Q: Joyce Hansen of Murrieta said she and her husband would like to replace their car’s old, worn out license plates. The couple went to an Auto Club office and were told it would take nine months to receive new plates and that they needed to surrender the old plates and mail them in. The Hansens were given a red sticker to display in their car window.
“The sticker lasts 60 days, so we would have to get a new sticker” multiple times before the new plates arrive, she said. Hansen’s husband returned a few days later to order the new license plates and this time, he said, he was told they didn’t need to surrender the old plates until the new ones arrived. This time, the Hansens were told that new plates would take six to nine months to arrive. Joyce Hansen asked why the delay. She also asked if prisoners still make California’s license plates.
A: The process to get new plates to replace old, worn ones depends on the type of plates in question, said DMV spokesperson Katarina Snow. Drivers can replace their standard license plates online at https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv-virtual-office/replacement-license-plates/, by mail or over-the-counter at a DMV office by filling out a REG 156 and a REG 256 form explaining the license plate wear over time, she said. Standard license plates take four to six weeks to arrive, Snow said.
To replace personalized plates, drivers must submit a Special Interest License Plate Application and pay the fees online, or order by mail to: DMV – SPU – MS D238, P. O. Box 932345, Sacramento, CA 94232-3450. It takes about eight months to process the application for personalized license plates, Snow said. Drivers must turn in or destroy their old plates once the new standard or personalized plates arrive.
All California license plates are made by inmates at Folsom State Prison, Snow said.
It’s a fun little story about how this began: (https://catalog.calpia.ca.gov/services/license-plates/):
Since 1947, inmates at Folsom State Prison have made California’s license plates for DMV. The factory was originally located in an airplane hangar, according to California Prison Industry Authority website. In 1953, the operation was dismantled and reassembled in the Upper Yard at the prison. The first license plates were made of steel, now they’re made of aluminum.
A partnership between DMV and the Prison Industry Authority has provided daily work assignments to more than 100 inmates at the factory in Folsom Prison, the website says.
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