California is changing its license plates for the first time in 46 years—what L.A. drivers should know

Look closely at the car in front of you on the 405. If its California license plate looks a little wrong, you’re not imagining things.

California is rolling out a new standard license plate sequence for the first time in 46 years, and the new format has already started appearing on cars around Los Angeles. But for once in California, the change isn't just for aesthetic purposes. The truth is much more pragmatic: We ran out of numbers.

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Since 1980, the state’s standard license plates have followed the same basic formula, with one number, three letters and three numbers.

“The long-existing California license plate 9-series configuration, which began with 1AAA000 in 1980, ended with the production of the 9ZZZ999 plate this year,” Ronald Ongtoaboc, spokesperson for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, told the Los Angeles Times. But don't expect to see the new plates right away. "There are more than 110,000 plates with the '0AAA000' format that remain to be issued and are stored throughout DMV and auto club offices across California,” Ongtoaboc added.

The replacement is essentially the old format turned inside out. New plates will feature three numbers, three letters and one number, producing combinations that look like 000AAA0. (Although of course vanity plates will still proliferate.)

The California Department of Motor Vehicles began producing the new-format plates earlier this year, and the plates have already started being issued to registered vehicles. But don't expect the new sequence to change again anytime soon. According to the DMV, the new configuration contains more than 100 million possible combinations and is expected to last roughly 40 years based on historical registration data.

California’s plates are still manufactured at Folsom State Prison, where more than 100 inmates work in the license-plate factory. Today's plates are made from aluminum with reflective sheeting, rather than the steel used for the state's earliest plates.

So keep your eyes peeled the next time you're stuck in L.A. traffic. Between the bumper stickers, vanity plates and that one car covered in annoying bumper stickers, you now have another thing to spot: the California license plate of the future.