With the state running out of its current combination of license plate numbers and letters, California plans to launch a new license plate sequence for newly registered vehicles starting next year.
The threat of a trade war sparked by President Trump’s tariffs has played a role in the state’s license plate quandary.
California’s standard automobile license plates have a configuration of one number, followed by three letters, followed by three numbers, according to Ronald Ongtoaboc, spokesperson for the DMV.
The standard license plate, used to connect registered vehicles to their owners, is issued to all passenger vehicles, including commercial motor vehicles, motorcycles, permanent trailers, trailer coaches and park trailers.
The first edition of this sequence began in 1980 with “1AAA000.” Different sequences were used in prior years.
The latest sequence is project to end sometime in 2026 with the final license plate 9ZZZ999, “due to the dwindling number of available combinations,” Ongtoaboc said.
The agency is currently processing license plates in the 9UBA000-9UBZ999 range, according to the DMV.
Once the state runs out of that license plate sequence, the next sequence will be three numerals, followed by three letters and one numeral.
For example, it will look like “000AAA0.”
The state is running out of the 1980s-era sequence about a year earlier than expected, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Part of the reason the state expects to run out of the sequence so quickly is that California’s rate of issuing new plate numbers is increasing more rapidly than originally anticipated, the DMV told the Bee.
What’s getting newly registered cars on the road so fast is the fear that the Trump administration’s trade wars will starkly increase car prices, prompting motorists to buy new cars before the anticipated price hike.
A recent report from the California New Car Dealers Assn. found that new vehicle registrations increased by 8.3% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the same time last year.
“Initial reports indicate a surge in new vehicle purchases in the months of March and April in anticipation of the implementation of these tariffs, however, it remains to be seen if they will result in higher vehicle prices,” the report stated.
Analysis predict the number of new vehicle registrations will fall due to the fluid nature of the current trade policy negotiations.
The report stated that the total number of registrations for the year 2025 is expected to drop by 2.3% and coming in at an estimated 1.71 million.
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