Special Interest plates for NC?

[Bacman33]

Is anyone out there savvy enough to petition the NC state legislature to create a special interest license plate with the Tar Heel Mini Motoring Club logo on it? I'm not certain all the information that this effort would entail, however, I pulled down the following information from a site that other special interest groups use to start their process.

North Carolina
Special organizations and causes must get approval through the North Carolina Legislature before a special plate can be issued.
Personalized plates
North Carolina General Statutes
Sec. 20-79.4. Special registration plates.
(32) Personalized. ? Issuable to the registered owner of a motor vehicle. The plate will bear the letters or letters and numbers requested by the owner. The Division may refuse to issue a plate with a letter combination that is offensive to good taste and decency. The Division may not issue a plate that duplicates another plate.

If there is anyone out there that would champion such a cause, I'm sure it would receive a fair amount of interest.

[jcauseyfd]

I've put in a request with DMV to see if they can provide some info on the process. Have had some trouble finding anything (searches keep going back to DMV's site on how to get the actual plates). iirc from another group that was working on this, you have to get at least 300 people to submit an application for the specialized plate. I believe we would also need to have a 501(c)(3) non-profit set up and the logo has to be licensed to DMV to use on the plates (which may in turn require its formal registration as a trademark with USPTO). Alternatively, it may be possible to get some of this waived if someone can convince a member of the General Assembly to sponsor a bill creating the plate without following the normal rules.

If we did get approved for such a plate, the additional fee generally runs $10-$30 extra for registration. If you personalize it, that would be even more. Depending on the plate design, personalized lettering may be more limited than normal (e.g. only 4 digits/spaces available).

Will follow-up if I find out anything else.

[oznogonzo]

Cool idea, but the current "badge" logo we have may have copyrighted material on it already... the MINI wings and the tar heel foot.

Another thing to consider... the North Carolina Society of Surveyors has been attempting this for about 10 years with no luck. The society has approximately 2500 members and is a professional organization in the state of North Carolina. To my knowledge it has not been even close to getting the numbers of applicants needed to actually have the plates issued.

The state doesn't like to let private organizations have special plates unless they have big numbers of potential political/social interest. Sadly we just aren't that big... It won't hurt to try though.

[jcauseyfd]

Got a response back from DMV. Getting a specialized plate approved does indeed require legislative action. Someone would have to convince their representative to introduce a bill in the General Assembly.

[S@ndman]

well the Harley Guys have one, why not Mini's

[jcauseyfd]

OK, I was going to make a crack about the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation having a plate. But then I looked at their 990 and I see they brought in $57M in revenue during 2007 (yes, that is an "M" as in Million). It is kind of amazing the groups/orgs that have plates available. I have run across a couple articles about DOT/DMV getting concerned about the proliferation as it is making it harder for LEO to spot a legit NC plate.

[FTGT101]

We just need the Govenor of North Carolina to buy a Mini and join the club or whoever heads up the DMV!