> I was surprised to find out that in the USA you get new plates
every year -- here they go with the car for its lifetime. Annual
re-registration of your car is policed by a sticker on the inside of the
windshield.

In Indiana, you get a new plate every four years or so - they change
the design periodically. Every year you get a sticker to put on your
plate.

The layout of the letters and numbers is two numbers, which identify
your county (they go alphabetically - Montgomery county is 54, for
example), then a letter (they start with A in each county and go
through the alphabet as needed) then 4 numbers, which are
randomly assigned. The month your plate expires in corresponds to
the first letter of your last name. So, my grandmother, last name
Moore, living in Montgomery county, had a plate 54A1569, expiring
in June. It's great, because you can tell if someone is from out of
town - makes it a little easier to understand if they're driving like
they're lost or something.

Luisa