Texas Says Goodbye to Paper License Plates

July marks a shift in Texas as Texans who purchase new vehicles will no longer receive paper license plates. Because of a sweeping change passed in the 2023 legislative session, Texas is moving to metal plates issued at the point of sale to combat rampant paper tag fraud.

“It is important to keep your buyer's receipt in your vehicle because if you do get pulled over, you do need to show the proof of the purchase of the vehicle until you get that registration sticker,” said Rochelle Salinas with the Houston Auto Dealers Association.

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles (TxDMV) has already issued approximately 67,000 black-and-white metal plates across the state. These plates will be registered to the buyer at the time of purchase, and a registration sticker will be mailed later.

The law mandates that dealers remove old plates from trade-ins or vehicles sold to them. These plates can be transferred to another vehicle of the same class within 10 days or returned to the original owner if personalized.

The TxDMV has also developed four limited-use metal plates:

Blue and white: For dealership test drives

Green and white: For out-of-state buyers

Purple: Temporary use when a dealer lacks a hard plate

Red: Issued by the DMV or county offices for temporary registration

A 60-day grace period will be granted to vehicles purchased before July 1.

Private vehicle sales remain unchanged, however. Sellers must still remove the plates and file a transfer notification within 30 days.

The change comes from House Bill 718, which was designed to curtail the estimated 1.8 million counterfeit paper plates that were in circulation in 2021. Grand Prairie Police Chief Daniel Scesney testified in support of the bill after an officer, Brandon Tsia, was killed while pursuing a vehicle utilizing a fake tag.