Q: A recent article stated that old license plates could be reactivated and used on vehicles currently on the roads. Is that true? How do you do that?
A: Old Kansas license plates can be used under specific conditions on antique cars, according to information from Bonnie Klumpe, supervisor of the Lyon County Department of Motor Vehicles.
“It has to be a Kansas plate, and it’s the year of the car,” Klumpe said.
Drivers who use old license plates that match the years of their antique vehicles pay the same fees as they would if they were ordering personalized tags.
Klumpe said that old license plates often can be purchased at antique stores.
“It doesn’t matter what county, as long as it’s Kansas,” she said.
The owner must bring in the old tag the first time it is registered for that vehicle. The tag will be photocopied, with the county keeping one copy of the tag on file and sending another copy to the state.
“It puts it back ‘alive,’” Klumpe said of the old tag. “It has to be the year. It can be Coffey County, it can be Riley County, or whatever, but it has to be that year.”
The car must be 35 years or older and have the original parts or “something that would be remanufactured for that year,” she said.
The law governing the use became effective on Jan. 1, 2000, according to the Kansas Department of Revenue.
“The antique vehicle owner may acquire the plate from another individual, regardless of who the plate may have been issued to previously,” a KDOR memorandum stated.
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