Virginia is also for lovers of vanity plates, survey says

RICHMOND, Va. A state-by-state survey of the popularity of vanity license plates has found that car and truck owners in Virginia are the vainest of them all.

Out of the 9.3 million personalized plates on the roads of America, about one in 10 are in Virginia, according to rankings provided to the Associated Press by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

That’s 16 percent of the plates issued by Virginia. New Hampshire came in second with nearly 14 percent. Illinois had about 13.4 percent, but that amounted to nearly 1.3 million plates, the most of any state.

Texas had the fewest, with only about a half percent of drivers personalizing their plates.

Stefan Lonce calls it “minimalist poetry in motion” – telling a story in eight or fewer characters.

Lonce – author of the upcoming book “LCNS2ROM-License to Roam: Vanity Plates and the Stories they Tell” – worked with AAMVA to survey vehicle licensing agencies in each state.

“I think a lot of people have stories to tell and they really want pieces of those stories out there,” said Lonce, who admits he initially thought the concept of vanity plates was silly.

Some plates are cryptic, like Brittany Diaz’ EN PWANT. It’s a reminder of the summer when she studied ballet in New York and her French teacher pronounced the “en pointe” style of dance as “en pwant.”

Others are personal, like those of Ally and Rudy Masry of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. She donated a kidney to her husband in 2003, so her car has the tag DONOR and his reads DONEE.

But why does Virginia have so many personalized plates?

“It’s only $10. You can do it online with little effort. You can get a new one every month if you wanted to,” said Benjamin Mace, a Virginia Beach Web designer who started CoolPl8z.com, where people post pictures of their vanity plates.