Q: Beaumont resident Joe Nottingham said he read previously in On the Road about the legal requirement to have a front license plate attached to the front of one’s vehicle in California.

Nottingham said he recently noticed a vehicle parked at the post office in Beaumont that had a sticker for a front license plate. Nottingham spoke to the driver to learn more. He also decided to find more information about the license plate sticker.

Nottingham asked us to share details about the license plate stickers.

A: On the Road has reported that California requires front license plates on motor vehicles. We didn’t say they had to be metal (although almost all are).

The issue about front plates has come up a couple times when readers asked why so many Tesla cars lack the front license plate. We explained that some Tesla owners don’t want to drill or screw a license plate mount to their Tesla’s front bumper for aesthetic reasons.

We’re happy to share information about an alternative: The license plate sticker, or wrap, and how these came about.

According to Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Ronald Ongtoaboc, the passage of Assembly Bill 984 in 2022 required the DMV to establish a program that allows other entities to issue alternatives to conventional license plates, stickers, tabs and registration cards.

Non-traditional license plates such as the reflective license plate sticker option are one way the DMV is modernizing services and giving drivers more options, he said. Before the passage of the bill, Ongtoaboc said, the law had authorized the DMV to conduct a pilot program to evaluate the use of alternatives to stickers, tabs, license plates and registration cards until Jan. 1, 2023. AB 984 extended the pilot and created a way to make the program permanent, he said.

As of Jan. 13, there were 10,387 vehicles in the License Plate Wrap program. With a license plate wrap, there is no drilling or screwing anything into the front bumper. Information about buying a wrap, which functions like a sticker, can be obtained from the only DMV-authorized vendor at this time, the Huntington Beach-based License Plate Wrap. The cost is $131.60.

Finally, while on the topic of license plates, here’s one for our readers with disabled person parking placards.

Drivers required to provide a signature to renew their permanent placard can now do so online using an electronic signature at dmv.ca.gov/dpp. You don’t have to go to a DMV office to renew.

The DMV is sending renewal notices to nearly 260,000 drivers who have had a placard for six years or more and must verify their continued need. Placard holders can provide an e-signature online by scanning the QR code on the paper notice or going to dmv.ca.gov/dpp if they don’t have their renewal notice handy. Drivers also can sign their paper renewal notice and mail it to the DMV.

Placard holders must renew before their current placard expires June 30. A 2017 law requires placard holders to submit a signed renewal notice to the DMV every six years. Disabled person parking placards are no longer renewed automatically.

Do you commute to work in the Inland Empire? Spend a lot of time in your vehicle? Have questions about driving, freeways, toll roads or parking? If so, write or call On the Road and we’ll try to answer your questions. Please include your question or issue, name, city of residence, phone number and email address. Write ontheroad@scng.com or call us at 951-368-9995.