It's Tag-A-Palooza! Low-digit Delaware plates up for grabs, worth perhaps thousands
Once each year, and only once, the Division of Motor Vehicles becomes the happiest place in Delaware for a few lucky people.
That's right: It's time for Tag-A-Palooza. Delaware's annual lottery for low-digit license tags has come around again.
Online registration for a statewide lottery will begin Monday, Oct. 23, state officials say. The annual low-digit tag giveaway to winners begins Nov. 6.
What's all this, you wonder? And why should Delawareans be excited about going to the DMV?
Well, in Delaware, your license plate number can be an asset as valuable and reliable as real estate.
You can keep your plate for your whole life, transferring from car to car. You can sell it to a stranger or bequeath it to your children in your will. And some valuable low-number plates have gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Plate numbers 1 to 3 are reserved for the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the secretary of state. But starting with plate "4," Delaware just kept on counting up from there.
Plates with low numbers are a source of particular pride, honor and prestige. And in a state with the most avid car culture in the nation, the digits on your license plate might matter more than what kind of car you drive.
Like most things rare and prestigious, a low-digit license plate can be bought and sold. Leave the half-million-dollar restaurant liquor licenses to sodden New Jerseyites: In Delaware, that's what we pay for license plates!
Famously, the Fusco family bought the "6" license for $675,000 at auction in 2008, and license plate no. 14 recently went for $325,000. A site called Low Digit Tags, devoted to buying and selling Delaware tags, regularly advertises plates priced in the tens of thousands of dollars.
For those without a spare $17,000 for an "1875" license plate, there is instead the low-digit tag lottery: an equal-opportunity chance to win a free transfer of one of the unclaimed low-digit tags.
Here's how the tag release will work this year, and how you could win a license plate number that will make you a source of seething envy for your neighbors, your exes and your frenemies.
Low numbers, high dollars: In Delaware, license plates have gone for hundreds of thousands of dollars
More: His low-digit Delaware tag project has taken nearly 15 years. He needs only 27 more plates
How does the Delaware online low-digit lottery work in 2023?
The Delaware low-tag lottery has traditionally been a hubbub-filled, line-standing affair spread out at locations across the state.
But the DMV has streamlined the process a bit by moving much of the lottery online and spreading out giveaways across a number of days.
Anyone interested in joining the online lottery to win a low-digit tag in 2023 must register in advance at dmv.de.gov/taglottery. Registration begins at 8 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 23, and will continue every day through Thursday, Nov. 2.
Don't register more than once per driver's license or identification. The DMV will void all additional requests if they receive more than one entry for an individual or entity.
In what the state is calling Tag-A-Palooza — last year was the "12 Days of Plate-mas" — the state will announce winners for each of the five days from Monday, Nov. 6, to Friday, Nov. 10.
Winners will be notified via email, and the daily winning lottery codes will also be posted at dmv.de.gov/taglottery.
Can you still sign up for the Delaware low-tag lottery in person in 2023?
Yes! For those who love the festive character of standing in a very long line, like voters during the pandemic or Soviet grocery shoppers during the 1980s, you can do this! The DMV is offering four chances to win tags in person.
There will be four opportunities during Tag-A-Palooza 2023, starting at 8 a.m. until all plates are gone on the below dates:
Nov. 6, 2023: Dover DMV
Nov. 7, 2023: Georgetown DMV
Nov. 9, 2023: Wilmington DMV
Nov. 9, 2023: Delaware City DMV
But note that if you win a low-digit tag after standing in line in person, you can't win another tag online: Your online entry will be voided if you win.
How many Delaware low-digit tags are available in 2023?
There are seven different types of tags available in the lottery. Each entrant must choose the type of tag they'd like:
PV – 5 Digit, Numbers Only (under 10,000 pounds registered vehicle weight): 530 tags released each day of Tag-A-Palooza
C – Commercial: 55 tags released each day
PC – Passenger Car (under 10,000 pounds registered vehicle weight): 145 tags a day
T – Trailer (regular trailers – utility, flat-bed, or non-camping trailers): 406 tags a day
MC – Motorcycle (above 55cc’s): 381 tags a day
RT – Recreational Trailer (camping trailers 5,000 pounds and over, not regular trailers – see above): 33 tags a day
RV – Recreational Vehicle (car or truck under 5,000 pounds or a motorhome): 35 tags a day
If you win, and your tag number is low enough, you could also be eligible to purchase historic black-and-white tags, or porcelain plates, thus doubling your prestige, honor and pride in the eyes of all Delaware. Good luck!
A previous version of the story mis-stated the number of the license plate that sold for $325,000. It was license plate No. 14.
Matthew Korfhage can be reached at mkorfhage@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How to register for low-digit Delaware license plate lottery in 2023
