DUI license plates are specially marked registration plates that replace a driver’s standard plates after certain impaired-driving convictions or administrative actions. Only three states require them: Ohio, Minnesota, and Georgia. The plates are designed to look different from standard registration so that law enforcement can spot the vehicle at a glance, and they apply to the car itself, meaning anyone who drives it drives with the marking visible.1National Conference of State Legislatures. Transportation | License Plate Policy Update
Each state runs its program differently. The trigger, the plate design, the duration, and the exceptions all vary, so the practical answer to whether you or someone in your household will end up with these plates depends heavily on where the offense happened.
Ohio Party Plates
Ohio’s restricted plates are bright yellow with red lettering, which is how they picked up the nickname “party plates.” State law prohibits driving any vehicle registered to a person whose standard plates have been impounded unless it displays restricted plates in a different color, carrying a special serial number that officers can readily identify.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 4503.231
The plates are tied to limited driving privileges granted after an OVI (operating a vehicle impaired) suspension. When a court grants those privileges and the statute requires restricted plates as a condition, the driver has no say in the matter. The plates stay on the vehicle for the entire period of limited privileges.
The underlying OVI suspension can come from a BAC of 0.08 or higher, a high-tier BAC of 0.17 or higher, or a repeat offense within ten years.3Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 4511.19 – Operating Vehicle Under the Influence
Ohio does carve out one exception. A driver with restricted plates can operate a vehicle owned by their employer without the party plates, as long as the employer knows about the driving restriction and the driver carries proof of that notification. A vehicle owned by a business the offender partly or entirely owns does not count as an employer vehicle.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 4503.231
Minnesota Whiskey Plates
Minnesota handles plate impoundment administratively rather than waiting on a court order. When a qualifying offense occurs, law enforcement issues an impoundment notice, and the driver has 14 days to surrender all plates covered by the order.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates The replacement plates carry a special series of numbers or letters. They are called “whiskey plates” because the series has historically started with the letter W.5B100. Iowa And Illinois, Watch Out For ‘Whiskey Plates’ On The Roads
Impoundment applies when a DWI-related offense results in license revocation and the driver has a prior impaired-driving incident within the past ten years. It also applies to a first offense if the driver’s BAC was at least twice the legal limit (0.16 or higher), or if a child under 16 was in the vehicle who was more than 36 months younger than the driver.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates
Whiskey plates stay on the vehicle for at least one year from the date of the impoundment order before the driver can apply for standard registration.
Georgia Special Plates
Georgia’s rule is narrower and applies only to repeat offenders. A court orders plate surrender upon a second or subsequent DUI conviction within five years, and a plea of nolo contendere counts as a conviction. After surrendering plates, the offender can apply for a special plate bearing a series identifiable by law enforcement, but only if the commissioner finds that a co-owner or family member depends on the vehicle for daily necessities and would face undue hardship without it. The fee is $20 per vehicle.7Justia. Georgia Code 40-2-136 – Surrender of License Plates Upon Second or Subsequent Convictions of Driving Under the Influence
The statute also explicitly says that the special plate alone does not give police probable cause to stop, search, or seize the vehicle.
What This Means for Family Members and Shared Vehicles
Because DUI plates attach to the vehicle rather than the driver, everyone in the household who uses that car drives with the marking visible. A spouse, adult child, or elderly parent who had nothing to do with the offense still ends up behind yellow-and-red plates in Ohio, or a W-series plate in Minnesota, if the family shares a single car.
Minnesota provides a way out for uninvolved owners. If the registered owner is not the person who committed the offense, the owner can file a sworn statement with the commissioner asking that the impoundment order be rescinded. The statement must confirm, among other things, that the owner was not a passenger during the offense and that the violator had a valid license at the time.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates If the violator did not have a valid license and the owner failed to report the vehicle as taken without permission before the offense, the owner gets whiskey plates for one year instead of a rescission.
Georgia builds the hardship analysis directly into eligibility for the special plate: without a dependent family member and a showing of undue hardship, there is no special plate at all, and the vehicle stays unregistered.
Selling or Transferring the Vehicle
Transferring the car to a relative to avoid the plate requirement will not work. Minnesota prohibits selling or transferring a vehicle while its plates are impounded or while it carries whiskey plates unless every one of these conditions is met: the sale is for genuine value, the buyer is not a family or household member of the offender, and the buyer signs a sworn statement acknowledging the impoundment and affirming no family relationship with the violator.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates Filing a false statement is a separate criminal offense. When all conditions are met, the new owner can receive standard plates and a clean title.
Penalties for Driving Without or Hiding the Plates
In Ohio, knowingly disguising or obscuring the color of a restricted plate is a minor misdemeanor, and driving a vehicle that should display restricted plates without them also violates the statute.2Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code Section 4503.231 Because the plates are a condition of limited driving privileges, a violation can cause those privileges to be revoked entirely, leaving the driver with no legal ability to drive.
Minnesota imposes criminal penalties for violating its impoundment provisions under section 169A.37, and a driver who fails to surrender plates within the 14-day window may have a peace officer seize them.4Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates
Getting Standard Plates Back
In Minnesota, the driver must wait at least one year from the date of the impoundment order before applying for standard registration, and the registrar charges $50 per vehicle for reinstatement.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Statutes Section 169A.60 – Administrative Impoundment of Plates Repeat offenses or additional violations during the impoundment period can extend the timeline.
In Ohio, the restricted plates stay on for the duration of the limited driving privileges. Once the suspension period ends and the license is fully reinstated, the driver can return to standard plates.
Georgia ties the special plate to the period of license-related sanctions. Once the offender satisfies all court-ordered conditions, including any treatment or restitution requirements, they can apply to return to regular registration.8Department of Revenue. Application for Issuance of a Special License Plate and Affidavit of Need and Eligibility T-215
Across all three states, a new DUI offense during or after the restricted-plate period resets the clock and typically brings harsher penalties, longer plate restrictions, and in some cases vehicle forfeiture.
Can the Plate Requirement Be Challenged
Drivers have argued in court that DUI plates are a form of public shaming that violates privacy, due process, or First Amendment rights. Courts have consistently rejected those arguments. In State v. Bauer (1994), the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth District upheld the restricted-plate requirement, holding that it served a legitimate regulatory purpose tied to road safety rather than functioning as punishment. A Florida appellate court reached a similar conclusion in Goldschmitt v. State (1986), upholding a requirement that a DUI offender display a bumper sticker reading “CONVICTED DUI — RESTRICTED LICENSE” and finding no First Amendment violation and no cruel and unusual punishment.
The reasoning across these decisions is that states have a strong interest in preventing impaired driving and that identifying vehicles associated with DUI offenders is rationally connected to that interest. The argument that the plates effectively brand uninvolved family members has not succeeded in court, though it has shaped legislative proposals in some states.