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Sunday, November 30, 1997

Specialized auto tags aren't catching on in Texas

HOUSTON (AP) -- Specialized auto license tags aren't proving to be the hot item in Texas that they are in other states.

For an extra $30 a year, any vehicle can sport license plates in one of 79 special designs, including personalized plates and college logos. A dozen new designs are being added, including not-yet-available Big Bend National Park.

Many designs, however, are very specialized in a very literal sense. Nearly half of the designs are affixed to fewer than 100 vehicles each, even though Texas has 15 million registered vehicles.

Specialty plates are not the hot sellers they are in many other states. The Texas Department of Transportation says only 1 percent of Texas vehicles have special plates, compared to more than 10 percent in Virginia and more than 6 percent in Florida.

Those states generate millions of dollars for their treasuries and the nonprofit groups that get a cut of the revenue from the plates sold in their honor. In Texas, $10 goes to the state and $20 goes to the organization.

"We think the reason is that Texans are satisfied with the way the regular plate looks," Texas DOT spokesman Mike Viesca told the Houston Chronicle.

In Virginia, personalization costs only $10 and special plates are $25. The nonprofit organizations don't see a penny until 1,000 are sold. Virginia's self-sustaining Department of Motor Vehicles, which is separate from its highway department, keeps the cash it raises.

Virginia's designs are colorful, while many Texas tags have no graphic element other than block lettering.

The Virginia DMV's Internet site offers 148 plate designs and allows motorists to run their own computer check to see if a particular personalization is already taken. If not, motorists can see a computer rendering of how their personalization would look on a regular plate or any specialty plate, then reserve the whole thing on-line.

Virginia motorists have personalized 610,000 regular and special plates, raising more than $6 million annually for the state. Texas, which has nearly three times as many vehicles, has personalized 53,030.

Then, there's Florida, where personalization costs $12 and special plates are either $15 or $25.

The standard Texas plate is distinctive, displaying a full-color Texas flag. Specialty tags, at double the cost of the standard plates, don't display the flag. Want personalized letters on that specialty plate? Add another $40 for the year.

The Texas Department of Transportation's Vehicle Titles and Registration Division keeps only $1.25 for each special plate it sells, said Joe Holman, a division operations manager. The rest goes to the state treasury.

In Texas, the biggest-selling specialty plate is the one for Texas A&M alumni. With more than 6,500 sets sold, Texas A&M University generates triple the plates of Texas Tech or the University of Texas at Austin.