vehiclesstate

The Disabled Veteran Plate Is Already a Parking Permit

A vehicle displaying the disabled veteran plate may park without time limitation where parking is restricted by time, and may park in any space reserved for a person with a disability. The parking statute names the disabled veteran plate alongside the medical-certification plate. There is no second application, no physician certificate and no placard to obtain.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Unlimited time in time-restricted parking, and access to reserved disability spaces

The privilege attaches to the plate on a vehicle used in transporting the person with the disability.
A municipality may still prohibit parking on a street or highway to create a fire lane, or to accommodate heavy traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours.
The privilege does not apply on streets or highways where and when parking is prohibited outright.
The disabled veteran plate itself requires a statutory benefit for loss or loss of use of one or more extremities, a veteran’s allotment for a total service-connected disability, or a K Award, with the disability incurred on active duty in wartime or in a military mission involving armed conflict.

Who is entitled to it

The plate is issued on your own service-connected disability.
Your discharge is within range for the military specialty plates.
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

1Take out the disabled veteran plate through the county treasurer. That is the whole application — the parking right follows the plate.
2Do not go through the medical route as well. §32-30-11.1 names the disabled veteran plate directly, so a physician certificate adds nothing.
3A comparable plate or certificate issued by another jurisdiction is honoured here, and the reverse is a separate question — ask before travelling.
4A disabled veteran who would rather not advertise it may take standard county plates instead under §32-5-157.1 and pay the §32-5-160 fees; the parking privilege then does not follow, because it is written to the plate.

Form: Nothing to file — it attaches to the plate
File with: Your county treasurer, when you take out the plate
Documents you will need: va benefit summary letter
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

Get this one first

Disabled Veteran Plate — $10 a Year Instead of Registration Fees

CorrectionThe common advice is that a disabled veteran must get a physician to certify a substantial physical disability and then apply for a portable certificate. Read §32-30-11.1: it names subdivision 32-5-157(2) — the disabled veteran plate — as a qualifying display in its own right. The medical route is for people without that plate.

Worth knowingThe trade-off in §32-5-157.1 is real. Since 2024 a disabled veteran may take standard county plates instead of the disabled veteran plate. That buys privacy and costs the parking privilege, because the privilege is written to the plate rather than to the person.

Sources

authority · statuteSDCL 32-30-11.1 — persons with physical disabilities entitled to park without time limitation; plates under §32-5-76 or subdivision 32-5-157(2)
operating · statuteSDCL 32-5-157(2) — eligibility for the disabled veteran plate
corroboration · statuteSDCL 32-5-76.1 — portable certificates on medical certification (the route a veteran does not need)

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