New Texas License Plate Law: Display Rules and Penalties

The new Texas license plate law, House Bill 718, took effect July 1, 2025, and its headline change is simple: when you buy a vehicle from a Texas dealer, you leave the lot with metal license plates instead of a paper temporary tag. The rest of the state’s plate rules, covering how plates must be displayed, what covers and devices are banned, and what each violation costs, remain in force and are enforced alongside the new dealer-plate requirement.

What Changed on July 1, 2025

HB 718, passed during the 88th Legislative Session, ended the decades-old practice of printing temporary paper buyer tags at dealerships. Every licensed Texas dealer must now issue metal license plates to the buyer at the time of sale.¹ The standard plate is a black-and-white “general issue” plate, and dealers must distribute them in sequential order from their inventory.²

The dealer collects a $10 metal plate fee at sale and cannot charge more.² Those plates are valid while the dealer’s registration application on your behalf is pending with the county tax assessor-collector.³ Lawmakers pushed the change because counterfeit paper tags had become easy to produce, letting unregistered vehicles evade toll cameras and law enforcement.

When a vehicle is sold or transferred to someone other than a dealer, the existing plates now stay with the vehicle.³ Specialty and military plates are exceptions and may not transfer with the vehicle.²

Buying From a Private Seller

HB 718’s dealer-plate mandate does not cover private sales. If you buy from another person, you go to the county tax assessor-collector to submit a title and registration application and get plates.¹

To drive the vehicle legally in the meantime, HB 718 replaced the old paper temporary permits with temporary metal plates in two forms:

A one-trip license plate costs $5, is valid for a single trip between specified points, and lasts up to 15 days.
A 30-day license plate costs $25 and allows normal passenger use during that window. You can buy more than one if you need additional time.³

Both are available through the county tax assessor-collector or a TxDMV regional office. If you’re the seller, submit a Vehicle Transfer Notification to TxDMV within 30 days of the sale so you aren’t on the hook for toll charges or parking tickets the buyer racks up before registering the vehicle.¹

How Plates Must Be Displayed

Texas Transportation Code Section 504.943 requires most passenger vehicles to display two license plates assigned by TxDMV for the current registration period. Motorcycles, trailers, semitrailers, and road tractors need only one plate.⁴ Exact mounting specifications are set by TxDMV rule rather than by the code itself.

The practical rule is straightforward: both plates need to be clean, unobstructed, and readable. A plate caked in mud, tucked behind a trailer hitch, or angled sharply invites a traffic stop even if your registration is current. Automated toll and plate-reader cameras need a clear view, and officers treat anything less as reason to pull you over.

One boundary worth flagging: if you moved to Texas from a one-plate state, you generally won’t be cited while visiting on your out-of-state registration. But once you establish residency and register the vehicle in Texas, both plates must go on.

Plate Covers, Tints, and Flippers

Texas attacks plate evasion from two directions.

Section 504.945 makes it an offense to have any reflective or blurring material that significantly impairs readability, any unauthorized sticker or illuminated device that interferes with the plate numbers or state name, or any coating or cover that distorts angular visibility, obscures the plate color, or hides the characters. Tinted plate covers sold at auto parts stores fall squarely within this prohibition. Even a clear cover can be a problem if it distorts visibility from an angle, which is precisely how toll and red-light cameras capture images. The same statute also bans displaying a plate issued for a different vehicle, a fictitious plate, or a plate from the wrong registration period.⁵

Section 504.946 targets “license plate flippers,” meaning any manual, electronic, or mechanical device installed on a vehicle that switches between two or more plates or flips a plate out of view. Just possessing one is a Class B misdemeanor. Manufacturing or selling them is a Class A misdemeanor.⁶ You don’t have to be caught using it. Installation alone is enough.

Penalties

Fines and consequences scale with the seriousness of the offense.

Operating a vehicle without the required plates under Section 504.943 is a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $200. A court can dismiss the charge if you fix the problem before your first court appearance and pay a reimbursement fee of up to $10.⁴
Most obscured or wrong plate violations under Section 504.945 carry a maximum fine of $200. Covering or obscuring the plate numbers or plate color carries up to $300 for a first offense, up to $600 for a second, and becomes a Class B misdemeanor on a third or subsequent conviction. Displaying a fictitious plate is an automatic Class B misdemeanor. Knowingly altering the plate to make identification marks illegible is also a Class B misdemeanor.⁵
Possessing a plate-flipping device under Section 504.946 is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. Selling or manufacturing one is a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.⁶

The gap between a $200 fine for a missing front plate and possible jail time for a plate flipper reflects how the law treats intent. Forgetting to mount a plate is a nuisance. Actively hiding your identity from cameras is treated closer to criminal deception.

1
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. House Bill 718 Implementation
2
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. House Bill 718 Implementation FAQ Dealer Handout
3
Texas Legislature Online. Texas House Bill 718 – Enrolled Version
4
State of Texas. Texas Code Transportation Code 504.943 – Operation of Vehicle Without License Plate
5
State of Texas. Texas Code Transportation Code 504.945 – Wrong, Fictitious, Altered, or Obscured License Plate
6
Texas Legislature Online. Texas Senate Bill 1757 – Enrolled Version