DMV banned california plates

The DMV team in charge of approving California vanity plates has seen it all: vulgarities, prejudice, hostility, sexual innuendos and political statements.

Any of these offenses could keep a license plate from seeing the road.

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The plate could be coded with numbers, acronyms or even be written in a foreign language. Submissions can include hearts, stars, plus symbols, hands and spaces.

Plus, the granddaddy of all codes, a plate's message that may only be visible when seen in a rearview mirror (think: "3MTA3").

"They'll try to spell it backwards, so the person in the mirror behind you can read it," said Barbara, a member of the DMV's Registration Special Processing Unit.

The four-person team reviews 200-500 plates a day, including Internet submissions, she said.

"It's really hard to say what would offend one person and not offend another person," said Barbara. "'IB6UB9,' would you like to explain that to your kid?"

A few numbers are off limits for plates, such as 13, for its gang association. Fourteen and 88 are banned for their connection to white supremacists, said Barbara.

The team uses search engines, Urban Dictionary, Wikipedia and Google Translation to help find dubious submissions. Between 20-40 plates a day are red-flagged for further inspection, said Barbara. That's when the plate gets sent higher up the chain for a focus group with Charlene's team.

The DMV assembles six people with a "wide spectrum of ages and backgrounds and ethnicities," said Charlene, who also did not want her last name used. They're asked a simple question, said Charlene.

"Would you find it offensive?"

Depending on the group's answers, the plate is either OK'd, or a refund and denial letter are sent out.

Drivers have an option to appeal, meaning it's sent back to another committee with between seven and 10 people on it, Charlene said.

The DMV is open to interpretation.

"'Ice' can be used for cocaine," said Barbara. "So if you're an ice machine repair man, you can send in pictures of your truck with the name of the company."

About 5 percent of offenders get to keep their plates, according to the DMV.

Barbara admits, "we're not perfect," and some questionable plates make it on the road.

The DMV gets about 40 complaints per year.

After three complaints, a plate is pulled without an appeal and a driver must take the DMV to court to keep the license plate.

The California DMV sent us the following list of 100 banned license plates. The list was accumulated over a few years and has some obvious offenders. Others are a little trickier to decode.

Warning: The following list contains offensive material.

How to Decode the List:

• Asterisks (*) denote spaces
• Slashes (/) denote a half-space
• "Kids" plates have special characters:
  • # = "Hand" symbol
  • $ = "Heart" symbol
  • & = "Star" symbol
  • + = + ("Plus")

100 Banned California License Plates

1. $CASM88
2. **BOTO//
3. *RR88+//
4. / CJR/88*
5. /$MY/FB*
6. /HELBOY/
7. 14 VNSSA
8. 1IN/STNK
9. 2IN/PINK
10. 42ONERY/
11. 4Q2 AHSO
12. 502MGNM
13. 66JB69*/
14. 6GUNZ
15. AGT/ORNJ
16. ALHAKAM/
17. ASASIN
18. ASSI/H*/
19. B OXOF&S
20. BAG HAG
21. BBH/HSLR
22. BHANGUZ
23. BLD/MFIA
24. BLT 1 4
25. BLWN69Z
26. BOT$POT
27. CALI4KR/
28. CIYC/O13
29. COP CHSR
30. CRKR/CRM
31. CUNHE11/
32. DAWEENA
33. DOYRGRL
34. ETAMPON/
35. FDABLTS
36. FKBTCHS/
37. FOCKERR/
38. FRNCS/69
39. FSTMFKR/
40. FTWOSID
41. FUQSNAG/
42. FUUGIIT
43. G*8*YOU/
44. GENE14T
45. GLF*SKS/
46. HOT14K2/
47. INFTI14
48. INFTI3
49. INFTI4
50. JIMY THG
51. JULZMOB/
52. K13OOS//
53. KILLXXX
54. KRZY*OG/
55. L$VED88/
56. LADOYER/
57. LMTFA
58. LOV SUX
59. LV*HMRZ/
60. MDC$PP
61. MERKTR
62. MGABDAS
63. MOBOTAM
64. MRDR RYD
65. MS$SXY9
66. MUF D1VN
67. NOASSND
68. NRA*PMS/
69. NUR KULO
70. OG HUERA
71. OG TYLER
72. OQOOQOO
73. ORGASEM
74. PRP/HEYZ
75. PSP 88
76. RAZAS SS
77. RBIGBLK
78. RHOSIDE
79. ROLN 666
80. SFFD 13
81. SIK BOX
82. SKAS RYD
83. SMKN YU
84. SPDLAB1/
85. SPTN 14
86. SSHIKSA/
87. STAYNHY
88. STUBALL
89. SUR SOL
90. SXSXSX*/
91. SXXXY3
92. SYT6688
93. T& PYE
94. TBLAZEN
95. TOM**14/
96. TOWD 69
97. TT ANUMM
98. WTF HAXX
99. XXXCLBR
100. YNKSUK*/