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The Disabled Veteran Plate Parks Free — No Placard Required

Veh. Code §22511.5 gives the holder of a §5007 disabled veteran plate the same parking rights as a disabled person placard: unlimited time in time-limited zones, and no parking meter fees at all.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Veh. Code §22511.5 gives the holder of a §5007 disabled veteran plate the same parking rights as a disabled person placard: unlimited time in time-limited zones, and no parking meter fees at all.

What it's worth: Free metered parking and unlimited time in time-limited zones

  • §22511.5(a)(1) extends the parking privilege to a person displaying special licence plates issued under §5007 — the disabled veteran plates — as well as to a person displaying a distinguishing placard issued under §22511.55 or §22511.59.
  • §22511.5(a)(2) states that a disabled person or disabled veteran is allowed to park in any metered parking space without being required to pay parking meter fees.
  • §22511.5(a)(1) allows parking for unlimited periods in a zone restricted under §21458 and in any parking zone restricted as to the length of time parking is permitted.
  • §22511.5(a)(3) carves out the exceptions: the privileges do not apply where state law or a local ordinance absolutely prohibits stopping, parking or standing, and do not apply to spaces reserved for special types of vehicle.
  • The section treats the plate and the placard as alternatives, so a plate holder does not need a placard as well to obtain these privileges.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served in the U.S. armed forces.
  • You hold the disabled veteran plate the section names.
  • Your home is in California.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Get the §5007 disabled veteran plate first. The parking privilege hangs off that plate and nothing else in this section produces it.
  2. 2Stop paying meters. The statute is unconditional on this point — no meter fee is payable at all, not a reduced one.
  3. 3Do not overstay in a zone where stopping is absolutely prohibited, or in a space reserved for a particular type of vehicle. Those are the two carve-outs and they are the two places a ticket sticks.
  4. 4Skip the separate placard application unless you want a placard for a vehicle that does not carry the plate. The plate does the same work on the vehicle it is fitted to.
  5. 5If a parking officer disputes it, the section number is the thing to quote: it names the §5007 plate expressly alongside the placard.
File with
Nothing further to file once the §5007 plate is held
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
Stays in place once granted
File once. Tell the assessor when something changes.
This is the BASIC exemption. The low-income version does not work this way.

Get this one first

CorrectionElsewhere in this corpus the disabled veteran plate and the parking privilege are deliberately separated, and the veteran has to get a clinician to sign a second form. Here they are the same thing. A veteran arriving from a state that separates them will be paying meters they do not owe.
Worth knowingThe privilege belongs to the person, exercised through the plate or the placard. It is not a licence for anyone else to park the vehicle free while the veteran is elsewhere, and enforcement of that is what the misuse provisions in the surrounding sections exist for.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.