Rhode Island License Plates

Color scheme changes annually.

Motor vehicles powered in whole or in part by a storage battery are eligible for this plate. It is not mandatory to have this plate on this type of vehicle but is encouraged for the safety of first responders.

Rhode Island Veteran license plates feature bottom caption "Veteran" (some with an additional "WAR VETERAN" decal) and have been issued in 1A234 numbering format since 2022. The previous 5-digit format had been in use since 2010, with just 4-digits before then. The caption had previously said "War Veteran."

There is also a Disabled Veteran plate that has been observed with 2-4 digits.

This base originated in late 1996.

All-numeric six digit plates were the standard issue for Rhode Island Passenger plates between 2007 and 2015. They began at 710-001, and John MacKenzie had the good luck to spot the first plate (710-001) on 2007-03-11. He also reported ZZ-991 as the high in the traditional 2/3 format. After the forward progression from 710-001 reached 999-999, the 600-000 series was used, followed by the 500-000 series, then 400-000 series and finally the 300-000 series. Once 399-999 was reached, Rhode Island reverted back to the AB-123 format beginning with the EZ series and filling in some un-used prefixes from A, B, F etc.

There should be no 200- nor 100- series six-digit passenger car plates in Rhode Island with these two exceptions. John MacKenzie reports that plate number 100000 was issued in the past to a former Mayor of North Providence. Number 200000 was also observed in use during the mid-2000s. Those were the only recent 6 digit passenger plates in Rhode Island prior to the 2007-15 all-numeric series.

Brandon reports 000538 in the Commercial series, but we don't know if this is a personalized issue. Leading zero plates on low numbers would be something new in RI.

Mike Hart reports 0, which is the lowest Commercial number in RI.