License Plate Covers and Frames in North Carolina

The controlling subsection is G.S. 20-63(g), headed "Alteration, Disguise, or Concealment of Numbers," and it is written as four escalating rules rather than one. The first covers physical obstruction and defacement: willfully mutilating, bending, twisting or covering the plate with a bumper, light, spare tire, tire rack, strap or other device, painting or embossing or perforating it, smearing oil or grease on it so dust will stick, defacing or changing a letter or figure, or displaying the plate in other than a horizontal upright position. All of that is a Class 2 misdemeanor.

The second rule is aimed at camera evasion. Willfully covering any part of the plate with a device designed or intended to prevent or interfere with the taking of a clear photograph by a traffic control or toll collection system using cameras is an infraction penalised under G.S. 14-3.1. This matters more in North Carolina than in states without a toll network, because tolls on the North Carolina Turnpike Authority's Turnpike projects are billed off the plate image, and G.S. 20-54(10) directs the Division of Motor Vehicles to refuse to register a vehicle whose owner has not paid the tolls, fees and civil penalties owed to the Authority. A cover that beats the camera does not beat the registration hold that follows.

The third rule sweeps up everything else intentional: covering any number or the registration renewal sticker with any material that makes it illegible is an infraction. The fourth is the one drivers actually get stopped for. Any operator who covers a plate with any frame or any transparent, clear or color-tinted cover that makes illegible a number or letter of the registration, the State name on the plate, or a number or month on the renewal sticker commits an infraction. Read that list carefully, because the State name is in it. A dealership frame that hides "North Carolina" across the top of the plate, or one whose lower rail sits over the month sticker, breaks the statute even though every digit of the plate number is perfectly readable.

What counts as illegible is measured elsewhere in the same section. G.S. 20-63(c) requires the plate and its numerals, except the year number, to be of sufficient size to be plainly readable from a distance of 100 feet during daylight. That is the yardstick an officer is applying, and it is why a smoked or reflective cover that looks fine from three feet away still fails: the test is done from a hundred feet, in daylight, from behind.

Mounting position is governed by G.S. 20-63(d), and it starts from what subsection (a) provides: the Division issues one registration plate for a motorcycle, trailer or semitrailer and for every other motor vehicle. Because North Carolina is a one-plate state, subsection (d)'s proviso is the operative rule, and the single plate goes on the rear of anything that is not a truck-tractor. A truck-tractor's plate goes on the front. If a vehicle carries a substance that may adhere to and discolor the plate, or has a mechanical loading device that could damage it, the single plate may be moved to the front. Vehicles 35 years old or more may display plates from their year of manufacture provided the current plate is kept in the vehicle and produced on request. Motorcycles and property-hauling motorcycle trailers get reduced-size plates of roughly four by seven inches.

A dirty plate is treated as a separate problem with a separate consequence. G.S. 20-63(e) puts a standing duty on the registered owner to keep the plate reasonably clean and free from dust and dirt, and requires the owner or anyone driving with the owner's authority to clean it immediately on the request of any proper officer so the numbers can be readily distinguished. Neglecting or refusing to clean it after being asked is a Class 3 misdemeanor. Separately, G.S. 20-63(a) lets the Commissioner require surrender of a plate that has become illegible or whose numbers can no longer be readily distinguished, with a replacement issued in lieu of it without charge. An owner who receives that notice and willfully refuses to surrender the plate is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

S. S. 20-176(a) a violation would be a misdemeanor unless the law declares otherwise. Subsection (g) does declare otherwise, three times, which is why the frame, cover, sticker and anti-camera branches are infractions rather than crimes. S. 1: it is a noncriminal violation not punishable by imprisonment, the sanction is a penalty of not more than one hundred dollars unless another law provides otherwise, and the proceeds go to the county in which the infraction occurred for the use of the public schools. Disposition follows Article 66 of Chapter 15A.

S. 20-63(f) is also a Class 2 misdemeanor. S. 20-63(e). S. 3 and covers brakes, lights, horn, steering, wipers, signals, tires, mirrors and the exhaust system. The practical remedy is to take the frame or cover off before the court date, since the offence is committed by the operator each time the vehicle is driven.