News

April 11, 2013
Instructions for Looking Up Special License Plates

To: Law Enforcement Personnel in the Commonwealth of Virginia

From: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Law Enforcement Division

Recently, there have been some questions about how to make a VCIN inquiry on special license plates. Although you generally enter license plate numbers as the numbers appear on the license plate of passenger cars, not all license plates can be queried this way.

Special License Plates (e.g. elected officials, service members, and first responders) may have the same license plate number as a regular passenger vehicle but will need to be queried in a different manner.

For example, the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Speaker of the House of Delegates may BOTH have a license plate number of “1.” When you encounter these special license plates, you must follow different procedures to look up the license plate number.

CLICK HERE for a guide with instructions for looking up these special license plates.

If you have questions about these instructions, please contact Resident Agent in Charge Jim Squares at 804-249-5143.