Couldn’t find an answer so posting here.
Returning my lease today, would like to keep one of the license plates as a keepsake. It’s not personalized, just a regular California plate.
Will this cause a problem?
The California DMV told me that specialty plates belong to the person and not the vehicle, which makes me thinks yes. But I imagine you also need to file some form that it isn’t attached to a vehicle anymore?
In general, CA license plates are not surrendered to the DMV . They stay with the vehicle when it is bought or sold.
If you have a specialty license plate , it stays with you (the “plate-holder”) to be transferred to your next car if you choose to do so. Exceptions occur only with certain plates in the case of death, such as with disability license plates.
NOTE : If you have a standard plate but then choose to apply for a specialty license plate , you will exchange your standard plate when you pick up your specialty plate from the DMV.
Plates stay with the car unless it is a vanity plate (generally speaking)
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I suspect you would get charged for a replacement plate if you do not turn both in with the car.
If I am not mistaken, you cant get a specialty license plate with leased vehicles. In CA, the normal LPs go with the car so you cant keep one. If you transfer your car to someone out of state then you are allowed to keep the plates.
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You can get custom plates on leased cars in CA… have done so for multiple cars
You can retain your custom plates as well, just a small transfer fee to move them to your next car…
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You can definitely get serialzed specialty plates for your lease in CA because I did.
Tried it online just now and it doesn’t seem so? Not sure if there are other ways to obtain one.
Anyways, thanks everyone for your response!
Make sure you say no to this question…
Is this Vehicle Leased or Owned in a Company Name?
This is if the vehicle is leased in the name of a corp…
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What @inoc said 
And I can’t speak to new, personalized vanity plates for a lease. Like I said mine is serialized (random letters and numbers). And I know you can transfer a personalized plate to a lease, just not certain you can order a new one for your lease.
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You can, I’ve done that for a Mirai …
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I have had personalized plates on all my vehicles-bought or leased…ordered online-just make sure as @inoc stated to check NO to the question about Leased in Company Name (they ask for a letter of approval by company-if company owned)
You can pay $38 and retain the plates for future use or transfer to your next vehicle, as you OWN the plate. With sequential plates, you cant keep them and re-use… you can try and get a similar plate going the personalized route though…
I have the black 1960 legacy plate, random number. Do I leave that on the car when turning in the lease, or keep?
It’s up to you if you wanna keep that plate-pay the retention or transfer fee to another car you have…or if you don’t want it you can leave it with the car…
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