Hawaii License Plates

Started at HN-, then HP-, HR-, HS-, HT-, HV-, HW- then HU-, followed by HX through HZ-, then HA- through HM-. Based on the wear and tear seen on the plates of the Big Island, it is likely that the HZ- series was issued sometime later than its sequence would indicate; they looked much newer than HA-, for example. Other than HGA, no HG- plates were seen on the Big Island; not sure if they were ever issued. Unlike Kauai, both Hawaii and Maui Counties share letter series with their Motorcycle, Trailer, and Commercial plates. For example, HDP plates were issued on cars with the letters before the numbers and HDP plates were also issued on commercial vehicles with the letters after the numbers.

After reaching HZY, Hawaii Co. started over at HAA. HZZ ended up being issued in Honolulu Co. due to a shortage of plates. HBL may have been skipped. Everything through HMJ has been issued, but no HMK, HML, or HMM spotted yet. HMN and HMP are in use.

After HMZ 999 was issued the Z series began with ZAA 001 -- because some HNn plates still exist on the road. The lowest plate seen is HNB 172. There is no reissuing of plates as previously thought. Dates on the plates (a hologram with the last two digits of the year of issue in white on a black circle repeated down the center of the plate) correspond to chronological issuing. For example, shiny HZ plates (which were thought to be reissues) have an issue dates of "97" and "98", HX plates have "94" and HN has "91", HC has "01", etc.

ZBA, ZBB, and ZBC were issued, and then ZBP started to show up. There will probably be a lot of filling in since it appears that someone opened up the wrong box.

From Andy DeCeunynck: As of early February 2014, it appears as though all combinations up to ZBT have been issued but nothing from ZBU-ZBZ. ZCA-ZCC but no ZCD, then ZCE but no ZCF, and most recently ZCG and ZCH. Also, it looks like no plates issued with L in the third position.

Jan. 2015 update from Neal: Have seen ZRx series a number of times (3 ZRCs, ZRG, ZRJ, ZRT) and also three ZTCs but these are obviously out of order (opening wrong box) and will be filled in with normally issued plates.

In Honolulu County, series started with E, then F, G, J, N, P, R, and now S. Beyond the typical omission of I, O, and Q, there are no plates are issued in Honolulu County with the letters H, K, L, or M. These are, probably not coincidentally, the same letters that start the plates in the other counties of Hawaii. These letters are also not used on Commercial, Motorcycle, or Trailer plates in Honolulu County.

Update: Honolulu’s WY-series plates appear to be an exception rather than the rule, with WYH and WYK plates seen.

In addition, the letters A, E, or U are not issued in the second position. A and E were issued in the middle position for the EA-, EE-, FA-, FE-, GA-, and GE- sets, but nothing after that. The U has never been in the middle position.

JNx series skipped.

In early 2006, vehicle owners in Honolulu were told that all E series plates (the lowest on the current base) were to be discarded because the reflectorization was failing due to age. Holders of E series plates were given the option of getting new plates (at the time in the N series) or having new plates made with their existing number. All E series plates now in use should be remakes of the originals still in use by the original registrant. Although not confirmed, it is believed that the F series was being similarly replaced in 2007, but Andy reports in early 2011 that the F series plates still in use are old.

Most series through RJE have been used, but nothing has been seen between RJE and RJN.

Kaua'i County started with KH-, then KJ-, KK-, KP-, KR-,KS-, KT-, KV-, KW-, KY-,KZ-, then KA-, and now KB-. Kauai issued KM- for Motorcycle, KX- for Trailer, and KB- for Commercial. The letter L was used in all possible combinations through KSL, but was then discontinued. No obvious reason for why KN- was not used. Even though the Commercial, Trailer, and Motorcycle plates have the letters after the numbers, the letters sequences in these series are not usually duplicated with car plates. KB- was issued for both Passenger and Commercial. It takes about 2 years to use up each two letter sequence (for example KAA through KAZ) on Kauai.

From Andy DeCeunynck:

In Maui County, plates started at MT-, proceeded through MZ-, then from MA- through MS-, and now LA- and LB- plates. Maui has an interesting way of issuing plates. Large blocks of several thousand plates are issued to rental car companies on the island and then similar large blocks are issued to residents of the county, including those on the islands of Lanai and Molokai. After a period of time -- probably about a year -- rental car series are no longer seen anywhere on the road. So the plates currently seen in Maui are only a fraction of what was originally issued. I saw a picture in a travel guide of a rental car in the MRZ series, which would only have been from a couple years back, but I didn't seen any cars on Maui between MRY and MSC the whole time I was there. On the other hand, plates between MMM and MMR, issued well prior to MRZ, are easily found because they were not given to rental cars. Currently, the newest rental cars are LBR through LBT and now LBZ. Plates for residents were issued in the LBN-LBP sets and now LBU through about 5xx-LBX. No higher LBX or LBY seen yet but they are either on other islands or will be issued in the very near future. Maui is the only county that issues its plates like this, other counties intersperse their rental and non-rental plates in much smaller blocks.

