Can You Transfer License Plates in Colorado? Costs and Deadline

You can transfer license plates in Colorado only if they are personalized (vanity) plates or certain specialty plates such as military, disability, group nonprofit, or alumni plates. Standard green-and-white plates cannot move to a new vehicle. They expire the moment you transfer title, and you’ll need to return them to your county motor vehicle office or recycle them.¹

Which Plates Are Eligible

Colorado’s plate reissue program treats standard plates as tied to the vehicle, not the owner. Once you sell, trade in, or otherwise transfer title, those plates are done.

Four categories are exempt and follow the owner to a new vehicle:²

Personalized (vanity) plates
Distinctive special plates recognizing military service, disabilities, or similar designations
Group special plates supporting nonprofit organizations
Special alumni plates tied to universities

One category runs the opposite direction: horseless carriage plates stay with the vehicle and transfer to the buyer along with the title. The car must have been manufactured at least fifty years before the current registration date.³ Dealer temporary tags never transfer; they expire on a set date tied to one sale.

How to Move Personalized or Specialty Plates

For eligible plates, the transfer happens at your county motor vehicle office. Bring the plates along with the paperwork for your new vehicle, and the clerk reassigns them.⁴ Some specialty plates have extra verification steps, so it’s worth calling ahead.

Military honor plates and disability plates require proof of eligibility every time they’re reassigned. For disability plates, the Colorado DMV needs verification from the Veterans Administration confirming a permanent service-connected disability rated at 50% or more, loss of use of hands or feet, or loss of sight in both eyes.⁴

Group special plates carry a separate hurdle if a plate needs replacing due to damage, fading, or theft: you’ll need to contact the sponsoring nonprofit for a new donation certificate or PIN before the county office can process anything. Contact information for each sponsoring group is listed on the Colorado DMV’s group special license plates page.

Plates registered to a business entity belong to that entity. They cannot shift to an individual owner without a formal sale and new registration, and personal plates cannot move to a business-owned vehicle without a new registration under the business name.⁵

Keeping Your Old Plate Number When Standard Plates Expire

Attached to your existing plate combination? You can’t transfer the standard plates themselves, but you can apply for personalized plates using the same letter-and-number sequence. Because you held that combination when the plates expired, you have priority over anyone else who might request it.²

The old plates get returned to the county office, and newly printed personalized plates are mailed to you. This isn’t free. Personalized plates carry a one-time $60 fee when first issued and an added $25 at every annual renewal after that.⁴ Consider whether keeping the combination is worth $25 every year before you commit.

Transferring Plates to a Family Member

Colorado permits eligible plates to be transferred between immediate family members, including spouses, parents, and children.⁵ This is one of the few situations where the names on the old and new vehicle titles don’t need to match.

The transfer uses Form DR 2444, the Statement of Fact, which contains an Assignment of Personal Property section that legally hands over the plate rights.⁶ Bring the completed form to the county office along with the rest of your paperwork.

What to Bring and What It Costs

For most plate transfers or new registrations, you’ll need:

Your current license plates and registration from the outgoing vehicle, which the clerk uses to calculate any registration credit
Title for the new vehicle, or dealer paperwork including title and bill of sale for dealer purchases
Proof of insurance covering the new vehicle
Form DR 2444 if the transfer involves an immediate family member

Vehicles bought from an out-of-state dealer or private seller may require a notarized title depending on the originating state’s rules.⁷

Colorado also gives you a prorated credit from your previous registration to apply toward the new one. The credit covers a percentage of the taxes and fees you already paid, based on how much time remained in that registration period.¹ It isn’t a cash refund. The credit only applies toward taxes and fees on your new vehicle registration, and it can only be used once. You can transfer it to another person if you’re not registering a new vehicle yourself. Bring your previous registration card so the clerk can calculate and apply the credit.

Transactions happen at the county motor vehicle office in your county of residence, operated under the elected county clerk and recorder.⁸ Some routine tasks are available through DMV online services or MV Express kiosks, but plate transfers and new registrations generally require an in-person visit. If your new plates haven’t been manufactured yet, the office can issue a temporary permit to display in the meantime.

The 60-Day Deadline

You have 60 days after purchasing a vehicle to complete title and registration. On day 61, late fees begin at $25 per month or any portion of a month, capped at $100. Trailers accrue a lower rate of $10 per month.¹

Missing the 60-day window can also trigger a separate $50 penalty and $16 surcharge. Residents moving from another state get 90 days to register an out-of-state vehicle, with steeper consequences for missing it: fines up to $300 and an added civil penalty of $500.⁹

The clock starts on the purchase date, not the date title paperwork lands in your mailbox. Slow title delivery is one of the most common reasons drivers miss the deadline, and the county office won’t waive fees over it.

Filing a Release of Liability When You Sell

Pulling the plates off is only half the job when you sell a vehicle. Colorado requires sellers to file a release of liability within five days of the sale so the state knows you no longer own the vehicle. Skip this filing and you remain the registered owner in state databases, which means automated toll systems, red-light cameras, and parking enforcement will keep billing you.

Even after plates are canceled, there can be a gap before databases update. The release of liability establishes a clear cutoff date. You can submit it through the Colorado DMV’s online services or at your county motor vehicle office, and it takes far less time than sorting out a buyer’s violations after the fact.

1
Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. FAQs – Registration
2
Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. License Plate Reissue Program
3
Justia Law. Colorado Code Title 42 – Section 42-12-301
4
Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. License Plates Frequently Asked Questions
5
Jefferson County, CO. Title Transfer
6
Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. DR 2444 Statement of Fact
7
Boulder County. Recently Purchased Vehicles
8
Department of Revenue – Motor Vehicle. County Motor Vehicle Offices
9
Colorado General Assembly. SB22-123 Late Vehicle Titling and Registration Penalties