Lately, I've found myself contemplating the possibility of buying a vanity plate for my car.
One nice thing about living in a smaller state like West Virginia is that there's a greater chance of a desirable vanity combination being clear. As an even further perc, you can check the availability of combinations online. (I have no idea why the site in question is located at the commercial www.wvdot.com domain instead of the proper dot.state.wv.us, but I'll save that bone to pick for another day.)
So, what combinations are available to pick? "ANDREW" is taken, and so is "TURNBULL" (though not by anyone I personally know). I could order my initials "AST", or even just "AT". There do seem to be a good deal of two-letter combinations out there that no one has picked yet: Even my Uncle Walter's old "WX" combination "may be available" if I wanted it.
Evidently "a minimum of two and a maximum of eight characters" are allowed, even though I have seen one-letter plates in use every once in a blue moon. Perhaps the 26 letters from A to Z are withheld from the plebeian masses and issued to VIPs in the state government instead. I don't really know.
In a computer-related vein, "FIREFOX" is taken. So is "LINUX". On the other hand, "UBUNTU" is still available. Fortunately "Windows Vista" abbrevates poorly into anything that could fit on a license plate, but "WIN 95" would work out fine.
I sometimes wonder how long vanity registrations need to be inactive before being purged from the DMV's database of current registrations: I've heard that it's three years, but again it's difficult to know for sure. I recall spotting "TEQUILA" in use on a vehicle less than a year ago, yet a search on the WV DMV's site already reveals a message that it "may be available" once more.
Then there's another matter that restricts the free-for-all of alphanumeric combinations on hand: In addition to being "available" and "not [in] conflict with a regular series license number," vanity combinations must "not [be] obscene or possibly offensive." One fellow (who also happens to be a former member of ALPCA) seemingly made a hobby out of running "questionable" vanity combinations past the sleeping eyes of his state's DMV: "DEZNUTZ," "BUKKAKE," "W IS EVIL". Although I have little interest in pushing the envelope myself, one gets the sense that West Virginia is a bit more touchy over this state of matters: When this event unfolded on the news headlines a few years back, a friend of mine immediately tried to commemorate the occasion by requesting the vanity combination "TIGR8ROY" for his car. His request was denied!
On a similarly-spiteful note, one could go about requesting an unreadable combination like "XKXKXKKX" or "OO0O00O0." The zero and "O" dies in West Virginia are slightly different from each other...the former more rounded, and the latter more squared...but they're still similar to the point of confusability. Back in 2005, practically every passenger plate in the October month block was erroneously made with a zero die in place of "O" in the first serial position, yet no one flinched. Similarly, it might be fun to try a vanity drawing upon the three letters skipped in the passenger serial series: "QIOIIOIQ" ("O" is used on passenger plates as a code letter in the first position only.) A repeated combination like "IIIIIIII" might be even more interesting: They might have to scramble to find enough infrequently-used letter dies to finish the serial off!
One annoyance about getting a vanity plate in West Virginia is that you're relegated to using serial dies narrower than those on passenger plates (even if your combination employs six characters or less), and another is that the use of dashes and other symbols is not permitted. But those are pretty minor nitpicks overall.
Actually, I have a pretty good idea of what vanity serial combination I'd like to request. Furthermore, it appears to be available. But in my own self-interest, I won't be telling what it is unless and until I order it.
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