SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today's Why Guy question from Patrick Powers; "I bought a new car. It was used, but new to me. Seven months later, the DMV sends me new plates, stickers and registration. My question is, what do I do with these old plates? Do I throw them away? I don't know what to do with them. And my second question is, who makes license plates?"
All of California's license plates, since 1947, have been made in a factory inside the walls of Folsom State Prison. That's right, more than 100 inmates make up to 50,000 license plates each day. The Folsom prisoners are the largest producers of license plates in the United States. So, that rumor of prisoners making license plates is true.
But, what do you do with our old license plates?
Well, you can keep them, recycle them, sell them — especially if they’re vintage — or you can drop them off at a designated DMV branch that accepts plates you don’t want.
More often than not, people keep their old plates and hang them in their garage as a pleasant memory of the cars of days gone by.
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