Tags & Registration
Search names, statutes, classifications, penalties, points, and enforcement notes.
12 offenses
Attaching an Unassigned License Plate or Sticker
Florida Statute § 320.261
This offense requires knowingly attaching a plate or validation/mobile-home sticker that was not issued, assigned, or lawfully transferred to that vehicle. Compare plate/sticker records with the vehicle's identity and determine who attached it and with what knowledge. A mismatch is important evidence but does not alone prove the current driver knowingly attached it. A lawful transfer is excluded, and forged/counterfeit plates involve a different provision.
Counterfeit License Plates, Stickers, and Permits
Florida Statute § 320.26
Identify whether the item is a counterfeit plate/sticker or an altered/counterfeit commercial cab card or permit, and whether the conduct is making, possessing, selling, or disposing of the specified item. Confirm authenticity with issuance records and obtain the evidence linking the person to the prohibited act; unauthorized manufacture or sale also requires checking written department authority. A genuine plate assigned to a different vehicle is a separate §320.261 issue and is not necessarily counterfeit.
Criminal Expired Vehicle Registration
Florida Statute § 320.07
The criminal track requires registration expired more than 6 months AND a second or subsequent offense. Establish the actual expiration period and qualifying prior record, not simply a prior stop or an assumption from the decal. The present owner is responsible, otherwise the operator, subject to the qualifying short-term-lease and statutory exceptions. If the repeat-offense requirement is not established, assess the civil first-offense track instead.
Expired registration 6 months or less
Florida Statute § 320.07(3)(a)
This civil track concerns operation with registration expired 6 months or less. Confirm the actual expiration and whether the owner is present; the statute assigns responsibility to the present owner or otherwise the operator. Although registration expires at the specified time, this paragraph bars a citation until midnight on the last day of the owner's birth month in the expiration year. A qualifying lease of 30 days or less protects the operator. An old-looking decal alone does not establish the current registration status.
Expired registration more than 6 months — first offense
Florida Statute § 320.07(3)(b)
Registration expired more than 6 months is still a civil matter on a first offense under §320.07(3)(b). Confirm expiration, operation, owner/operator responsibility, and whether there is a qualifying prior offense before selecting the criminal repeat track. Check the short-term-lease exception. Do not treat the passage of 6 months by itself as a misdemeanor, and distinguish expired registration from a vehicle never properly registered.
Expired registration more than 6 months — repeat offense
Florida Statute § 320.07(3)(c)
The criminal track requires registration expired more than 6 months AND a second or subsequent offense. Establish the actual expiration period and qualifying prior record, not simply a prior stop or an assumption from the decal. The present owner is responsible, otherwise the operator, subject to the qualifying short-term-lease and statutory exceptions. If the repeat-offense requirement is not established, assess the civil first-offense track instead.
Improper license plate display
Florida Statute § 316.605
A vehicle on a public road must display its assigned plate outside the body, securely fastened against swinging, generally 12–60 inches high and within 24 inches of the centerline. Required characters/decal must be clear and legible from 100 feet, and the plate normally reads horizontally, not inverted or reversed. Check exceptions for truck-tractor front plates, qualifying former military vehicles, motorcycle mounting, and out-of-state vehicles. Document actual visibility or mounting defects; knowing alteration/concealment has a separate criminal provision in §320.061.
Improper use of registration/license plate
Florida Statute § 320.261
This offense requires knowingly attaching a plate or validation/mobile-home sticker that was not issued, assigned, or lawfully transferred to that vehicle. Compare plate/sticker records with the vehicle's identity and determine who attached it and with what knowledge. A mismatch is important evidence but does not alone prove the current driver knowingly attached it. A lawful transfer is excluded, and forged/counterfeit plates involve a different provision.
Purchase/possession of license plate obscuring device
Florida Statute § 320.262(2)
Purchasing OR possessing a qualifying license plate obscuring device violates 320.262(2), a second-degree misdemeanor. A switch-controlled electronic blackout cover may meet 320.262(1)(c)/(d) when designed or adapted to hide or interfere with reading/recording the plate number or validation sticker. Establish purchase or possession/control and the device definition; activation or a separate crime is not required for subsection (2). Document the switch, wiring, before/after visibility, awareness and control; mere proximity is insufficient. Frames leaving the plate number and decal visible are excepted. Subsection (3) addresses manufacture/sale/distribution; (4) requires crime-assisted use for a felony. NTA is conditional on lawful authority, Rule 3.125 and agency procedure, not automatic. Assess electronic-switch blackout plates, plate flippers and remote control tag blockers under the same device definition.
Registration documentation not carried / displayed
Florida Statute § 320.0605(1)
While the vehicle is operated on Florida roads, the operator must possess or carry in the vehicle AND exhibit on demand an authorized registration document: registration certificate/official copy, qualifying rental or lease documentation, temporary Internet-renewal receipt, or IRP cab card. Check the §320.0657 exception and first 30 days after purchase of a replacement vehicle. Qualifying rental/lease documentation may be electronic; displaying it does not consent to access other device information. This civil nonmoving violation differs from an unregistered vehicle. Proof of registration valid at citation may support clerk dismissal under §318.18(2)(b)1.
Unlawful alteration/obscuring of license plate
Florida Statute § 320.061
A person knowingly altering an assigned registration document, plate, or sticker, or applying material that interferes with plate-number/decal legibility, angular visibility, detection, or recording, may violate §320.061. Document the alteration/material, its effect, and knowledge. A frame or decorative border is expressly allowed if it leaves the plate number and registration decal visible. Distinguish intentional alteration/concealment from an ordinary civil display defect; a plate frame alone is not criminal.
Unregistered Motor Vehicle
Florida Statute § 320.02
An owner or person in charge must register a vehicle operated on Florida roads unless a chapter 320 exception applies. Establish road operation, vehicle identity, actual registration status, and the person’s responsibility; merely lacking a registration paper is not the same as an unregistered vehicle. Check valid nonresident, temporary, dealer, or other authorized use before charging. An expired prior registration has separate civil and repeat-offense tracks under §320.07 and should not automatically be treated as failure ever to register.