I have personal tags on my Boxster (in my state they call them "vanity plates"
). I ordered the plates in the time I had on my hands while waiting for delivery - all part of the excitement of first getting the car. After having them for a few years it has been a mixed bag...
- compliments from other Porsche/Boxster owners on the plates themselves (they get it)
- questions from others like "xxxyyy - what's that mean?" and then the inevitable "oh, OK" response showing they still don't get it
and then the annoying and dangerous:
- I was stuck in a traffic jam for 25 minutes with some rediculous teenage girl passenger in a car 1 lane beside and behind me calling out the plate wording at the top of her lungs the whole time (yes, all too true - I doubt she would have been yelling "123-ABC" the whole time if I had a generic plate, but then again... maybe she would have liked the sound of her own voice saying that too...)
- numerous situations of "sticky" tailgating closely behind me at highway speeds and similar rediculousness not related to any obvious action on my part (not cutting anyone off, etc.) - often by pickup trucks/SUVs and of all things minivans! (my plate also has remote connotations of my having big $$$ - which, though it isn't true, the car marque does nothing to dissuade)
and on the practical side:
- if you happen to like to speed, would you rather some highway cell phone vigilante having to remember some random six or seven digits or "TOO FST"? Which would stick out more to the highway patrol?
One other little bit of annoyance: in my state, vanity plates have to be renewed *every year* and for some reason they also require you to get a real live insurance stamp on the renewal form as well (standard plates have longer periods, don't require the stamp to be obtained, and can all be done by mail).
Other than for the sentimentality which has me still renewing them at this point, I don't think I'd go the custom plate route again...