Colorado § 42-3-211 - Issuance of personalized plates authorized - repeal.

§ 42-3-211. Issuance of personalized plates authorized - repeal.

(1) The department may issue personalized license plates for motor vehicles in accordance with this section.

(2) (a) "Personalized license plates", as used in this section, means license plates that have displayed upon them the registration number assigned to the motor vehicle for which such registration number was issued in a combination of letters or numbers requested by the owner of the vehicle, subject to the limitations of this section.

(b) "Personalized license plates", as used in this section, includes special license plates that bear the words "street rod" and that may be issued only to a street rod vehicle.

(3) (a) Personalized license plates must be the same color and design as regular motor vehicle license plates, must consist of any combination of numbers or letters not exceeding seven positions and not less than two positions, except as otherwise provided in section 8-88-105 (4), and must not conflict with existing passenger, commercial, trailer, motorcycle, or other special license plates series; except that personalized license plates bearing the words "street rod" must be of a design determined by the executive director of the department, which design must be different from those used by the state for regular motor vehicle license plates.

(b) If number plates issued for vehicles include the county of vehicle registration, a vehicle owner shall have the option of obtaining a personalized license plate that does not include such county designation.

(4) Any person who is the registered owner of a motor vehicle registered with the department or who applies to register a motor vehicle or renew personalized license registration of a motor vehicle, upon payment of the fee prescribed in subsection (6) of this section, may apply to the department for personalized license plates in the manner prescribed in this section. Personalized license plates shall be issued for the annual registration period immediately following the year in which the application is made.

(5) An applicant for issuance of personalized license plates or renewal of such plates shall apply in such form and by such date as the department may require, indicating thereon the combination of letters or numbers requested as a registration number. There shall be no duplication of registration numbers, and the department may refuse to issue any combination of letters or numbers that carry connotations offensive to good taste and decency, are misleading, or duplicate any other license plates provided for in this article.

(6) (a) A fee of thirty-five dollars shall be charged in addition to the registration fee normally due upon the vehicle for the issuance of the same number of personalized license plates for a vehicle as are specified in section 42-3-201 for the issuance of number plates. Upon reissuance of the same personalized license plates in subsequent years, the additional fee shall be twenty-five dollars. Such fee shall be due upon the original issuance or reissuance of personalized license plates other than a renewal of registration under paragraph (b) of this subsection (6).

(b) The department may provide for renewals of personalized license plates whereby such plates are retained by the applicant in subsequent years upon the payment, in addition to the normal registration fee, of an annual renewal fee of twenty-five dollars for which the department shall provide a distinctive tag or insignia to be affixed to such plates to signify that such vehicle has been properly registered for the year for which such license plate was renewed.

(c) The fee for transferring previously issued personalized license plates to another vehicle shall be twelve dollars in addition to other applicable fees.

(d) A person who fails to apply for the renewal or transfer of issued personalized license plates according to subsection (5) of this section shall lose the priority right to use the combination of letters or numbers displayed on the personalized license plates.

(e) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) to (d) of this subsection (6), in lieu of such fees, the fee for a license plate that contains only two alphabetic figures and up to four numeric figures shall be the actual cost of issuing such plate.

(7) (a) All applications for special registration of motor vehicles must be made directly to the department, and the department shall administer the special registrations.

(b) (I) (A) All fees received on or before June 30, 2026, from special registrations are credited to the highway users tax fund created in section 43-4-201 and allocated and expended as specified in section 43-4-205 (5.5)(b); except that two dollars of each such special registration fee collected pursuant to subsections (6)(a) to (6)(c) of this section are remitted to the county general fund.

(B) This subsection (7)(b)(I) is repealed, effective July 1, 2027.

(II) On and after July 1, 2026, all fees received from special registrations are credited to the Colorado DRIVES vehicle services account created in section 42-1-211 (2) in the highway users tax fund; except that two dollars of each special registration fee collected pursuant to subsections (6)(a) to (6)(c) of this section are remitted to the county general fund.

(8) The executive director of the department may prepare any special forms and issue any rules necessary to implement this section.

(9) (a) [Editor's note: This version of subsection (9)(a) is effective until January 1, 2028.] A person who has been issued personalized license plates pursuant to this section, section 42-3-115 (5)(a), or section 42-3-206.5 may retain the unique combination of letters or numbers of such plate, notwithstanding that the person no longer has a registered motor vehicle, if the person pays an annual fee of twenty-five dollars, which shall be transferred to the highway users tax fund.

(9) (a) [Editor's note: This version of subsection (9)(a) is effective January 1, 2028.] A person who has been issued personalized license plates pursuant to this section or section 42-3-206.5 may retain the unique combination of letters or numbers of such plate, notwithstanding that the person no longer has a registered motor vehicle, if the person pays an annual fee of twenty-five dollars, which shall be credited to the highway users tax fund.

(b) This subsection (9) shall not be construed to authorize a person to reserve license plates for which no motor vehicle has ever been registered according to this article 3, unless the license plate configuration was purchased pursuant to section 24-30-2208. This subsection (9) shall not be construed to require the department to send a renewal notice to the person who retains the unique combination of letters or numbers.

Source: L. 2005: (9) amended, p. 143, § 10, effective April 5, (9) further amended and relocated to (7), p. 1185, § 40, effective August 8; (9) added, p. 194, § 1, effective April 7; entire article amended with relocations, p. 1115, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2012: (3)(a) amended, (SB 12-170), ch. 207, p. 820, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2016: (3)(a) amended, (HB 16-1362), ch. 319, p. 1296, § 4, effective August 10. L. 2022: (9) amended, (SB 22-217), ch. 378, p. 2684, § 10, effective August 10. L. 2024: (3)(a) amended, (HB 24-1360), ch. 324, p. 2168, § 14, effective July 1. L. 2026: (3)(a) amended, (HB 26-1382), ch. 301, p. 1714, § 16, effective June 2; (7) amended, (HB 26-1102), ch. 266, p. 1481, § 4, effective June 3; (9)(a) amended, (HB 26-1053), ch. 347, p. 2109, § 5, effective January 1, 2028.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 42-3-114 as it existed prior to 2005.

(2) Section 43 of chapter 270, Session Laws of Colorado 2005, provides that section 40 of that chapter, which amends § 42-3-114 (9) as amended by section 10 of Senate Bill 05-041 and relocates it to § 42-3-211 (7), shall supersede § 42-3-211 (7) as contained in section 2 of chapter 270 and shall take effect on August 8, 2005.

(3) Subsection (9) was originally numbered as § 42-3-114 (12), and the enactment of it in House Bill 05-1068 was harmonized with § 42-3-211 (9) as it appears in House Bill 05-1107.

(4) Section 5 of chapter 266 (HB 26-1102), Session Laws of Colorado 2026, provides that the act changing this section takes effect only if section 21 of HB 26-1289 becomes law, in which case section 4 of HB 26-1102 takes effect upon the passage of HB 26-1102 or on the effective date of HB 26-1289, whichever is later. Section 21 of HB 26-1289 became law and took effect June 3, 2026. HB 26-1102 became law June 1, 2026, and section 4 of HB 26-1102 took effect June 3, 2026.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 24-1360, see section 1 of chapter 324, Session Laws of Colorado 2024.