Former Military Vehicle Tags (Texas)
I put this here so it wouldn't get pruned sometime in the future. This is mainly for the Texas members, but it might help others as well.
Here are the facts. Texas allows former military vehicles to be issued plates or to use the military ID number as the plate number. Vehicles registered this way also don't need the yearly safety inspection. Here are the web sites to the TXDOT and DPS that support this.
http://rts.texasonline.state.tx.us/N...d=80&pltid=128
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/vi/insp...classsubmit=Go
Notice the restrictions on the TXDOT site. Not for daily transportation! If you are driving your vehicle on a daily bases to and from work or school, you will not be complying with the intent of the law.
But, nobody I have spoken to in either the law enforcement world or the license plate world have a clue about the restrictions or the plates. So, if you want to chance it, it is your responsibility.
I was able to get away from work all afternoon on Wednesday. I took my filled out Former Military Vehicle plate application, the requested picture, my title and proof of current insurance to my county tax office. They are open over lunch and I got there at 1210. They didn't have a clue what to do with it. When I pointed out that I didn't want an actual plate and wanted to use the numbers on my truck as the plate numbers. They really got deer in the headlight looks and dropped jaws. They finally told me at 1235 to come back at 1315 so they could make some phone calls to Austin. I came back at 1320 and there were 3 of the 4 ladies in the office on the phone to Austin asking questions. They couldn't even find anybody in their headquarters who knew what to do. Finally at 1355 they asked if I could come back at 1430. I went to lunch and came back at 1430.
They had gotten organized while I was gone. The top two ranking people took me off to the side and told me they had it figured out and that they were just waiting on one more phone call to finish me up. That phone call was about the numbers on my bumper. Austin wanted "documentation" that those were the numbers issued by the military. I told them that I didn't have that kind of proof. I didn't tell them that I made the numbers up. I also didn't have my printed version of the above TXDOT page. They had looked in their manual and copied the relevant sections out. They were trying to figure out what "authorized Military Regisration number" meant. Nobody knew.
Here is the important part for people doing this in the future. My office had been calling the "specialty plates" division. (Look at the address for the TXDOT link. Specialty plates is part of the address.) It turns out that Former Military Vehicles don't really fall under the Specialty plates division. They fall under the "regional" command structure for the tax office people. One phone call to "Regional" and all was well. Tell your people if you are doing this to call their Regional people if they are confused.
The next hurdle was how do I prove the vehicle is registered? The regional people had told my people to issue me the "tab" (1"x2" piece of aluminum) that is supposed to be carried in the vehicle but not attached to the vehicle in any way. My office actually had a tab stuck away in a back room. Once they blew off the dust, it looked ok. Texas issues plates normally that don't have any dates on them. A window sticker is used to determine when tags expire. The ladies tried to make a normal window sticker print out to the size of the "Tab" but they couldn't do it. They kept getting the full 3"x5" size sticker. They would print it out, go back into the computer, void it and try again. They finally called the Regional people again and told them about the problem. A different person at Regional finally told them that the "tabs" are discontinued and to just give me a regular full size sticker that I would then keep on the backing paper and stuff into the glove box. They did and I left around 1500. I was able to go home, remove my normal plate in the rear and scrape both the registration sticker and inspection sticker off of the windshield glass. My numbers are now my license number.
Key points:
Not for daily drivers
Vehicle bumper numbers can be your license number if they are bigger than 2" tall and readable in the picture you bring in.
"Regional" is who your tax office needs to call if they are confused, not specialty plates.
To make the computer do the change, they have to go in through the Antique car heading and a drop box will have the former military option. There is no other way to get to it on the TXDOT computer.
You will walk out of the office with a normal window sticker and a receipt. Nothing else.
All Texas Antique or specialty tags are issued on the same date. March 2003 and are good for 5 years. So, mine will expire in March 2008. I was only charged for 2 years this time. $20.00 plus $10.30 for road and bridge fees. Go in April because they always subract one month. If you go in March, it is technically still the previous year and you will pay an extra $10 for it.
I hope this helps somebody out.
