Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Delaware benefits
vehiclesstate

The Parking Placard Is Free for Eight Years — and a Disabled Veteran Plate Does Not Get You One

The Division may not charge a fee to issue or reissue a disability parking placard, and a permanent permit runs eight years. What it will not do is take a VA rating as proof. The certification must come from a physician, physician associate or advanced practice nurse. The one veteran-specific route is §2138(d): apply for the disabled veteran plate and show separately that you meet the §2134 disability test, and the plate is then treated as a disability plate and carries the wheelchair symbol.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The Division may not charge a fee to issue or reissue a disability parking placard, and a permanent permit runs eight years. What it will not do is take a VA rating as proof. The certification must come from a physician, physician associate or advanced practice nurse. The one veteran-specific route is §2138(d): apply for the disabled veteran plate and show separately that you meet the §2134 disability test, and the plate is then treated as a disability plate and carries the wheelchair symbol.

What it's worth: Placard free to issue and reissue; permanent permit valid 8 years

  • The statute forbids a fee for issuing or reissuing a placard but requires a charge covering the actual replacement cost of a lost or damaged one.
  • A permanent permit expires 8 years from issue. A temporary permit may not exceed 180 days. An organisation permit runs 3 years.
  • The special disability licence PLATE is a separate thing with its own fee cap: it may not exceed the fee for a standard plate of the same vehicle class.

Who is entitled to it

  • You served, so the §2138(d) combination route is worth knowing about.
  • You are in this state.

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. 1Do not send the VA rating letter and expect it to work. §2135(b) requires the signature of an individual licensed under chapter 17 or chapter 19 of Title 24 — a physician, physician associate or advanced practice nurse — on the Division's own form.
  2. 2Match your condition to the statutory list before you ask a practitioner to sign. §2134(a) names six: cannot walk 200 feet without resting; cannot walk safely without a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device; a specified severity of lung disease; portable oxygen; a Class III or Class IV cardiac condition; or severe limitation from an arthritic, neurological or orthopaedic condition.
  3. 3Use the veteran route if it fits, because it saves a plate. §2138(d)(1) lets an applicant for the disabled veteran plate who also proves a §2134 disability be issued a plate that counts in all respects as a disability plate, with the wheelchair symbol added.
  4. 4Ask for the placard as well as the plate. §2134(c) says in terms that issuing a special plate does not preclude issuing one removable windshield placard under §2135.
  5. 5Diarise eight years, and know that renewal is not automatic — a new permanent permit means a fresh certification.
  6. 6Do not pay for a placard. If an office asks for a fee for issue or reissue, the statute says it may not charge one; a replacement-cost charge for a lost or damaged placard is the only permitted exception.
Form
Departmental special licence plate or placard application form, signed by the certifying practitioner
File with
Division of Motor Vehicles
Periodic recertification
Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.
CorrectionA disabled veteran plate is not a disability parking plate here. §2138 issues it on a Defense Department or VA certification of a service-connected disability; §2134 issues parking rights on a mobility test signed by a clinician. The two overlap only where §2138(d) is used deliberately.
Worth knowingThis record is marked as general disability law rather than a veteran benefit. The permit is open to any resident who meets the mobility test, and the veteran-specific content is the combination route and the correction.

Sources

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