Pennsylvania Bans Tinted Plate Covers Outright, Allows Thin Frames

The controlling section is 75 Pa.C.S. § 1332, "Display of registration plate." Subsection (a) requires every plate to be securely fastened to the vehicle in accordance with PennDOT regulations, and subsection (b) then lists five separate ways a displayed plate becomes unlawful. Paragraph (b)(1) covers a plate so dirty that the number or letters cannot be read at a reasonable distance. Paragraph (b)(3) covers a plate that is illegible, obscured, covered or otherwise obstructed in any manner at a reasonable distance. Paragraph (b)(4) covers anything that inhibits visibility of the issuing jurisdiction at a reasonable distance, which is the paragraph that reaches a cover or frame hiding the word PENNSYLVANIA across the top of the plate. Paragraph (b)(5) needs no adjective at all: it is unlawful to display a plate that "has a tinted plate cover." A smoked, mirrored or photo-blocking cover is illegal in Pennsylvania whether or not a trooper can still read the number through it.

Paragraph (b)(2) is the one written for cameras rather than for eyes. It makes the plate unlawful if it is illegible, obscured, covered or otherwise obstructed in any manner which inhibits the proper operation of an automated red light enforcement system under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3116, which covers cities of the first class and so means Philadelphia, or under § 3117, which covers certain other municipalities, or any other automated enforcement system authorized by the Vehicle Code, or an electronic toll collection system authorized under 74 Pa.C.S. § 8117. That last clause is why anti-photo covers are a losing proposition on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which reads plates rather than collecting cash.

Act 112 of 2022 rewrote paragraphs (b)(2), (3) and (4) and added subsection (b.1), and those changes took effect immediately on November 3, 2022. Subsection (b.1) is the only safe harbor in the section. It provides that nothing in subsection (b) prohibits a registration plate frame "that minimally outlines the registration plate" so long as the plate's number and issuing jurisdiction remain identifiable both by an automated enforcement system under (b)(2) and by law enforcement. A thin dealer frame around the border is therefore lawful; a thick frame that swallows the top or bottom band of the plate is not, and no frame rescues a tinted cover, which (b)(5) bans on its own.

The penalties are split. Subsection (c) fixes a fine of $100 on conviction for violating (b)(2) or (b)(4), that is, for defeating an automated enforcement or tolling system or for hiding the issuing jurisdiction. The other three paragraphs, including the tinted cover ban in (b)(5) and the general obstruction ban in (b)(3), carry no penalty of their own, so 75 Pa.C.S. § 6502(a) supplies the default $25 summary fine for a Vehicle Code violation for which no other penalty is provided. Section 1332 appears nowhere in the point schedule at 75 Pa.C.S. § 1535(a), so none of these convictions add points to a Pennsylvania licence.

Two further Pennsylvania details bear on covers. Section 1331(d) requires all registration plates except temporary ones to be treated with reflectorizing material to department standards, so a tinted cover works directly against a property the Commonwealth is required by statute to build into the plate. And PennDOT's inspection regulation for passenger cars and light trucks, 67 Pa. Code § 175.66(k), requires the registration plate lamp, where the vehicle was originally so equipped, to emit white light and make the plate visible from 50 feet to the rear. Because Pennsylvania still runs a mandatory annual safety inspection under 75 Pa.C.S. § 4702(a), a cover that kills night-time plate visibility can surface at the sticker inspection as well as at the roadside.

One quirk worth knowing: since December 31, 2016, under § 1332(d) as added by Act 89 of 2013, Pennsylvania neither issues nor requires the validating registration sticker that used to sit in the corner of the plate. There is nothing left on a Pennsylvania plate that a cover could legitimately be protecting. Motorcycles get their own rule in § 1332(a.1): a plate may be mounted vertically only if its identifying characters are printed in vertical alignment, and PennDOT issues that vertical-character plate on request for a $20 fee on top of the annual registration fee. Turning an ordinary horizontal motorcycle plate on its side is prohibited by § 1332(a.1)(2).

A violation of 75 Pa.C.S. § 1332(b)(2) or (b)(4) is a summary offense carrying a fine of $100 under § 1332(c). Violations of (b)(1), (b)(3) and (b)(5), which include the outright ban on a tinted plate cover, have no penalty stated in the section, so the default in 75 Pa.C.S. § 6502(a) applies and the fine is $25, plus magisterial district court costs. Section 6502(c) excludes Title 18's general summary-offense penalties from the Vehicle Code. Section 1332 is not listed in the point schedule at 75 Pa.C.S. § 1535(a), so no points are assessed. Enforcement is roadside by any police officer, and a plate lamp defeated by a cover can also draw an inspection rejection under 67 Pa. Code § 175.66(k) at the annual safety inspection required by 75 Pa.C.S. § 4702(a).