Louisville woman gets personalized license plate back after weeks of concern

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Kentucky woman who was suddenly denied her personalized license plate earlier this year now has the plate back.

Since the late 1980s, Debra Humphrey has driven around Louisville with her first name on her license plate. It's been a point of pride for her through the decades, and Humphrey has kept more than 25 of those personalized plates.

Humphrey said her father first bought her the DEBRA plate years ago and since his passing, she's kept up the tradition. But this July when she tried putting the plate on her new vehicle, she ran into an issue she'd never had before. She said she was told someone else also had a DEBRA license plate. Humphrey had to give up the plate she's coveted, because of a problem stemming from Kentucky's new system to renew motor vehicle registrations.

The state launched KAVIS — its new vehicle registration renewal system — in January, and it caused a slew of problems at local branches throughout the state. Dealerships and drivers have had major delays with registrations and titles.

In July, Ashley Tinius, director of communications for the Jefferson County Clerk's Office, said there are several types of specialty plates in Kentucky, and, under the old AVIS system, as long as the plate was a different style, people could have the same combination of letters and numbers.

But she said KAVIS changed that.

"In this case, 'DEBRA' was issued to a UofL plate and a Kentucky Horse Council plate," Tinius said. "That was OK in AVIS, but, with the new KAVIS system, you cannot have the same letter combination, word combination."

The office said these types of issues go beyond this case.

"Even with the regular state of Kentucky plates, we're finding that there's still issues," Tinius said in July. "Even the non-specialty plates, you're getting kicked out of the system."

This summer, Humphrey said she went to the Jefferson County Clerk's Office three separate times trying to get the issue resolved. Eventually, thinking she'd never get the plate again, several weeks later she was notified the DEBRA plate was now available again. 

In mid-September, Humphrey got her plate back. It took two trips to the clerk's office downtown, but she left happy, putting the DEBRA plate on her new car Sept. 24. 

"I can't say enough about this downtown office. I was able to observe them helping other people besides myself and I won't go anyplace else but them from now on. They were great," said Humphrey.

According to Tinius, the other person with the DEBRA plate got a different plate, freeing this one back up to go to Humphrey. 

"I'm not really sure the process. I think that (the office) did talk to people in Frankfort and I think they also talked to the other person that owned the other plate," said Humphrey. 

She also wanted to thank the person who previously had the other DEBRA plate. 

"... for helping me and letting me have the plate," Humphrey said.

In a statement Sept. 19, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said, "Another vehicle owner obtained the DEBRA license plate in 2022 due to a deficiency in AVIS (our former vehicle registration system). The new KAVIS system successfully prevents that error from occurring now by not allowing duplicate text. The Transportation Cabinet contacted the vehicle owners of the DEBRA plate and is working to resolve the conflict by restoring the plate to the original plateholder today."  

Humphrey said she's not risking it again and will stick with the car she has for life with this DEBRA plate now secured.

"This is it. This is it. This is the final one. I'm not ever going to change. I'll never buy another car, anything. I won't ever touch this," she said.

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