Friday, November 12, 2010

Keeping Austin...uh, Texas... weird

Did you know that you can get your very own personalized license plate in Texas? No, not a standard-issue plate with custom characters or numbers like "EX TXS FAN." The whole plate design can be one of your choosing. Or one of someone else's choosing. Like this one:

Now we like Mighty Fine burgers. They are on the Texas Monthly 50 Greatest Hamburgers In Texas list (now that's a list I can relate to). Some members of this family (who do not live in this State) have even embraced them over In-N-Out offerings. But would you want your license plate to promote Mighty Fine the year round? Before you say no, consider that there is some largess involved - $100 in store currency for each year you keep the plate.

The Great and Sovereign State of Texas, for the modest sum of $5,000, will allow companies (and I suppose individuals) to design and offer completely custom plates. RE/Max, Ford Motor Company and Vestas wind energy company have already done so. And Now Mighty Fine.

Mind you, individuals still have to fork over money to the State; depending on a plate's customization level and expiration date, drivers pay from $55 to $595 for a personalized 10-year plate. My Plates, the company that markets the plates, and which also sells custom plates for nonprofits and Texas universities, has sold more than 28,000 license plates of this nature to date, raising about $2.1 million for the state's general revenue fund. And that's before the opportunity we now have to attach a cheeseburger to our vehicle. Who needs a State income tax when we have fine revenue programs like this?

So, I'm thinking. Who out there would go for their own "Retired In Austin" license plate? I think I see an opportunity here, but I'm not sure how to cash in on it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know about a Retired in Austin plate, but I would go for a Chuy's plate! -- Bill