact Sheet
Personalized plates are available for passenger vehicles, motorcycles, motor homes, trailers, and trucks with a registered gross weight of 14,000 pounds or less.
After You Apply
Allow eight to ten weeks after PennDOT processes your application. When the plate arrives, remove your old plate and mount the new one; a new registration card with your custom plate number is issued as well. Your old plate is no longer valid once the replacement is on the vehicle, and you can return it to PennDOT’s Return Tag Unit by mail.9Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Return a Registration Plate
At renewal, you go through the standard vehicle registration renewal process and pay the normal renewal fee. The design and configuration stay the same.
If PennDOT Rejects Your Configuration
You will get a letter explaining the reason. There is no formal appeals process, but you can call or write PennDOT and a staff member will review the decision with you.2Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Personalized Registration Plates That conversation is where you make your case or ask which alternative configurations would clear review.
Replacing a Lost, Stolen, or Damaged Custom Plate
Use Form MV-44 to request a replacement. There is no fee to replace a personalized plate.10Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Application for Replacement Registration Plate
Watch for one catch. If the plate was lost or stolen, you cannot get a replacement with the same characters; PennDOT issues the same style of plate but requires a new combination, and you must report the loss or theft to the State Police or local law enforcement. A defaced or illegible plate can be replaced with the same configuration. Either way, expect another eight to ten weeks. If you need to keep driving in the meantime, you can request a temporary standard-issue plate for a fee.