Are tinted plates road legal?

If you’ve seen a nice pair of tinted number plates and find yourself wondering “Can I put a set of tinted plates on my car?”, we’re here to answer that question.

Tinted number plates are not legal for road use. Number plates need to meet strict criteria on each of their characteristics, and one of these is the reflective levels. A tinted number plate uses a darkened/tinted acrylic in front of the reflective, which affects the output of the reflective material. As such, these will not pass the tests required of UK number plates.

Furthermore, the DVLA standards regard tinted number plates as obstructing the registration, even when the lettering is in front of the tinted acrylic, as in the case of 3D and 4D number plates. The theory is that the darker background makes the letters and digits harder to discern.

If you choose to source tinted number plates, and use them on the road, you are liable to a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) typically costing £100 and an order to get the number plates changed, which will then need to be verified by a registered MOT station. The Police will have a reason to pull you over, should you be seen using tinted number plates.

Want to know what we mean by “show plates”? Read our recent blog post explaining what show plates are!

Utopia Plates only manufactures fully road legal number plates, as verified by the DVLA themselves upon visiting our premises. You can rest assured that when you order from us, you’re getting a road legal product.