Four Motor Vehicle Fee Exemptions, and Free Parking With the Plate
No driver licence fee for a veteran who is an amputee or paraplegic with a federally supplied vehicle, or who is rated permanently and totally disabled. No registration fee for a totally blind veteran, for an amputee or paraplegic veteran, or for a former prisoner of war. And a disabled veteran plate carrying the accessibility symbol parks free in any city or town.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
No driver licence fee for a veteran who is an amputee or paraplegic with a federally supplied vehicle, or who is rated permanently and totally disabled. No registration fee for a totally blind veteran, for an amputee or paraplegic veteran, or for a former prisoner of war. And a disabled veteran plate carrying the accessibility symbol parks free in any city or town.
What it's worth: No driver licence fee and no vehicle registration fee on the qualifying grounds, plus free parking time in any city or town with a disabled veteran plate bearing the accessibility symbol
- The licence fee exemption is stated for a veteran who is an amputee or paraplegic and received a vehicle from the federal department, and for a veteran classified permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability (RSA 263:42).
- Registration fee exemptions are stated for a veteran classified totally blind from a service-connected disability (RSA 261:159), for a war veteran who is an amputee or paraplegic or lost the use of a limb from a service-connected cause where a vehicle or cash settlement was received (RSA 261:157), and under RSA 261:141, VIII for those categories together with a former prisoner of war captured during a qualifying war or armed conflict.
- The free parking provision applies to a vehicle bearing special disabled veteran plates with the international accessibility symbol, under the direct control of the owner (RSA 265:73).
- The department does not publish the dollar value of any of these fees.
Who is entitled to it
- You hold a service-connected rating, which is where these exemptions start.
- 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
- 1Work out which specific ground you are on before you go. These are four separate provisions with four different tests, and a general disability rating is not itself one of them — total and permanent, blindness, amputation or paraplegia, and prisoner-of-war status are.
- 2Bring the federal certification that names the condition, not just the combined rating. The offices are matching you to a described condition, and a percentage on its own often will not do it.
- 3Registration in this state begins at the town or city, so raise the registration exemption there and the licence exemption at the motor vehicles office. Asking one about the other is how a claim gets lost between them.
- 4Former prisoners of war should read RSA 261:141, VIII specifically. Prisoner-of-war status is a route to the registration exemption that has nothing to do with a disability rating.
- 5If you have a disabled veteran plate, check whether it carries the international accessibility symbol. Free parking in any city or town attaches to the symbol, not to the plate alone.
- 6Re-check at each renewal rather than assuming the exemption carries forward. Fee exemptions on vehicles are commonly re-established each cycle.
- Form
- Claimed at the motor vehicles office, with the federal certification of the qualifying condition
- File with
- The Division of Motor Vehicles, and the town or city for the registration side
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter · va rating decision
- At each renewal
- Claimed again whenever the underlying licence or registration renews.
Sources
- authority · published policyDepartment of Military Affairs and Veterans Services — NH State Benefits for Veterans, Division of Motor Vehicles benefits (citing RSA 263:42, RSA 261:157, RSA 261:159, RSA 261:141, VIII and RSA 265:73)
- operating · published policyDepartment of Military Affairs and Veterans Services — printable state benefits summary
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