New seven-figure license plates to be unveiled soon

OLYMPIA -- The state's Department of Licensing has changed its plans to make new seven-character license plate configurations easier to remember.

Starting this month or in early December, new license plates will have seven characters -- three letters, followed by four numbers (AAA1111), according to a news release by the licensing department.

The licensing department decided to abandon an earlier plate configuration plan -- a number, a letter, two more numbers, then three letters (1A11AAA) -- announced last month after consulting with law enforcement agencies.

The agency was contacted by a number of people asking for a reconsideration of the character arrangement, which would be difficult to remember, according to the release.

The change will not delay the department's ability to issue new plates on time. None of the new plates with the abandoned configuration had been produced, so no additional costs will be incurred, according to the release.

The new configuration will yield about 138 million possible combinations.