Florida Specialty License Plates Sales Bounce Back in July, 2020, Despite Pandemic - But Stutter in August- Michael Towner, Iconic Legacy.

​Although sales and revenue for specialty license plates indicated a significant downward turn with the closing of DMV offices and some Tax Collectors offices to the public in certain parts of the state in the last week of the month of March, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, total revenue from the sale of Specialty License Plates for the first six months of 2020 only dropped by 2.7% to $16,365,550.00, compared to $16,802,378.00 for the first six months of 2019.

Although this represents a $436,828.00 drop in revenue, some plates have done quite well, with Endless Summer increasing 3% from $959,875.00 for the first half of 2019 to $987,000.00 for the first half of this year. Miami Heat saw a 13.5% increase in revenue from $550,400.00 to $624,700.00. The other top selling plates all saw a decline, with UF dropping from $1,045,975 to $993,200.00; Helping Sea Turtles Survive dropping from $901,255.00 to $886,696.00 and FSU dropping from $813,800.00 to $771,400.00.
Total new plate/new issue sales dropped 25% from 106,793 in the first six months of 2019, to 85,448 in the first six months of 2020. Despite this, some plates fared well, including Miami Marlins, Florida Sheriff's Association, Support Autism, UCF and the Tampa Bay Bucs and Lightning. Visit our Lights saw new plate sales increase from 364 to 778 and revenue increased 25% from $59,450.00 to $74,550.00.
Some plates saw significant declines in the first six months of 2020 compared to 2019, including Choose Life (-10.5%), from $190,960.00 to $171,040.00; Parents Make A Difference (-58%) from $17,925.00 to $7,725.00 and Protect Wild Dolphins (-6%) from $472,580.00 to $445,200.00.
Total revenue from the sale of Florida Specialty License Plates for the month of July, 2020 increased slightly to $2,983,780.00, compared to $2,919,801.00, for July 2019. New plate sales also increased to 19,448 from 18,779.
Miami Heat new plate sales increased to 1,249 for the month of July, 2020, compared to 880 in July, 2019 and revenue increased to $115,750.00 from $96,400.00.
Tampa Bay Bucs maintained their 'Brady effect' by increasing new plate sales for the month of July, 2020 to 867 compared to 513 last year and saw revenue increase to $85,300.00 from $73,700.00.
Endless Summer increased total revenue for July to $198,575.00 compared to $177,025.00 in July, 2019.
Some plates saw revenue declines for July 2020 compared to 2019, including UF, FSU, Golf Capital of the World, Protect Wild Dolphins, and Choose Life.
Statistics received from the DMV show that total revenue from specialty license plate sales in August, 2020 dropped to $2,701,403.00 from $2,798,122.00. New plate sales increased from 18,858 to 18,935, however, renewals of specialty plates fell from 101,595 to 96,784. Similarly, total non-specialty plate registrations fell from 1,189,727 in August 2019, to 1,131,144 for August 2020.
So far in 2020, through August 31, over $22 million has been raised from specialty license plate sales in Florida and 948,971 specialty plates have been sold/renewed.
Endless Summer was the highest grossing plate in August, 2020 with $182,075.00, increasing from $171,250.00.
Revenue for the Protect Wild Dolphins license plate for Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation continued to decline, from $76,000.00 in August, 2019 to $72,160.00 in August, 2020. Choose Life dropped from $31,700.00 to $25,820.00.

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