PA Disabled Veteran License Plate: Eligibility, Fees, and Parking

Pennsylvania issues two plates for veterans with service-connected disabilities, and the PA disabled veteran license plate you want depends on how severe your rating is. The standard Disabled Veteran plate is available at any service-connected disability percentage but carries no parking privileges and no fee waiver. The Severely Disabled Veteran plate, for veterans rated 100% or with certain listed physical conditions, adds accessible parking rights and free registration. Both are governed by 75 Pa.C.S. § 1342 and applied for on PennDOT Form MV-145V.¹

The Two Plates and What Each One Gets You

The standard Disabled Veteran plate shows “disabled veteran” on a white background in standard-color characters. It does not display the international accessibility symbol, and under Pennsylvania law that omission matters: without the symbol, the plate does not grant accessible parking rights. Registration is charged at the normal rate.¹

The Severely Disabled Veteran plate is visually different. Blue characters sit on a white background, “disabled veteran” appears in red, and the international accessibility symbol is printed on the plate. That symbol is what triggers parking privileges under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3354. This plate can only go on a passenger car or truck with a registered gross weight of 14,000 pounds or less. Registration is free when the applicant completes the self-certification on the form.¹

If you hold the standard plate and later need accessible parking, you would have to apply separately for a disability parking placard. The plate itself will not do it.

Who Qualifies

Standard Disabled Veteran Plate

Any veteran whose disability is certified as service-connected by the VA or by the branch of service qualifies. There is no minimum percentage. A 10% rating is enough.¹

Severely Disabled Veteran Plate

You qualify with a 100% service-connected rating certified by the VA or your branch of service. You also qualify with a rating below 100% if you have one of the specific physical conditions listed on the MV-145V:²

Blindness
Loss of use of one or both arms
Inability to walk 200 feet without stopping to rest
Inability to walk without a brace, cane, crutch, wheelchair, prosthetic, or another person’s help
Severe lung disease with forced expiratory volume less than one liter or arterial oxygen tension less than 60 mm/Hg at rest
Use of portable oxygen
Cardiac condition classified as Class III or IV under American Heart Association standards
Severely limited walking ability due to an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition

Any one of those conditions qualifies you without a 100% overall rating.

How to Apply

The application is Form MV-145V, a downloadable PDF on the PennDOT website. It has three sections.²

Section A asks for your name and address as they appear on your current registration card, along with the title number, VIN, and current plate number. If your address is out of state, attach Form MV-8 to certify Pennsylvania residency.

Section B is a self-certification. Check the product you’re requesting and confirm you meet the eligibility rules. For the severely disabled plate, this is where you certify either your 100% rating or the qualifying physical condition. Completing this section is required to receive the free registration.

Section C handles disability verification, and you have two ways to satisfy it. You can have a VA Regional Office Administrator in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, or your former service unit, complete and sign Section C. Or you can leave Section C blank and instead attach a legible copy of one of these VA documents:

Letter of Promulgation
Awards Letter
Single Notification Letter
Summary of Benefits Letter

The document you attach must show your disability percentage. If you are applying as severely disabled with a rating below 100%, it must also identify the qualifying condition. PennDOT does not require a DD-214 or other discharge paperwork for this application.

Mail the completed form and your VA documentation to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, 1101 S. Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17104-2516. Processing takes several weeks while PennDOT verifies your VA credentials, after which the plate and an updated registration card are mailed to the address on your application.²

Fees and the Separate Registration Waiver

The severely disabled plate itself comes with free registration when Section B of the MV-145V is completed. The standard Disabled Veteran plate does not include any fee waiver.²

A separate program, applied for on Form MV-371DV, waives both registration and title fees for one passenger vehicle or truck weighing 9,000 pounds or less if the veteran qualifies as severely disabled. License plate fees still apply under that program. The two forms do different work: MV-145V is how you get the plate, and MV-371DV is how you get the broader title and registration fee waiver.³

Parking Rights With the Severely Disabled Plate

When a vehicle displaying the Severely Disabled Veteran plate is being driven by or is transporting the qualifying veteran, two things follow under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3354. The vehicle can park in any space marked with the international accessibility symbol on public or private property. And the driver gets an extra 60 minutes beyond whatever time limit is posted at that space. The 60-minute extension does not apply during rush-hour periods when local ordinances restrict parking for traffic management.⁴

Placard and Motorcycle Decal

Veterans who qualify as severely disabled can also request a placard under 75 Pa.C.S. § 1342(b). The placard is what you use when you’re a passenger in someone else’s vehicle, because the parking privileges travel with the placard. Hang it from the rearview mirror only while parked in a reserved accessible space, or place it on the dashboard if the vehicle has no mirror.¹

Pennsylvania does not issue a severely disabled veteran plate for motorcycles. Instead, PennDOT issues a free decal that attaches to your standard motorcycle plate, showing the accessibility symbol and the words “disabled veteran.” It carries the same parking privileges as the plate. The decal cannot be personalized and cannot be applied to a passenger car plate.²

Misuse of the Plate or Placard

Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3354(e), the driver of a vehicle displaying a Severely Disabled Veteran plate or placard cannot park in a reserved accessible space unless the qualifying veteran is actually in the vehicle. Doing so is a summary offense with a fine, and the vehicle may be towed from spaces where a posted sign warns towing is a possible consequence.⁴

Return After the Veteran’s Death

Disabled veteran plates and placards must be returned to PennDOT within 30 days of the veteran’s death. The plate is void after that point and cannot legally be displayed on any vehicle. The personal representative of the estate handles the return, or if there is none, the spouse or next of kin. Pennsylvania law does not allow a surviving spouse to keep or continue using the plate.

1
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 Chapter 13 – Section 1342
2
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Application for Disabled Veteran, Severely Disabled Veteran Registration Plate or Severely Disabled Veteran Motorcycle Plate Decal
3
Pennsylvania Government. Apply for Free Registration for Eligible Veterans
4
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 Chapter 33 – Section 3354