When Governor Cuomo announced that the NY Department of Motor Vehicles would have a special Super Bowl XLVI Champions license plate for order, that surprised some NY state lawmakers, because they've been trying to get a license plate to commemorate 9/11 first responders and victims. Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco said, "I'm happy that the Giants won the Super Bowl as much as the next New Yorker, but who are the real heroes our state should first be celebrating with distinctive plates, the athletes on the gridiron or the first responders and the people who lost their lives on Sept. 11?" more ›

You know what would complete your ecstasy of the Giants' Super Bowl victory over the Patriots AND help out NY State's revenue? Getting a special Giants Super Bowl XLVI victory license plate. more ›

Because the toll for his tractor-trailer to go onto the George Washington Bridge is $65, Nelson Vaquiz decided that it was much easier to build a contraption that lifts up and hides his license plate instead of just paying the pesky toll. Except he didn't count on a Port Authority cop to notice the disappearing license plate. more ›

Nearly four years after fighting to get a GETOSAMA license plate, a Long Island man will be getting a new one: GOTOSAMA, obviously. Retired NYPD cop Arno Herwerth was initially worried that the license plate wasn't available, based on his search on the DMV website, but the NY State DMV said there was a computer glitch and the plate is his for the taking. more ›

Our neighbors over in New Jersey are talking about a proposed law that NYC's virulent anti-bike crowd is sure to fall head-over-handlebars in love with. Democratic Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker wants to require all cyclists—from tots with training wheels to weekend warriors on Cannondales—to register their bikes and attach license plates to the back. Could it happen here? A spokesman for NYC's bike-friendly DOT told us to go ask the DMV. But over in the Garden State, Tucker says senior citizens are terrified of reckless bicycle riders with no accountability. more ›

If you want the world to know your opinion on abortion all the time, you might want to move to New Jersey. After a lawsuit where Children First accused the state of “content-based and viewpoint-based discrimination,” the New Jersey DMV is offering license plates with an anti-abortion slogan "Choose Life." Because anyone in favor of a woman's right to choose is clearly an opponent of life in any form. more ›

The Daily What directs us to their vanity license plate of the day, from NJ. This intrepid license plate, whose message can only be unlocked in rear-view mirrors, eclipses such classic designs as "BEER ME," "CHILL NN," and "2FAT2FLY." The plate was originally posted on Reddit, where a furious discussion still rages about car dealership etiquette. more ›

There are so many deliciously dumb quotes in this Daily News follow-up about the Jersey woman whose vanity BIOCH license plates got revoked that you have to wonder if the tabloid's reporters use a question-generating algorithm designed to elicit the most inane answers. Or maybe it's just the Jersey talking. more ›

With growing outrage over the state's plan to charge all drivers $25 for new license plates—up from the current $15 and up from $5.50 in 2001—Governor David Paterson said yesterday, "If the Legislature works with me, prior to the release of the 2010-11 Executive Budget, to identify real, recurring savings that will replace the revenue that would be lost, I will eliminate the new license plate requirement." more ›

Naturally, not many people are happy with the state's decision to change license plates and charge $25 in the process. Governor Paterson said he'd nix the fee—if there was some other way to generate $129 million, "I'm optimistic I can find a way to replace the $129 million hole -- and I'll reconsider it. I'll go back and take a look at the license plates because it has upset so many people... What I would like is help figuring out how to replace it." So, we guess that the DMV's explanation that the license plates had to be changed for safety reasons is BS, then? more ›

Perhaps nostalgic for the license plates of yore as well as being desperate for revenue, NY State rolled out a new license plate redesign that will be required for pretty much all vehicles, new and old, starting next year. The "Empire Gold" license plate, in gold with dark blue lettering, will replace the current white plate with the Niagara falls and city skyline elements and the cost will be another $25 for registration renewals and new registrations. Plus, if you want to your current letter and number license combination, that'll be another $20! more ›

Ever seen a Vespa with a parking ticket on it? It seems most owners—and the NY Post is looking at you Matthew Broderick and Liev Schreiber—are going to great measures to avoid getting ticketed for illegally parking. But beware, Vespians, the paper reports that "Cops are cracking down on hipster Vespa owners who've taken to removing the vehicle-identification numbers from their rides." more ›

The strange case of the plucky former NYPD officer Arno Herwerth (who is from Long Island, natch) and his GETOSAMA license plate has gotten even stranger. This time the man with “Kill Bin Laden” crudely painted on his American flag themed minivan and a habit of attending Smithtown board meetings in a chicken suit has rejected the offer of the DMV allowing him to keep his plates, since they would not pay his legal fees. more ›

Arno Herwerth, the Long Island man who the DMV rejected his GETOSAMA vanity plate, then sued them now wants to have a 9-11 commemorative license plate available to the Empire State’s motorists – something several other states have for their drivers. However, in New York then Governor George Elmer Patkai vetoed the idea in 2006 and put the brakes on any new optional license plates thanks to a pro-life groups suing states, including New... more ›

There are 9.3 million vanity license plates in the United States, but every now and then there is one person whose choice of to proclaim on his/her plates causes some problems. Typically, the problematic plate is weeded out thanks to the DMV’s “blue list”of banned letter and number combinations ranging from the obvious, like GOD, NYPD and POL1CE, to the less so, like 3M TA3. Still the NY State DMV’s online plate lookup allows for... more ›