Fictitious License Plates in Arizona

Correct the plate.

The first step is always correcting the license plate issue. Make sure the car that was displaying the fictitious plate is properly registered and displaying a valid license plate. 

Have a plausible explanation.

Having an explanation as to why there was a fictitious license plate on the car in the first place can be helpful. It isn’t necessarily a legal defense, but it can help. There is a substantial difference between putting a plate from another vehicle on your car because you were trying to do the right thing, and stealing a plate off another car to put on your own.

Argue that you didn’t know the plate was fictitious.

This is an actual legal defense. The statute requires that the driver knew the plate was fictitious. Maybe someone stole your plate and replaced it with another plate and you never noticed. Maybe you have several cars and you inadvertently mixed up the renewal tabs.

Finally, present your background and driving history. 

The driver’s background and driving history can be helpful in achieving a good outcome. Ideally the driver’s record is free from any violations.

Then we try to negotiate an outcome wherein the charge is dismissed or reduced to a civil registration violation with a nominal fine.

The fictitious plate is from another vehicle the defendant owns

Maybe the driver owns more than one vehicle, and there is some impediment to properly registering one of the vehicles. Perhaps there is an emissions issue or a title defect that is holding up the registration. The driver then affixes a license plate from another vehicle onto the unregistered vehicle because they want to drive it. In this case, we can often avoid the criminal charge if the driver gets the unregistered vehicle registered and gets a legitimate license plate on the vehicle. This particular explanation is not technically a legal defense, but when there is not a clear criminal intent, prosecutors are often much more willing to work something out.

Someone else swapped the defendant’s plates without the defendant knowing

Maybe the driver had their license plate stolen and replaced with another plate without their knowledge. I don’t know about you, but I could not tell you what my license plate number is without going out and looking at my car. It could take months or years for a driver to notice that someone had swapped out their license plate. Here again, correcting the situation can go a long way towards favorably resolving the charge.

Technically, yes. The law permits up to 4 months in jail for a fictitious license plate conviction. However, there is no mandatory jail time and in our experience, jail time is extremely unlikely.

While the law permits the fine, including surcharges and assessments, to approach $1,500, the actual fine should be much less. We have seen fines as low as $250 for a fictitious plates conviction.