MILWAUKEE — Across the state, license plates are fading away to nothing. Chipped and cracked paint revealing a silver rectangle with barely legible impressions is more commonplace now and it’s causing a stir among local drivers.
“I got pulled over because my license plates are unreadable.”
Tyrone Dumas was stuck in traffic on the freeway last year. Having lived in this area for decades, he knew a shortcut to avoid the bumper-to-bumper delays. He got off at an exit into Cottage Grove. Shortly after, he saw blue and red in his rearview mirror; a cop looking to pull him over.
“We went back to look at [my license plates] and I said they were delaminating,” Dumas said. “It’s been coming off. I got a warning and he said I needed new plates.”
The warning was a godsend to Dumas. Drivers in Wisconsin can face up to a $200 fine for having illegible plates. But the incident opened Dumas’ eyes to a bigger problem.
“I’ve seen more and more plates having the same thing,” Dumas said. “Half foil and the other half where the paint and color is all peeling off. What is wrong? What’s going on with these plates?”
A TWO-FOLD ISSUE
The deteriorating license plates go far beyond the wear and tear from Mother Nature. In the 2009 budget, Wisconsin legislators took out automatic replacement of license plates. Before, license plates would be automatically reissued every 10 years.
In addition, the state changed manufacturers of the protective sheeting within the last 10 years. The prior manufacturer’s sheeting was not as high of quality as the current manufacturer.
“The material had actually started to denigrate earlier than what was expected,” Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) said. “It’s got to be thousands [who are impacted].”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, there are 1.8 million plates in circulation that are older than 10 years old.
In March of 2022, the State legislature reversed its 2009 budget decision, allowing license plates to be automatically replaced every 10 years during this full replacement process. Then, after all of the license plates are replaced, automatic replacement will occur every seven years.
The Wisconsin DOT says if your plates are peeling, faded or damaged, you can request a new plate at wisconsindmv.gov/vreplace. In order to make the request, drivers will need their drivers license, social security number, birth date, certificate of registration and VIN number of the vehicle. A working printer will be necessary to print out a temporary plate for your window. The DOT says the new plates should be at your home within four weeks.
TROUBLE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT
The issue goes farther than cosmetic purposes. It’s an issue for law enforcement trying to do its job. A deteriorating plate could allow for bad drivers to skirt the system.
| State Statute | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | Total |
| Improper Display/Plates (Illegible) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 5 | 22 |
“We have plate readers that will read plates at parking garages and for traffic enforcement,” Wanggaard said. “It’s difficult to find stolen vehicles because the plate is not being read properly. So there’s a whole lot of unintended consequences that occur.”
Over the last five years though, Milwaukee Police have only cited 22 people for having illegible plates. The I-Team went to a parking lot at Midtown Center to see how many cars had worn plates.
WATCH: The I-TEAM checks out plates
The Milwaukee Police say if there is a situation where the plates are known to be defective, DOT could send out a recall. If a citation is issued for an illegible plate, MPD says “it would be a releasable citation within 10 days as long as the subject got new plates and showed them at the district.”
