Bye-bye to paper license plates beginning July 1st

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Paper license plates on your new cars will soon be a thing of the past.

Lawmakers passed a bill in 2023 during the 88th Legislature that eliminates the paper tags and requires all drivers to have metal plates on their vehicles starting on July 1. House Bill 718 was intended to combat crime and enhance security by addressing the fraudulent use of paper tags.

“It's going to take time and adjustment, just like with everything new, but it's going to save the clients time as they don’t have to come back to get the metal plates," said Daniela Cantu, who is the owner of DD Motors in McAllen.

The new law aims to streamline the process while fighting crime. When you buy a new car, you will not have to go back to the dealership in a few weeks to pick up license plates. Instead, you will drive away with them in your vehicle that very same day.

Cantu says this is good for customers because paper tags sometimes get damaged by the weather. Additionally, the new metal tags will also help prevent fraud.

“The paper plates are very easy to just print out and make copies," Cantu said. "We were very careful when we would take our vehicles; for example, to the mechanic, as we had heard from other dealers about experiences that they would make copies of the dealers’ license plates.”

However, everybody who buys a car before the end of the month in June will still have 60 days to change them after their purchase.

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles states that, "Until the registration sticker arrives from their county office, customers must keep their buyer’s plate receipt (provided by the dealer) in the vehicle to verify the purchase and pending registration with law enforcement if needed.”

The process for private sales remains the same, as the DMV must be notified within 30 days. Car dealerships will see the biggest changes as they will have to pay an extra fee to have several metal plates ready for new customers.

The DMV will average out how many of these businesses can request based on the previous year's vehicle sales.

“Now, we need to make sure the inventory is ready beforehand to make sure we have metal plates ready to use before it was just easy to print out a paper and put it on the vehicle," Cantu said. "Now, we have to plan a month ahead to see how many we are going to need.”