As of April 4, 2020, the Department of Motor Vehicles is closed due to the Corona Virus Pandemic, and will be until further notice. This is delaying the roll out of the new "Excelsior" base plates that was supposed to begin being distributed on April 1, 2020. No new legislation has been introduced regarding plate inspection of the blue and white "Empire State" plates, or the "Empire Gold" Plates, to see if they may be kept upon re-registration. The original plan was to have licence plates that were 10 years or older, be replaced with with the new design because most older plates are damaged or peeling. Registrants were to be charged and additional $25 for a new set of plates, and another $20 to keep their current serial number. The governor wanted to replace the current plates as New York State moves towards cashless tolling, and damaged plates cannot be read by the plate readers. This may allow vehicles to pass the readers without being charged the toll, costing the state a significant amount of money annually. There are more than 3 million cars on the road with plates older than 10 years. Public outcry over the fees ultimately lead to the Governor dropping the mandatory replacement plan. Since the plan was introduced in August 2019, legislation felt it had time to reach another agreement on how the new base plates should be implemented. Since April 1, 2020, the original roll out date of the Excelsior license plates, no details have been released on when the plates will be available, or about inspection of older plates, and whether they may be kept. Awaiting further information from the Governors office and New York State Legislation.
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