TAGGED IN DELAWARE

Readers of this column are no doubt aware that some Delaware residents take a keen interest in low-numbered Delaware vehicle tags. A pair of low-digit, Delaware tags sold at auctions this past October; #37 for $282,000 and #426 for $75,000. While Clarence Marshall once owned Delaware Tag 8, the Stanley Model 76 displays Clarence’s Delaware tag 76 making the Stanley unique in Delaware as the only vehicle with its model or series number also used as its registration and license plate number!

In addition to the standard automobile digits-only Delaware tag, there are twenty-three specialty tags issued for use on Delaware registered vehicles. Vanity tags are in addition to a standard motor vehicle registration tag and must be carried in the car while displaying the vanity tag on the rear bumper. The vanity tag or the standard registration tag are the only Delaware tags that may be legally displayed on the front of a vehicle with the provision that the vehicle’s issued vanity tag is displayed at the rear of the vehicle.

Delaware’s population is slightly over 990,000 residents as of October 2021. There are nearly as many Delaware motor vehicle registration tags issued as of October 2021 as there are residents. How many total motor vehicle registration tags have been issued to Delaware residents, businesses, corporations, including the state and county vehicle issued tags?

Answer