“I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching….my car into reverse and driving away from the accident.” — Unknown.
This week’s Wednesday Challenge on Susan and my alternate web site was “license plates”.
Vanity license plates are becoming more popular as many drivers attempt to humanize their vehicles to reflect some revealing characteristic about themselves.
People routinely name their dogs, cats, horses and even hamsters to add a personality to their pets. Many times this attempt to personalize a vehicle via a descriptive name can reveal too much about the owner.
A short time ago my friend was attempting to find a parking spot near a popular hiking trail. As she pulled up near a potential parking space she noticed that a vehicle’s driver had parked the vehicle in such a way as to effectively use two parking spots.
She waited until the driver was exiting his vehicle and asked him politely if he would mind to move his vehicle over so she could park her car in the available space.
The driver of the vehicle rudely told her he did not wish to move his vehicle nd rudely suggested she find another parking spot elsewhere.
Desiring to avoid a verbal confrontation she did locate another spot with much less chance of heated debate.
The word ” HUBRIS” ( meaning “excessive pride or self-confidence”). was proudly displayed on the license plate.
I guess in this situation the man proudly exhibited his prowess at intimidating and harassing other drivers.
This ever happen to you?
Do personal plates reveal the owner’s personality?
THE MAIN AISLE (c) 2023 
We don’t need to travel far to find selfish drivers such as the one Elizabeth encountered, they’re everywhere.
I’ve had my private number plate for almost thirty years, it doesn’t display my name. Here in Britain the rules are strict about how the lettering on the plates is displayed. Images on plates are not allowed. The plates display letters and numbers and must be created in a certain font. There are the odd cars here and there that display other fonts and a lack of spaces in an attempt to show a name, but the law is cracking down in this.
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Here in Florida, our license plates are changed every 10 years. There are different pictures you can have on your plate, but they cost extra as do the vanity plates–which I do get a kick out of. Some are really funny.
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You have a different system, Lois.
My registration/number plate transfers to each new car I purchase (if I choose). The private plate replaces the one already issued to the car. When the car is later sold it is issued with a new registration number and I transfer my private plate to my next car. My plate shows my initials followed by numbers. The plates are not allowed to display images.
I’ve never heard of private plates described as vanity plates, it must be an American thing. Here they’re known as private number plates.
Every car and it’s license plate is registered to the car owner who may or may not be the driver. The police can check the database in seconds to find out the name and address of the owner of the car. The drivers insurance can also be checked to prove that the person driving is insured to drive the vehicle.
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‘Florida offers over 100 different specialty license plates for various organizations in support of the causes they represent. The money raised from the sale of these license plates goes directly to the organization. Since the inception of specialty license plate millions of dollars have been raised for the organizations’–I copied this from our state website. You do not supply your own photo–only those approved by the state.
It would be so much easier to keep the same license plate for life. I keep a photo of my license plate on my phone because certain parking lots have you enter your plate information in order to park and how am I supposed to remember what my tag is?!
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The money raised from what is known as car tax goes towards the upkeep of the roads, no charity here!
The car tax varies upon the engine size and the type of fuel used.
The car parks that charge a fee take photos of the car as you enter and the exit gate opens when the camera spots you but only if you have previously paid the fee. Supermarkets etc are free.
Some restaurants with car parking facilities have you enter your car registration number when you arrive inside the restaurant. Any cars not registered will receive a parking ticket and a fine.
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Pennsylvania has so many different license plates to choose from and the states changes our plates over 15 years. Not fond of a personalized plate for my car, I just stick to what the states gives me. Besides personalized plates are very expensive and yes sometimes the plate mimics the personality of the driver.
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I stick with what the state gives me, too, but aren’t some of those personalized plates fun, Mary Anne? To me a Volvo is kind of a conservative vehicle, so I had to laugh at one license plate on a Volvo which was VOLVOOM. I guess the driver liked to go fast? 😆
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What a jagoff.
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You might be right Nicole. The driver of the quote might have been driving a “jag”uar and hurriedly drove off in a huff.
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