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Florida License Plate Frame Law’s Confusion Forces State to Clarify the Rules
Florida allows license plate frames if they do not obscure the plate number or validation decal; new penalties include fines up to $5,000 and possible prison time.
- On Dec. 12 the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued a memo to law enforcement clarifying that license plate frames remain permitted if they do not obscure the plate identifier or the validation decal.
- The new law took effect Oct. 1, 2025, and Florida Statute 320.262 prohibits license plate obscuring devices, upgrading violations to a second-degree misdemeanor.
- Reporting from Central Florida revealed more than a dozen citations in recent weeks, including Fruitland Park tickets for partially covered frames, while Ocoee Police Department cited stops for small coverages despite a 2019 court ruling allowing partial bottom coverage.
- Drivers now face a second-degree misdemeanor, with fines up to $500, and Rachel Mattie recommends removing questionable frames while officers consult counsel.
- Targeting devices, the law bans sprays, films, tints, flip mechanisms, added lights, and the DHSMV warned on December 15, 2025 that changes altering plate appearance are crimes.
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Florida's license plate frame statute compels the state to make the regulations clear
License Plates – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Jane Rix Orlando, Florida – Is the frame on your license plate illegal? Following the implementation of a new legislation on October 1, that is the question that Florida drivers and law enforcement officials have been posing. As previously reported by News 6, there was so much confusion that the state had to provide an explanation last week. According to Florida Statute 320.262, anyone who obscu…
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Total News Sources16
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution87% Center
Bias Distribution
- 87% of the sources are Center
87% Center
13%
C 87%
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