Re: Buying antique license plates for use in CA

Posted by BigKev On 2014/11/8 12:16:13

If you can find a set for $300, BUY THEM! Calif YOM plates are very expensive. Remember we are the largest car market in the world in Calif and probably as well have the largest old car market as well just by shear population and year round driveability. So there is a great demand for these plates, and not a ton of inventory.

A set of good YOM plates that a DMV clear is usually between $500-$1000. The older the year, the more expensive they get. If you find a set of cheap plates, typically they are not "DMV Clear". If that plate number has been reissued to another plates, then that set of plates you just bought is worth nothing more than art, to hang in your garage. Make sure whomever you buy plates from has a guarantee they are DMV Clear.

I just couldn't justify the expense of those plates on my Budget Clipper restore, so I went with regular vanity plates.