Delaware Disabled Veteran License Plates and Registration Fee Exemption

Two separate Delaware benefits for a veteran with a service-connected disability, with different tests. The disabled veteran plate. Title 21, section 2138 lets a veteran apply for a plate with the letters "DAV" on a passenger vehicle or a truck of three-quarter ton or less. There are two routes and either works. The first is a veteran with a disability "of any war, the Korean conflict, the Viet Nam conflict, Operation Desert Storm or other military conflict on foreign soil in which United States armed forces were formally engaged in battle", certified by the Defense Department. The second, which is what nearly everyone uses, is that "the United States Department of Veterans Affairs certifies that the applicant meets the qualifications of being a veteran with a service-connected disability". No percentage is stated, so any service-connected rating qualifies, including zero percent. The original application costs a $10 administrative fee and there is no charge beyond the ordinary annual registration. It can be your disability parking plate. Subsection (d): if you or a member of your household also has a disability that would qualify for a Delaware disability plate, the DAV plate is issued with the wheelchair symbol and is treated "in all respects" as a disability plate. One plate does both jobs. A surviving spouse may transfer the plate to a vehicle the spouse owns. The registration fee exemption is narrower and worth more. Title 21, section 2164: a motor vehicle owned by a veteran with a disability "who shall ever have been eligible for certain benefits under 38 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq." is registered with no registration fee, for one automobile at a time, with distinctive plates at no cost. Chapter 39 of Title 38 is the VA automobile and adaptive equipment grant, available to a veteran with service-connected loss or permanent loss of use of a hand or foot, permanent impairment of vision, severe burn injury, or ankylosis of a knee or hip, and in some cases ALS. The words "ever have been eligible" mean you do not have to have used the grant, only to have qualified for it. Inspection is still required. The Army benefits library describes this as requiring a vehicle bought or modified with VA funds; the statute says eligibility is enough. Delaware's other disability-based vehicle benefits, the prisoner of war, Purple Heart and valor plates, are in the military plates entry.