Flat Plates Are Coming for Boone, Howard, Cooper Drivers

Drivers in Boone, Howard, Cooper and Callaway counties will see Missouri’s license plates change: flat plates have begun replacing raised-letter ones, with seven-digit numbers coming in February 2027. The Missouri Department of Revenue announced the transition Oct. 23.

What the state announced

The department is moving from embossed plates, with raised letters and numbers, to flat plates. It is also moving from six-digit to seven-digit plate numbers. Director Trish Vincent said in the release: “We are running out of six-digit configurations for plates.” She called the shift to flat plates “an important step in modernizing our process.”

Seven-digit flat plates will start going out when the department’s new FUSION system goes live, which the release puts in February 2027. Motorcycle plates and certain specialty plates are excepted from that rollout. The release does not say how those will be handled.

What it means for local drivers

For now, anyone in our four counties who asks for a replacement for a lost, stolen or damaged vehicle or trailer plate will get a six-digit flat plate. The release does not mention fees, and it does not say whether current embossed plates must be swapped out, so check with the department or your license office before assuming either way.

FUSION is the same system behind the changes to how Missouri handles car sales tax and temporary tags. Rocheport Times has covered the delay of that system to February 2027 and what buyers will do differently when it arrives. For other recent changes that touch drivers here, see our story on the higher penalties for passing a stopped school bus.