The End of An Era for CA License Plates — Here's What's Replacing Them

CALIFORNIA — It was bound to happen sooner or later — California is running out of license plate numbers.

In its current sequence, anyway.

The first edition of today's sequence began in 1980 with "1AAA000." The sequence is now nearing a projected end next year with the final license plate 9ZZZ999.

This is simply due to a "dwindling number of available combinations," Ronald Ongtoaboc, spokesperson for the Department of Motor Vehicles, told the Los Angeles Times.

A new era of license plates will move to a "Numeral Numeral Numeral Alpha Alpha Alpha Numeral" format, a spokesperson for the agency told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The change is coming much faster than anticipated, according to multiple reports. This acceleration is due to some important economic factors.

According to the April report from the California New Car Dealers Association, a whopping 463,114 vehicles were registered in California last quarter. That's an 8.3 percent growth from this time last year.

While the report says the forecast is "cloudy" for the rest of the year, with new car registrations expected to dip, the most recent boom can likely be attributed to the fear of looming tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration.

"Looming trade policy changes have thrown a wrench into the outlook. A rush of buying in March and April, likely ahead of anticipated tariffs, may be short-lived if vehicle prices spike," the association wrote this month.

Analysts estimate that the rush of new vehicle registrations will likely come to a halt for the rest of the year, with the total number of registrations for 2025 expected to dip 2.3 percent to 1.71 million.