License Plates

Specialty & Personalized License Plates

Personalize your license plate, check availability, and reserve it. If it's available and approved, your plates will be manufactured and delivered to your county treasurer's office. 

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Decal License Plates

Non-profit organizations may apply to the Iowa DOT for approval of a decal recognizing their organization or cause.

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License Plate Holders or Frames

Iowa Code Section 321.37(3) states that "It is unlawful for the owner of a vehicle to place any frame around or over the registration plate which does not permit full view of all numerals and letters printed on the registration plate."

The Iowa Supreme Court has held this to mean all the letters and numbers on a plate, and not just the plate number. To avoid a stop or citation by law enforcement, you should not use a plate frame that:

  • covers any letters or numbers printed on the plate, including but not limited to the state, county, or collegiate name, and
  • should also not cover or obscure the registration sticker.
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Plates Pending Start-up Fees

A law was passed providing for the following new plates.

  • Civil War Sesquicentennial
  • Combat Infantryman Badge
  • Combat Action Badge
  • Combat Action Ribbon U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marine Corps/U.S. Navy
  • Air Force Combat Action Medal
  • Combat Medical Badge

Before any of the new six plates can be applied for or manufactured, the following requirements must be met.

  • Each plate must have 250 start-up orders requesting a plate type accompanied by a $20 processing fee. (The $20 processing fee is separate from the plate fee and therefore cannot be credited to any of the special license plates once they are available.)   
  • The plates will not be available and cannot be applied for until the required 250 start-up orders have been received.
  • Applications for the start-up orders can be obtained online at Application for the 2011 Legislative License Plate Start-up Fee Orders, by calling the Office of Vehicle & Motor Carrier Services at 515-237-3110, faxing a request to 515-237-3056, or by e-mailing at dot.plates@iowadot.us.

Note: As required by legislation authorizing production of these plates, plates listed above may only be manufactured or issued after the department receives 250 start-up orders for the specific plate.

Once 250 start-up orders have been received and processed for a plate type, the application to order the actual plates will be available online, by calling the Iowa DOT's Office of Vehicle & Motor Carrier Services at 515-237-3110, or by e-mail at dot.plates@iowadot.us.

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