Vanity License Plates

I always wondered why people would pay to have a vanity license plate. I admit, some of them are really clever and I suppose if people want to pay extra to have them then they deserve them. However, it's those plates that are just way too much that really irk me!

The top vanity plate rates in the US include:

- Virginia (16.19%)
- New Hampshire (13.99%),
- Illinois (13.41%)
- Nevada (12.73%)
- Montana (9.8%)
- Maine (9.79%)
- Connecticut (8.14%)
- New Jersey (6.88%)
- North Dakota (6.51%)
- Vermont (6.11%)
- Texas (0.56%)

I will admit that some of these license plates are clever. I enjoy the Christian license plates and the cute plates. These would be on the order of "WWJD" or "Dont Nudge Me". I enjoy the license plates of the military because I feel that, as an American, I will always support our boys at home and overseas. I'm sure this comes from the fact that my twin brothers and my husband served in Viet Nam.

However, there are those times when I see a license plate and can't believe people would actually display it! I saw a license plate the other day that said "2CUTE!" Can you imagine the type of person who would have a license plate made that reads "2cute" ?  Now that's a REAL narcissus!

Amazingly, there are collector's for everything. Some of the things are valuable and some, not so much. However, just owning something that's an antique is like owning a piece of our history.

As for me, I like old license plates. It's amazing how many different license plates have been made, modified, reproduced, and ultimately disintegrated if not cared for! Alas, we know hindisght is 20/20. Things of a functional value in the past often become valuable in the future.

I remember going on trips and playing the license plate game. In those days, if you were lucky, the car had a radio, unlike today when you have headphones, movies, cell phones, ipods... well, you get the picture!

The license plate game would be difficult to play today.  When we were kids, states had distinctive plates.  New Jersey was blue and an ugly cream color.  New York was orancge and black.... and so forth.  Today, you have all different license plates and vanity plates.  Most of the time, it's difficult to see what state it's from unless you are right behind it!

However, this plate is a real classic:

One will have to admit, some of the vanity plates are really quite clever. My thought is that people are either incredibly vain or have money to throw away if their car has a vanity plate!  That isn't always a bad thing.  Vanity can be a very innocent trait if the person is clever, glamorous, or a celebrity in the making!

I'm not sure if this one is a good thing or a bad thing. The context of the word "obsessed" can be either! However, on this one, I would lean toward the "dark side."