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The Disabled Veteran Plate That Actually Parks — Two Signatures, Not One
There are two disabled veteran plates here and only one of them uses accessible parking. Form DMV-48-DI, the Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired plate, requires authorisation from the Department of Veterans Assistance and a licensed physician, and its own certification boxes ask for a federal vehicle grant or a 100 percent total and permanent rating plus a physician’s finding on walking.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
There are two disabled veteran plates here and only one of them uses accessible parking. Form DMV-48-DI, the Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired plate, requires authorisation from the Department of Veterans Assistance and a licensed physician, and its own certification boxes ask for a federal vehicle grant or a 100 percent total and permanent rating plus a physician’s finding on walking.
What it's worth: A disabled veteran plate that authorises use of accessible parking, on a double certification
- The Division of Motor Vehicles describes form DMV-48-DI, Application for a Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired License Plate, as: "Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired license plate application. This license plate is only for those who are veterans and who qualify for a handicap plate/placard. Must be authorized by both the department of veteran assistance and a licensed physician."
- The Division describes the separate form DMV-48-D, Application for a Disabled Veteran License Plate, as: "Disabled veteran license plate application. Must be authorized by the department of veteran assistance." It says nothing about parking or about a physician.
- Form DMV-48-DI was retrieved this session and its certification fields include the applicant’s declarations "I have received a grant from the Federal Government to be applied toward the purchase" and "I have a 100% total and permanent service connected disability as rated", and a physician section carrying "Has received a vehicle grant under PL 663, PL 187-82, or PL 77-90", "Has been determined to have 100% total and permanent service connected disability", "Patient cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest", and "Patient cannot walk without the use of or assistance from a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assisted device", together with a lung-function criterion measured by spirometry.
- The physician section of the form asks for the physician’s medical licence number, business address and telephone number.
- The Division’s ordinary route to a handicap credential is form DMV-41-TR, described as "This is the application for a mobility impaired person to receive a Mobility Impaired Placard or Plate- Individual. Also called a handicap or disability placard or plate", filed under Medical and Disability rather than under Military License Plates.
- The Department of Veterans Assistance states that special plates and disabled veteran tags go to veterans who qualify for federal Department of Veterans Affairs auto grant benefits or who have a 100 percent permanent and total service-connected disability rating.
Who is entitled to it
- The plate is issued on the veteran’s own certification.
- A 100 percent total and permanent service connected disability is one of the two certification routes on the form.
- Your home is in the 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 of the two veteran plates you are asking for. DMV-48-D is the plain disabled veteran plate. DMV-48-DI is the one described as being "only for those who are veterans and who qualify for a handicap plate/placard".
- 2Collect two authorisations, not one. The Division states that the mobility impaired veteran plate must be authorised by both the Department of Veterans Assistance and a licensed physician.
- 3Take the form to the physician appointment. The physician section asks about a federal vehicle grant, about a 100 percent total and permanent rating, and about specific walking criteria — 200 feet without resting, and walking without a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device.
- 4The physician will be asked for a medical licence number and a business address, so a walk-in clinic signature on a scrap of letterhead will not do.
- 5If your rating is lower than 100 percent but you cannot walk far, do not give up — apply on form DMV-41-TR for the ordinary mobility impaired placard or plate, which is a medical route with no rating in it at all.
- 6A federal vehicle grant is an alternative to the rating. The form names PL 663, PL 187-82 and PL 77-90 as the grants that count.
- Form
- DMV-48-DI for the mobility impaired veteran plate; DMV-41-TR for an ordinary mobility impaired placard or plate
- File with
- W. Va. Department of Veterans Assistance and a licensed physician, then the Division of Motor Vehicles
- Documents you will need
- va benefit summary letter
- Annual
- Claimed once a year.
CorrectionHolding a disabled veteran plate does not by itself open an accessible parking space here. The plate that does is a separate application with a separate name and a physician’s signature on it.
Worth knowingThe federal vehicle grant route is the one veterans forget. A veteran who received an automobile grant under PL 663, PL 187-82 or PL 77-90 satisfies the first half of the test without any reference to a percentage.
Known gapNo fee, term or renewal cycle for either plate was published on any page read this session, and code.wvlegislature.gov refused retrieval again, so the statutory provisions behind both plates were not read.
Sources
- authority · agencyW. Va. Division of Motor Vehicles, forms index (read 23 August 2026): "Application for a Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired License Plate — Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired license plate application. This license plate is only for those who are veterans and who qualify for a handicap plate/placard. Must be authorized by both the department of veteran assistance and a licensed physician. DMV-48-DI. Military License Plates"; "Application for a Disabled Veteran License Plate — Disabled veteran license plate application. Must be authorized by the department of veteran assistance. DMV-48-D. Military License Plates"; and "Parking Application for a Mobility Impaired Person — This is the application for a mobility impaired person to receive a Mobility Impaired Placard or Plate- Individual. Also called a handicap or disability placard or plate. DMV-41-TR. Medical and Disability"
- operating · agencyW. Va. Division of Motor Vehicles, Application for a Disabled Veteran Mobility Impaired License Plate, form DMV-48-DI (retrieved 23 August 2026; certification fields read from the form itself include the applicant declarations "I have received a grant from the Federal Government to be applied toward the purchase" and "I have a 100% total and permanent service connected disability as rated", and a physician certification section carrying "Has received a vehicle grant under PL 663, PL 187-82, or PL 77-90", "Has been determined to have 100% total and permanent service connected disability", "Patient cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest", "Patient cannot walk without the use of or assistance from a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assisted device" and a spirometry-measured lung function criterion, together with fields for the physician's medical licence number, business address and telephone number)
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