Whiskey Plates and Plate Impoundment in Minnesota

What Plate Impoundment Is

Under Minn. Stat. § 169A.60, in certain DWI situations the arresting officer can issue a plate impoundment order on the spot, requiring the regular plates to be surrendered. The vehicle owner is typically given a short temporary permit (commonly seven days if the owner was the driver, longer if someone else owns the vehicle), after which special plates must be obtained to drive the vehicle legally.

What Triggers Plate Impoundment

Plate impoundment is reserved for more serious or aggravated DWI situations. It can be triggered when:

• It's a first offense with an alcohol concentration of 0.16% or more (twice the legal limit);
• It's a DWI with a child under 16 in the vehicle (where the child is more than 36 months younger than the driver);
• It's a second or subsequent DWI within 10 years;
• It's a test refusal combined with a qualifying prior within 10 years; or
• It involves driving after cancellation as "inimical to public safety" (DAC/IPS).

A "qualified prior impaired driving incident" — a prior DWI conviction or alcohol-related license revocation within 10 years — is what pushes many of these into impoundment territory.

The "W" Plates — and How to Avoid Them

If impoundment stands, the registered owner obtains specially-coded plates that begin with "W" (commonly called "whiskey plates"), generally required for a minimum of one year. But there's an important modern option:

• Ignition interlock instead of whiskey plates. A driver can generally avoid the W-plates entirely by enrolling in the ignition interlock program — installing a breath-testing device in exchange for keeping ordinary plates and driving privileges. For many people this is far preferable to displaying the visible DWI marker.
• There are also limited circumstances in which a person can obtain regular (non-W) plates while working toward full reinstatement.

Whiskey Plates Don't Justify a Stop by Themselves

A common worry is that W-plates invite constant police stops. Importantly, the Minnesota Supreme Court held (in State v. Henning) that police cannot stop a vehicle solely because it has whiskey plates — an officer needs independent reasonable suspicion (such as a traffic violation or equipment problem) to make a stop. That said, the plates do make a vehicle conspicuous, and any actual traffic infraction can supply a basis for a stop.

Use and Transfer Restrictions

While a vehicle is under an impoundment order, there are restrictions on using and transferring it:

• The vehicle generally can't be sold or transferred during the impoundment except under specific, verified conditions (and it's a crime to use a sham transfer to let the violator keep driving the vehicle).
• In some situations a qualified (licensed) driver in the household can be identified to drive the vehicle.
• If the vehicle was already sold or destroyed before the violation but the registration wasn't transferred, the order can sometimes be rescinded with a proper sworn statement.

Challenging a Plate Impoundment Order

You can petition for judicial review of a plate impoundment order, but the deadline is short and strict — it runs from when you receive the order, and missing it can end your ability to challenge. The petition must identify the petitioner and the violator, the agency that issued the order, the date, and the specific grounds for rescission, and it must be properly served on the Commissioner of Public Safety.

Don't guess on the deadline. Because the window is short, measured from the date you receive the order, and easy to miscalculate, confirm your exact deadline immediately — ideally with a lawyer — the moment you get an impoundment order. Where possible, review of the impoundment is coordinated with the implied-consent license-revocation review (see our page on challenging a license revocation).

Getting Regular Plates Back

After the impoundment period and upon meeting the requirements, the registrar will reissue regular plates for the vehicle. Note that a "flag" can remain on the registration record, and there are fees associated both with obtaining the special plates and with returning to regular plates.

How Plate Impoundment Fits With Other DWI Consequences

Plate impoundment is separate from:

• The criminal DWI case (jail/fines/degrees) — see our DWI penalties page;
• The license revocation (implied consent) — see our implied consent page; and
• Vehicle forfeiture, which is a more severe consequence (losing the vehicle entirely) reserved for the most serious cases — see our DWI vehicle forfeiture page.

A single DWI can trigger several of these at once, which is why understanding each — and the interlock option that can soften several of them — matters.

Key Terms

• Plate impoundment: Seizure of regular plates after a qualifying DWI.
• Whiskey plates: Special "W" plates required during impoundment.
• Ignition interlock bypass: Enrolling in interlock to avoid whiskey plates.
• Qualified prior: A prior DWI or revocation within 10 years that helps trigger impoundment.
• Judicial review: The court challenge to an impoundment order, subject to a short deadline.