Associated Press
NASHVILLE - A state-by-state survey of the popularity of vanity license plates has found that car and truck owners in Tennessee are some of the least vain of all.
Of the 9.3 million personalized plates in the nation, only about 43,000 are in Tennessee, according to rankings provided to The Associated Press by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
Fewer than 1 percent of motor vehicles in the Volunteer State have vanity plates, ranking Tennessee second only to Texas for the smallest percentage of personalized plates.
Virginia led the nation with 16 percent of the country's vanity plates. New Hampshire came in second with nearly 14 percent. Illinois had about 13.4 percent, but that amounted to nearly 1.3 million plates, the most of any state.
Neil Schuster, president and CEO of AAMVA, said vanity plates are a growing "phenomenon."
"Each vanity plate tells a unique story, known only by the vehicle's owner, which remains a mystery for others to decode," said Schuster.
Stefan Lonce, author of the upcoming book "LCNS2ROM - License to Roam: Vanity Plates and the Stories they Tell," worked with AAMVA to survey vehicle licensing agencies in each state.
He said people use vanity plates as a way to express themselves.
"Everyone's got a different reason," Lonce said. "People are telling stories through these plates. It's poetry in motion. Everyone's got a story."
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