The only sanctioned way a Rhode Island plate moves from one person to another, and the reason it needs a form at all is that selling one is illegal. The DMV's regulation on plate transfers prohibits an exchange of money or other articles of value in consideration of a transfer of vehicle registration plates - so a plate changes hands as a gift, in writing, or it does not change hands.
Written against Plate Gift Letter (no revision printed), issued under 280-RICR-30-10-1.
Do not treat a plate as part of the deal for the car. Rhode Island's regulation reads an exchange of value for a plate as prohibited outright, and the penalty in it is aimed at the plates themselves - immediate suspension and revocation, whoever ends up holding them.
Two documents, and they are not the same thing. Take the blank Plate Gift Letter from the dmv.ri.gov copy so you get the revision that is current today, then print our Plate Gift Letter guide and keep it beside you while you fill theirs in.
This is the actual Plate Gift Letter, rendered from the PDF the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles publishes and completed end to end: letterhead, every field, and the blocks at the foot.
Amber — you write it
Grey — not yours to fill
Numbered — explained below
Five entries and a note at the foot that is the real content of the form. Only the primary registered owner can gift a plate - the instruction is printed under both the name and the signature - and the family definition this sheet uses reaches grandparents and grandchildren, which the Vehicle Gift Letter's does not.
Field by field
Every line, in the order you meet it
1
You fill this in
Date of gift
One box at the head of the plate letter.
Watch out: Line it up with whatever else is happening the same week. If the car is being sold and the plate kept in the family, the plate gift and the registration cancellation belong on the same day.
2
You fill this in
Print and sign as the primary registered owner
Two rules, both marked must be the primary registered owner.
Watch out: Primary means the first name on the registration certificate, not either of two co-owners. If the plate is on a jointly registered car, check which of you the DMV records as primary before signing.
3
You fill this in
The plate being gifted
Plate number, plate type and plate design, on three short boxes.
Watch out: Design is a separate field from type because Rhode Island has run several general-issue designs and dozens of charity plates. Write what is on the metal.
4
You fill this in
Name the recipient
Printed name on one rule.
Watch out: As it appears on their licence. The plate is going onto a registration in that name, so a shortened version creates a mismatch at the counter.
5
You fill this in
The relation of recipient
One rule under the name, and the last entry on the sheet.
Watch out: Check it against the note at the foot before writing. This form's immediate family reaches grandparents and grandchildren; a relation outside the list can still receive a non-preferred plate, but a preferred plate goes through the Governor's Office instead.
At a glance
What goes where
On the form
What to put in it
Date of gift
One box at the head of the plate letter.
Name of the person gifting the plate
Printed name and signature, both marked must be the primary registered owner.
The plate being gifted
Three boxes: plate, plate type and plate design.
Name of the person receiving the plate
Printed name on one rule.
Relation of recipient
One rule beneath it, and the whole eligibility question turns on it.
What gets this one rejected
•A letter signed by a co-owner rather than by the primary registered owner - the instruction appears twice, once under the printed name and once under the signature.
•Money changing hands. The DMV's regulation prohibits it expressly and prices the consequence: immediate suspension and revocation of the plates in question, as well as any other penalties provided by law.
•A preferred plate being gifted outside the immediate family on this letter. Those go to the Office of the Governor at the State House rather than to the DMV.
•A blank relation line, which is the only place the gift is justified.
•Using this letter for the plate that is already on a vehicle being gifted - that plate is handled in the plate block of the Vehicle Gift Letter instead.
•A plate type or design left out. Rhode Island has enough plate designs in circulation that the number alone does not identify one.
Rules that decide whether it is accepted
•Its family list is wider than the vehicle gift letter's. This sheet defines immediate family as spouse or domestic partners, children, siblings, parents, grandparents and grandchildren, including stepchildren, stepsiblings, stepparents, step-grandparents and step-grandchildren. The Vehicle Gift Letter's list stops at siblings. Two Rhode Island forms, two definitions, and it is the plate letter that is more generous.
•Non-immediate family can still receive a non-preferred plate. The note is specific: non-immediate family members gifting non-preferred plates may use this gift letter to gift a plate. It is the preferred plates that are restricted.
•Preferred plates run through the Governor's Office. For a non-immediate family gift of a preferred plate the form gives an address, a phone number, a fax and an email at the State House, Room 144. The DMV does not decide it.
•The registration behind the plate still ends. Gifting a plate does not carry a registration with it. Yours is cancelled and theirs is issued - which means the excise and the insurance obligations move too.
Every line here was read off Plate Gift Letter (no revision printed) itself — the PDF is here — and off the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles pages.
This is plain-language help with a form, not legal advice, and where our wording and the agency's differ,
theirs governs.