Andy thinks the LEA set may have been issued out of sequence. It is easily seen in the central valley (Kahului/Wailuku area) of Maui. Other new non-rental plates are LCL on the western side of the island and LCU in Kahului. Newest rentals are LCR-T and LCV-LCW. No LCM-LCP or LCX-LCZ yet. He highly doubts that the LD- plates will be skipped, but that remains to be seen.

Update: LDA 951 was issued after the LEA plates, so the actual high is now in the LDA series and it appears the LD- series will be issued.

No validation sticker used.

"Trailer" stacked vertically on the left. C & C and three digits to the right.

Hawaii County Commercial plates started at HCA and ended at 999 HCZ. No truck plates in the HDx series were available at the time, so the TRD series was used. The TRE series is being used in Honolulu County. The HDA (and beyond) series is now being issued in Hawaii County. No HDT or HDU series Commercial plates were issued.

Honolulu plates started at TGA, ran through TGZ, then TJ-, TN-, TP-, TR-, TS-, and now TT-. Again, no H, K, L, or M, plates in Honolulu County. Different font on TPY through TRC. Most plates in the TG- series are replacements (similar to those car plates beginning with E.) No Commercial (or any other non-pass types) plates with different font have been seen outside Honolulu County.

Upon reaching the end of the TPZ series, the issue advanced to the TRE series. Also, the TRD series was alloted to Hawaii County around the same time after they had reached the end of their HCZ series for trucks. It appears that no truck plates in the HDA series had been made yet, but they are now being issued in Hawaii County. Not all of the TRD series plates were issued in Hawaii County. At some point in the issuance of the TRD series in Hawaii County, they received and began issuing the HDA series, so later TRD series plates not issued by Hawaii County were issued by Honolulu County. Meanwhile, back in Honolulu County, it appears that they filled in from the TRA - TRC series, but the TRE series appeared first. Now the issue is back on track in the TT- series. No TTR or TTS series have been reported.

Kaua'i Commercial plates started at KBA. No KBL or KBM seen (L not used in Kauai.)

Andy reports in April 2013 that less than 700 of these plates have been issued over the past two years.

Maui Commercial plates started at MCA.

Hawaii County Government plates have always been in the CofH pattern. Currently around CofH3100. No space between letters and numbers.

Hawaii County Government Motorcycle: CofH 21

Hawaii County Government Trailer: CofH 1321 Pattern is CofHnnnn after "Trailer' stacked vertically on left side. The former format was just CH, rather than CofH on Trailer plates.

Started with CK nnnn up to CK 2099, then CofK2100 and up. The 'of' in CofK is very small and takes on up only one space on the plates. There was a space between the letters and numbers up to CK 2099; no space above CofK2100.

Maui County plates have always been in the CofM pattern. Currently around CofM2400. No space between letters and numbers.

"Trailer" stacked vertically on the left. CH and four digits to the right.

"DEALER DEMO" to far left stacked vertically in two columns

ISA embossed before numbers. Handicapped plates are issued only in Hawaii County--none of the other islands--although the vehicles are seen on other islands.

ISA symbol on left, number on right.

As of June 2023, Honolulu Emergency Medical Services ambulances have new EMS M series plates (EMS M01 through EMS M23) that indicate unit "medic" numbers. Only new ambulances in service use the new plate series; older ambulances still use the old C&C plates. More EMS Mxx plates will be seen when older ambulances are retired and replaced.

On the island of Hawaii, the fire department vehicles (including county-owned ambulances) use HFD plates. Most are HFD 3nn and HFD 4nn but the newest are HFD 5nn.

Honolulu Fire Department also uses HFD but only for administrative vehicles (Fire Chief, Fire safety inspectors, etc.). The fire trucks use C&C plates. In Honolulu, they use one digit, two digit and three digit series for cars and trucks, but the three digits are in the 100s only and are for maintenance trucks.

In Hawaii County they use only three digits.

Red on Yellow, the word FLEET is stacked vertically to left of number, HAWAII across the top of plate, ALOHA STATE across bottom. Issued in blocks by county.

Honolulu Fleet Cars are in the P12nnn and P13nnn range in Honolulu County (the highest seen there was P13671), P15nnn in Hawaii County, P16nnn in Maui County, and the high P16nnn and low P17nnn on Kauai.

Fleet trailers are red on yellow background and separate from county trailers. They use the pattern nnnnTR after a vertically stacked FLEET. Almost all Fleet Trailer plates observed were on semis belonging to the Matson Company.

TR prefix used first, then TR suffix.

Red on Yellow, the word FLEET is stacked vertically to left of number, HAWAII across the top of plate, ALOHA STATE across bottom. Issued in blocks by county.

Honolulu Fleet Trucks are up to T21nnn, but Hawaii County is currently using T20nnn, Maui County is using T22nnn, and Kauai County is in the T24nnn series.

