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Disabled Veteran Plate — One, Free
One disabled veteran plate free of charge — at 100% permanent total disability, or the loss-of-use and vision tests regardless of percentage. Further plates cost the regular fee.
Verified August 27, 2026
What this benefit is
One disabled veteran plate free of charge — at 100% permanent total disability, or the loss-of-use and vision tests regardless of percentage. Further plates cost the regular fee.
What it's worth: One disabled veteran plate, free of charge
- A vehicle displaying a disabled veteran's licence plate issued under TCA § 55-4-237, or a disabled placard, may park in spaces reserved for physically handicapped persons under TCA § 55-8-160(a)(15).
- The plate does the work of the placard for parking. A separate placard is not needed for that purpose.
Who is entitled to it
- You hold 100% service-connected permanent total disability.
- You are a Tennessee resident.
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
- 1Bring VA proof of the qualifying route — 100% permanent total, the loss or loss of use of feet or hands, or the statutory vision test.
- 2Ask for the free plate as the FIRST one. Only one is free; anything after it is charged at the regular fee, so put the free plate on the vehicle you actually keep.
- 3If you have held disabled veteran plates since before 19 May 2014, say so. That group was grandfathered to two free plates and the entitlement did not lapse.
- 4A Purple Heart plate can be taken instead of the DV plate where its own conditions are met — choose by what you want on the bumper, since the money is the same.
- File with
- Your county clerk
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
CorrectionThere is no half-fee second plate. This record used to say the second plate cost standard registration plus half the plate fee, which came from the section read on a reproduction. The Department of Revenue, citing the same section, says one plate is free and additional plates "may be purchased at the regular fee". The only veterans with two free plates are those grandfathered in on plates issued before 19 May 2014.
Worth knowingThe functional routes — loss or permanent loss of use of one or both feet or hands, or the 20/200 / 20-degree vision test — carry the free plate at any percentage, as long as VA compensation is drawn for them.
Known gapWe model the 100% route; the question bank does not yet ask about limb use or vision here.
Known gapTwo things in this record are no longer backed by anything we can read. The eligibility list — 100% permanent total, loss of use of feet or hands, the vision test — and the claim that REGISTRATION is free alongside the plate both came from the section text. The Department of Revenue article covers only how many plates are free, and Tennessee publishes its code through a commercial contractor with capitol.tn.gov refusing this network. Treat the eligibility routes as a good guide and the free registration as unverified.
Sources
- authority · published policyTennessee Department of Revenue — VR-13, Free Disabled Veteran Plate(s), on Tenn. Code Ann. §55-4-256 (article dated 25 April 2025)
- operating · published policyTennessee Department of Veterans Services — Veteran Specialty Plates
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.