Seeing red over green license plates

Tipster Harold Lavoie of Dorchester asks GlobeWatch about a little-known program run by the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles to phase out license plates with green characters. Lavoie says a co-worker recently failed his annual vehicle inspection because his plates were faded and hard to read. He was told the state requires they be replaced with red character plates instead. Worried that his own 25-year-old green plates might jeopardize his upcoming inspection in October, Lavoie said he looked into swapping his, but finds the process not exactly the convenient, customer-friendly experience it could be.

"I was told that the vehicles with the plates in question will not pass inspection because of the plates, and if the numbers and letters have faded it could result in getting pulled over by the police," Lavoie writes. "I sent the RMV an e-mail and their response was that the plates needed to be replaced and the only way to do it was to remove the plate and go to the RMV with the registration, [get] new plates with a different number, and a new registration would be issued. I have gone twice and the wait was 45 minutes one time and 35 the next. I always thought the plate is owned by the Registry because it does need to be turned in when the vehicle is sold," he writes. "My main complaint is this: I do not own the physical plate, the RMV does. If the numbers on the plate have faded, [why] should it be up to me to remove the plate, use a different vehicle to go to the RMV, wait for my number to be called, contact my insurance agent, and change the number on my Fast Lane account and on any parking permits I might have. Why should I be inconvenienced? Why can't they just make new plates with the same number and send them to us? It would require no changes in paperwork. They do produce vanity plates with specific numbers and letters every day."

The Registry says phasing out green-lettered and numbered plates and issuing only red ones has been a practice that dates back many years. Until 1985, the state used to issue two different colors of plates "presumably as an additional tool for law enforcement to identify vehicles," said Ann C. Dufresne, a Registry spokeswoman, in an e-mail. "Around that time the RMV changed the color of plates from green to red print. State law also requires vehicle owners to apply for replacement plates if their plates become illegible no matter the color. Vehicle owners with illegible plates can be cited by police and subject to fines," she said, so "RMV regulations require that at the time a vehicle is inspected the plate must be undamaged, securely mounted, clean, and visible.

As an incentive for people to turn in fading or hard-to-read plates, the RMV began offering a free replacement for the old plates. All vehicle owners are required to turn in these plates to a registry branch, and if it is a swap from the green plate to the red plates, the registration must be changed in the database." As for Lavoie's complaint about making two trips to do the swap, Dufresne said the registry's website (www.mass.gov/rmv) provides drivers with information on transaction wait times at all registry branches that get updated every 60 seconds. "Waiving the swap fee was the most cost-effective and secure way of encouraging folks to exchange the green plates during the registration process," she said. "It is hard to estimate just how many vehicles have illegible plates, but the youngest 'green plate' is now 23 years old, and license plate paint only lasts so long."

Rachel Kaprielian
Registrar Registry of Motor Vehicles
25 Newport Ave. Extension
Quincy, MA 02171-1748
617-351-4500