Oahu-based companies like Hawaiian Telcom have trucks on all islands, but all have fleet plates in the Honolulu County allocation. UPS trucks also have Honolulu plate series throughout the State.

Neal updates in Feb. 2015 to say numerous plates with the same number prefix on different islands (shipping vehicles from one island to another is not uncommon) -- e.,g., most recently the T25- series has been seen on both the Big Island and Oahu. Therefore, the allocation we have shown here may not be absolutely correct.

Issued only to representatives of Taiwan as official members of the "Coordination Council for North American Affairs"

Similar to the BWS plates used on Oahu by the Board of Water Supply, Hawaii County has DWS series plates for the Department of Water Supply.

Same as standard Pass. design, but with BWS prefix.

Honolulu Board of Water Supply Trailer: TRAILER stacked vertically on left side with BWS and three digits to the right. High: BWS 323

Issued to officials of consular offices in Hawaii.

Red letters on yellow background; "Permanent" stacked vertically down the left side: "Horseless Carriage" on two separate lines to the left of the numbers.

Started at HNA

Lowest seen in the XF- series, but could have started earlier. XG-, XJ-, and XN- also seen. XK-, XL-, and XM- skipped on Oahu although they are not used on any other island

Lowest seen was KMG, but could have started at KMA.

Lowest seen was MVH, but could have started at MVA.

In Honolulu and Maui, police departments have their own plates. Honolulu originally ran up through HPD 999 and now are 7 digit plates from HPD1000 up to somewhere around HPD1350. These are the only 7-digit plates in Hawaii and nearly all police cars on Oahu are 7 digits.

On Maui, the MPD letters are used for police cars.

On Kauai and Hawaii, police cars use regular county plates.

NEW! Honolulu Police Trailer: Black on white rainbow graphic, HAWAII across top, ALOHA STATE across bottom, TRAILER stacked vertically to left of "HPD". HPD in smaller size (about 2/3) than numbers in order to fit 7 digits on plate. These are used primarily for the LED radar-based speed notices on roads that say "You are going xx MPH". HPD1181 is the high on this type.

It seems that all the HPD numbers are unique but they issue as cars, trailers, or motorcycles with the different plates schemes for each but do not issue numbers separately for each.

In Honolulu and Maui, police departments have their own plates.

On Maui, the MPD letters are used for police cars. Currently, most are MPD 5nn and MPD 6nn.

On Kauai and Hawaii, police cars use regular county plates.

Maui Police Department motorcycles also use the combination MPDnnn, but on the smaller size motorcycle plates.

Black on white, rainbow, HAWAII across top, ALOHA STATE across botton, STATE to left of number stacked diagonally from top left.

STATE to left of number stacked diagonally; TRAILER to the far left stacked vertically.

Standard passenger design with BUS prefix and numbers from 001 through 915. Plate number seems to match the vehicle fleet number.

Starting in 2021, new 7-digit plates were issued for electric buses

joining Honolulu's bus system.

Probably started at HYA, but nothing lower than HYB observed by Andy in Feb. 2011.

Black on white, rainbow graphic, HAWAII across top, ALOHA STATE across bottom, TRAILER stacked vertically to left of number.

Possibly started at WAA, but unconfirmed. WD- and WE- plates up to WEH have been reported by Andy. WFP reported, but no details are available about that plate.

Probably started at KXA, but nothing under KXM observed by Andy in Feb. 2011.

Probably started at MUA, but nothing lower than MUB observed by Andy in Feb. 2011.

Series started in 2017 with NP, NR-NZ, now NA-NH. NJ- and NK- series plates have been seen on Oahu roads. After finishing the N series, the XC series began.

This series became available January 31, 2022, first in Honolulu, and then gradually spreading to the other islands. The series begain with the "PV" prefix and ascended from there. The first plate issued on Kaua'i was PV01J.

The design depicts the Hokule'a, the double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe, anchored at Kualoa on the island of O'ahu.

Stickers supporting various causes are placed at left of the AA000-format serial. This series was created to give non-profit organizations part of the proceeds from the registration of these plates.

The reason Specials jumped from DJ to DN so quickly: The DK series is restricted to Kauai; the DL and DM series are restricted to Maui county; and the DH series is restricted to Hawaii county. There were no DI series printed nor will there be DO.

Combat Veteran screened on separate lines before numbers.

Combat Wounded, Purple Heart

Gold Star Family plates have been issued Oct. 10, 2011 and GS001 and GS002 have been put on cars belonging to families of fallen soldiers. Purple and gold emblem on the left with GOLD STAR printed above and FAMILY below the emblem - GS and three digits to the right of the gold star emblem.

Pearl Harbor Survivor written out in separate lines to the left of the numbers.

Persian Gulf Veteran screened on separate lines before numbers.

"VETERAN" is below the flag. Upon reaching 9999, the series continued with A101 to Z999, then 101A.