Thoughts

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post today. With the expiration of my license tags around the corner I received my renewal information in the mail. Inside the envelope was a small information sheet regarding the end of an era. The State of Michigan is doing away with the plain blue license plates that we hold so dear.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, Michigan has a new standard license plate (white background, blue letters) that replaces the blue standard plate (blue background, white letters). Public Act 177 of 2006 requires the Department of State to stop issuing, renewing, replacing or transferring the blue plate.

The new standard plate is clean in design, rust-resistant, tamper-proof and easily identifiable. Unlike the blue plate, whose color scheme made it difficult to see at night, the new plate's fully reflective background makes it much more visible. (link)

Gone is the license plate that, when we see another while driving out of state, reminds us of home; gone is that license plate that signals "friend." It appears that the State is opting, rather, for a plain and boring, but "state of the art" plate. But why?

FISCAL IMPACT
The Department of State estimates one-time costs related to the new plate at approximately $11.0 million. Under the bills, the cost of the new plate would be funded from the Michigan Transportation Fund. The cost estimate is based on the design and production of 6.0 million plates, including postage and handling costs. The bills also would result in additional annual ongoing costs in future years of $690,000. The Department annually orders 1.5 million plates related to new vehicles and replacement plates. The reflective plate required by House Bill 5607 (H-3) costs $0.46 more per plate than the current blue plate.

The Department of State anticipates that the new plate would result in improved compliance with vehicle registration laws, more than offsetting one-time costs related to the new plate. This is based on a noncompliance rate of 3% (166,735 vehicles). Using an average registration cost of $92 per vehicle, the Department estimates that $15.3 million in additional revenue would be generated to the MTF (a net MTF increase of $4.4 million after one-time costs associated with the new plate). (cite)

So it seems that as a (for lack of a better term) ploy to get vehicle owners to not fradulently fake their registration, everyone with the blue plate gets a new plate. I hope you have a spot picked out on the wall for your comforting blue plate to hang.

And who got the final say on this design? I can understand the blue bar across the top. I may have seen an out-of-state plate recently that was similar, so we are copying other states. But why put the state's website across the bottom? Other states have bookmarked the name of the state with the "www." and the ".gov" across the top with no problems. Why can't Michigan do that and leave room for some slogan, some poetic signature of the state across the bottom?

For more information regarding renewal if you are a blue plate owner, go here.
For complete information regarding House Bill 5607 pertaining to Public Act 177 of 2006 go here.

Goodbye Blue Plate, you will be missed.