Rejected License Plates: What Crosses the Line

Every year, state DMVs reject thousands of vanity plate applications. Indiana's BMV denied more than 700 personalized plate requests in 2025 alone. Here's what gets shut down, and why your "clever" idea might already be on the no-list.

Last updated: 31 August 2026

The Five Categories of Rejection

Category	Example Triggers
Profanity	Curse words, slurs, even creative spellings
Sexual content	Body parts, acts, double-meanings
Drug references	420, WEED, substance names
Hate speech	Racial, religious, political extremism
Official terms	POLICE, FBI, GOVT, ambulance terms

Famous Rejections by State

Indiana BMV

Indiana publishes its rejected plate list annually. The BMV denied more than 700 personalized plate requests in 2025, out of tens of thousands submitted. In 2021, 54,118 requests came in and 98.6% were approved, so rejection is the rare outcome. Common triggers included drug references, political messages and college rivalries. Even seemingly innocent plates like "ASSESST" (assets) get flagged for ambiguous reading.

California DMV

California's DMV reviews around 150,000 personalized plate applications a year and rejected almost 7,000 in the first eight months of 2023. Most rejections are not about offence at all: nearly 90% were denied because the configuration was too similar to a plate already on the road. Applications are screened by an automated program first, then by a DMV team, with anything questionable escalated to a second review team.

Maine

Maine stopped screening for general vulgarity in 2015, which produced years of unusually permissive plates. A 2021 law restored the Secretary of State's power to refuse and recall plates, and the first recall letters went out in October 2022. The scale was modest: officials estimated around 400 plates might be recalled, from roughly 124,000 vanity plates on Maine roads.

Sneaky Reasons Plates Get Rejected

Mirror reading, DMVs check what plates spell when reversed
Phonetic equivalents, "EFFYOU" reads as something else out loud
Foreign language slang, Reviewers consult multilingual databases
Number-letter substitution, 5H1T is just as banned as the original
Combined readings, "ASS" + "ETS" = ASSETS, but reviewers see both

The Appeal Process

Most states let you appeal a rejection in writing, but the window is usually short. Before you write anything, read Your Vanity Plate Was Rejected. Here's What to Do Next.

Plates That Were Recalled After Approval

Approval is provisional. A plate that clears the counter can still be revoked later, as shown in Vanity plate revoked after approval.