Maryland Historic Plates: Eligibility, Use Limits, and Fees

Maryland’s historic plates requirements come down to three things: the vehicle must be at least 20 years old, it must still reflect its original factory design, and you must certify that you’ll use it only for limited purposes like shows, club events, parades, tours, and occasional driving. Qualifying vehicles register under a Class L (historic) designation for $55.50 a year, well below the $120.50 to $191.50 charged for standard passenger cars.¹

Who Qualifies

Section 13-936 of the Transportation Article sets three conditions: the vehicle must be at least 20 years old, it cannot have been substantially altered from the manufacturer’s original design, and it must meet any additional regulations the Motor Vehicle Administration has adopted.² Passenger vehicles, motorcycles, and trucks are covered. Trailers are not.³

The unaltered-design requirement is where most applicants run into trouble. A swapped modern engine, changed body panels, or other work that pulls the vehicle away from its factory-original design will disqualify it. Replicas are also excluded by statute, so a vehicle reconstructed to look like a classic but not actually original will not qualify.²

Heavier vehicles follow a stricter version of the rule. Trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds, tractors, and motor homes can receive historic registration, but they must be at least 25 years old. They also have to carry a specialized policy, such as a historic vehicle, show vehicle, or antique vehicle insurance policy.⁴

How to Apply

You can apply in person at any full-service MVA branch or by mail to the Mail-in Registration Unit in Glen Burnie.⁴ The core document is Form VR-096, the Application for Historic or Street Rod Registration. It collects the vehicle’s year, make, model, body style, and VIN, plus your driver’s license number and insurance information. By signing it, you certify under oath that the vehicle will be used only for exhibitions, club activities, parades, tours, and occasional transportation, and never for commuting, daily use, or commercial purposes.³

What else you file depends on the vehicle’s current paperwork:

If the vehicle is already titled in Maryland, submit the Application for New Plates/Stickers and Transfer of Plates along with the VR-096.
If you are titling and registering it at the same time in Maryland, the title itself can serve as the application for both transactions.
If you have an out-of-state title, use the Application for Certificate of Title to get a Maryland title, then file the VR-096.

One requirement that does not apply: a Maryland Safety Inspection Certificate is not needed to register a historic vehicle.⁴

What It Costs

The annual Class L fee is $55.50 as of July 1, 2025.² Compared with $120.50 to $191.50 for a standard passenger car depending on shipping weight, that saves roughly $65 to $136 a year.¹

Very old vehicles get a better deal. If a car, truck, or motorcycle was manufactured at least 60 years before the current model year, you pay a one-time $50 registration fee and never renew for that vehicle again. The permanent registration is non-transferable, so a new owner starts over. Vehicles on this permanent registration also cannot display specialty plates.²³

How You Can Use the Vehicle

Historic plates are not a low-cost way to register a daily driver. The certification limits use to exhibitions, club activities, parades, tours, and occasional transportation.² The statute specifically prohibits:

General daily transportation.
Highway transport of passengers or property as the vehicle’s primary role.
Use in employment, such as deliveries or service calls.
Commuting to a job or school.
Commercial purposes, including ride-sharing and rentals.

The operative word is “occasional.” A Sunday drive to lunch is fine; a weekly trip to the office is not. If a driving pattern looks like regular commuting, the sworn certification on the application cuts against you.

Heavier historic vehicles are on a tighter leash still. Trucks over 10,000 pounds GVWR, tractors, and motor homes with historic plates are restricted entirely to show and exhibition use and cannot even be driven for occasional transportation.⁴

Inspection and Equipment Exemptions

Every vehicle registered under Section 13-936 is exempt from emissions control requirements, so you’ll never need to pass an emissions test or add emissions equipment that wasn’t part of the original design.² Vehicles with a model year of 1985 or earlier get a broader exemption from any statute requiring vehicle inspections. Post-1985 historic vehicles still receive the safety inspection waiver at registration but do not get that blanket exemption from all inspection statutes.

Equipment rules follow the same logic. Unless a piece of equipment was required by Maryland law as a condition of sale when the vehicle was originally manufactured, it is not required now. A 1962 coupe that left the factory without seat belts does not have to have them added.²

Displaying Vintage License Plates

If you own an authentic old Maryland plate from the same year as your vehicle’s model year, you can display it on the road in place of the standard historic plate. The requirements:

The vehicle must be at least 25 years old.
The plate’s expiration year or sticker must match the vehicle’s model year.
You must bring the vintage plate to a full-service MVA office for verification and authorization.
Your current Class L plates must stay in the vehicle whenever the vintage plates are on it.
The vintage plates are non-transferable to another person.

There is a one-time fee of $25.50 for this, on top of the annual historic registration fee.⁵

If the Vehicle Has Been Modified

Historic registration is closed to substantially modified vehicles, but Maryland offers a separate Class N (street rod) registration under Section 13-937.1 for that situation. A street rod must be at least 25 years old and must have been substantially altered from the manufacturer’s original design.⁶ It uses the same VR-096 application and carries the same usage restrictions, and street rods are also eligible for vintage plate display under the same rules.⁵

Renewal and Staying Compliant

Unless the vehicle qualifies for the one-time permanent registration, you renew annually at $55.50.² The MVA evaluates eligibility under current law at renewal, not under the rules that existed when you first registered, so a change in the statute or a change to the vehicle can force a transition to standard registration.

Using a historically registered vehicle as regular transportation contradicts the sworn certification and can lead to revocation of the historic designation, and depending on the circumstances it may be treated as a traffic offense. Keeping simple records of how the vehicle is used, such as show dates and club events, gives you something concrete to point to if the question ever comes up.

1
Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) – Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). MVA Fee Listing
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Transportation Code Section 13-936 – Historic Motor Vehicles: Class L (Historic) Vehicles
3
Maryland Vehicle Administration (MVA). Application for Historic or Street Rod Registration
4
Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) – Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA). Registration – Special Use Vehicles
5
Maryland Vehicle Administration (MVA). Application for the Use of Vintage Registration Plates
6
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Transportation Code Section 13-937.1 – Street Rod