A car without a front license plate in Green Bay. October 17, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Wisconsin is one of the 31 states that require cars to have both front and back license plates, but it’s not uncommon to see cars driving around the dairy state without front plates.
“I wouldn’t say it’s very common, but it’s definitely noticeable at times,” says Officer Matt Lenss with the Menasha Police Department.
Aside from the fact that it’s the law, Lenss says its a safety issue.
“Just recently, we had a crime committed and the suspect left in the vehicle and our officers observed that vehicle coming at them. And it was a very similar vehicle to a lot of other ones on the road. They recognized it based on that front license plate and were able to get behind it and conduct a traffic stop on the suspect. Had that vehicle not had a front license plate, it would have been much more difficult to identify that vehicle.”
The law has been in place since the 1980s. A ticket for not having a front license plate could cost up to $200.
There are some car brands that, for aesthetic reasons, don’t make dedicated spaces for a front plate; for example, Teslas or Corvettes.
However, most of those brands still include kits to mount a front license plate for those who live in one of the 31 states where they’re required.
“I was aware that it was required,” says Rachel Leonard about that front license plate law in Wisconsin.
Leonard and her husband both own Teslas, and they both openly choose not to put front license plates on them.
But Leonard says their decision isn’t because of the aesthetic; it’s aerodynamics and air flow.
“So, the front of a Tesla has a pretty flat fascia that looks pretty distinct, and it’s similar to also the Lucid Air, that when you look from the side profile, they have this cinch to the front that is clear for laminar flow. So, I didn’t want to impede by putting something in front of that.”
The numbers of citations and warnings for missing front license plates likely aren’t staggeringly high, though.
“It’s not a priority for us to stop vehicles without a front license plate,” Lenss says. “There’s a lot of other things that we are out there handling that we’re focusing on, speeding, speeding in schools, all those things like that, but it is a violation that we do notice from time to time, and we will stop people for not having a front license plate.”
Officials say it’s especially important for electric vehicles to have a front license plate. A more recent Wisconsin law required an ‘EV HYBRID’ sticker on both the front and back plates.
“Those stickers are very important because it tells our firefighters, it tells our battalion chief that we’re dealing with a high-powered electric vehicle,” says Assistant Chief Ray Fuiten with the Green Bay Metro Fire Department.
If it’s not obvious they’re dealing with an EV or a hybrid, the stickers are their instant notifier, especially on crash scenes. But, if there’s no front license plate, that’s one less identifier for first responders.
“There are different ways we will go about using our jaws of life to cut a car apart,” Fuiten says. “We won’t just start cutting if we know it’s an EV vehicle; we actually start to pull away the interior of the car. That’ll show us where all the electrical lines are.”
“I do want to comply with something if it’s for safety reasons,” Leonard says when asked about the EV stickers, which she does have on her rear license plate. “I did look up the statutes because I wanted to see, well, what am I afforded as a Tesla owner if I really don’t want to put some kind of protrusion on the vehicle?”
Leonard hopes that if there are reasons beyond the aesthetics that car makers don’t add front license plates, that states like Wisconsin will somehow meet halfway to find a solution for those drivers.
But for now…
“It is illegal to drive around without a front license plate. Are you going to get stopped all the time if you don’t have a front license plate? Well, of course not. There are a lot more traffic violations that we’re looking for. But it is against the law, and you could receive a ticket depending on the circumstances,” Officer Lenss says.
Wisconsin law also says front license plates must “be attached firmly and rigidly in a horizontal position and conspicuous place,” and must be legible. Drivers can be fined for license plates that are sitting on the front dashboard, too.
States like Pennsylvania and Florida are considering laws to require front license plates on vehicles.
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