The Reason Ohio Cars Don’t Need a Front License Plate Anymore
If you still have a bracket on your front bumper, Ohio hasn’t required anything in it since 2020.
Ohioans who remember the two-plate days might wonder why lawmakers dropped it.
Here’s the reason Ohio cars don’t need a front license plate anymore, and what your rear plate still has to show.
Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Plate display rules and fees are subject to change, so confirm the current requirements with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
The 2020 Rule Change
Ohio’s front license plate requirement ended on July 1, 2020, under House Bill 62, the state’s transportation budget.
Before that, the law required you to display a plate on the front and rear of your car.
That’s no longer true.
Today you need one plate, and it goes on the back.
When House Bill 62 Took Effect
House Bill 62 reached the governor’s desk in early April 2019, but the front license plate change didn’t start then.
Some parts of the budget took effect on April 3, 2019, while the front plate change waited until July 1, 2020.
For more than a year in between, you still needed both plates.
Reasons Lawmakers Gave
Then-House Speaker Larry Householder gave several reasons to take the front license plate off your car, according to a Statehouse News Bureau report.
One reason was that drilling holes in the front of a car cuts into its resale value.
Another was that car fronts are getting narrower, so before long you may have no spot for a plate.
He pointed to the smart car technology that automakers build into the front bumper.
The budget created a joint legislative committee to study advanced technology that could replace the front plate.
The idea wasn’t new, since House Bill 159 proposed requiring only one plate, on the rear, back in 2015.
That bill stayed in a House committee.
Money mattered too, since the Ohio Legislative Service Commission estimated the state would save about $1.4 million a year by no longer making front plates, according to Cleveland19.
All of Ohio’s surrounding states had already scrapped their front plate requirement.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol didn’t buy it.
It argued for keeping the front plate, saying the plate helped locate vehicles in hit-skip crashes when a witness saw it.
Rules for the Rear Plate
With the front license plate gone, the rear plate is the only one the law requires.
Your plate has to sit in plain view on the rear of the car.
It needs to show the number and registration mark the state assigned to your car.
Fasten it securely so it doesn’t swing.
Don’t cover it with any material that obstructs its visibility.
If you’re driving on a temporary registration, it has to show in plain view from the rear, either in the rear window or on an external rear surface.
Psst! How much do you know about license plates? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
License Plate IQ
Answer nine questions on license plates and vehicle registration. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
In 1901, New York began requiring car owners to put what on the back of their vehicles?
Tickets That Still Apply
Dropping the front license plate didn't end plate tickets in Ohio.
An officer can still cite you for a rear plate that's missing, covered or loose, which is a minor misdemeanor.
Intent doesn't matter.
The law treats the offense as strict liability.
A minor misdemeanor in Ohio carries a fine of up to $150.
Ohio requires a white light on your rear plate so it's readable from 50 feet back.
The white light can come from your tail light or a separate lamp.
That light has to come on whenever your headlights do.
When the change took effect, the Ohio State Highway Patrol told Cleveland19 it would keep enforcing plate laws as they're written.
Exceptions and Extra Plates
A commercial tractor still needs a front license plate, since the law has it display the plate up front instead of on the rear.
School buses don't get a license plate at all.
A chauffeured limousine adds a livery sticker to its validation sticker.
Rental cars get a break on tickets for a missing rear plate or a temporary registration that isn't displayed.
The break covers rentals of 30 days or less.
If you're the driver, a valid written agreement from the rental company can get that ticket dismissed, as long as you didn't tamper with the plate.
The registered owner then becomes solely liable for the penalty.
The break doesn't reach a plate you've covered or left loose.
If you want a second plate, the state delivers it as a duplicate of the first.
A single plate costs $6.50, while a set of two costs $7.50.
Plates in Other States
A front license plate is still the rule in New York, where the law calls for one plate on the front and one on the rear.
If New York issues you only one plate for the registration year, that plate goes on the rear.
Other states still ask for both plates.
If you cross into Maryland, you'll find two plates there too, with one on the front and the other on the rear.
When Maryland issues only one plate for a car, it goes on the rear.
If you register a car in Virginia, the state furnishes two license plates for it.
Motorcycles, trailers and a few other types get one plate instead.
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