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Iowa Code § 321.37

Display of plates

Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case State of Iowa v. Tommy Tyler, Jr. (2013)

Most recently applied in Jared Clinton v. Ryan Garrett (September 2022)

[S13, §1571-m11; C24, 27, 31, 35, §4877; C39, §5001.21; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §321.37]

How often courts cite this section

20122020202230
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. Registration plates issued for a motor vehicle other than an autocycle, motorcycle, motorized bicycle, or truck tractor shall be attached to the motor vehicle, one in the front and the other in the rear. The registration plate issued for an autocycle, motorcycle, or other vehicle required to be registered under this chapter shall be attached to the rear of the vehicle. The registration plate issued for a truck tractor shall be attached to the front of the truck tractor. The special plate issued to a dealer shall be attached on the rear of the vehicle when operated on the highways of this state.

2. A motor vehicle, other than a truck registered for more than five tons, autocycle, motorcycle, or truck tractor, which is model year 1948 or older, and a reconstructed or specially constructed vehicle built to resemble a model year 1948 vehicle or older, may display one registration plate on the rear of the vehicle if the other registration plate issued to the vehicle is carried in the vehicle at all times when the vehicle is operated on a public highway.

3. It is unlawful for the owner of a vehicle to place any frame around or over the registration plate which does not permit full view of all numerals and letters printed on the registration plate.

84 Acts, ch 1305, §50; 90 Acts, ch 1233, §16; 97 Acts, ch 104, §11; 2016 Acts, ch 1098, §12; 2025 Acts, ch 30, §56

For applicable scheduled fine, see §805.8A, subsection 2

Subsections 1 and 2 amended

Official source: Iowa Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Iowa statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.