44 wild license plates recently banned by the SAAQ, from “HAWKTUAH” to “LICKASS”

Nearly a decade has passed since the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ) first allowed drivers to personalize their license plates.

Over the years, we’ve seen everything from quirky catchphrases to bold nicknames lighting up our roads. But not every creative number and letter combo makes it onto the pavement.

With that in mind, MTL Blog recently reached out to Gino Desrosiers, the SAAQ’s media relations coordinator, who was kind enough to share the full list of rejected license plates from March 1, 2024, to January 31, 2025, with us.

But before we dive into the bizarre and sometimes NSFW plate rejections, let’s quickly go over the SAAQ’s rules. Here’s what will get your personalized plate denied in Quebec, as per the SAAQ:

• It is already assigned to someone else.
• It doesn’t follow the alphanumeric rules (number of characters, order, sequence).
• It doesn’t meet road safety code rules or includes a message that suggests the owner is a public authority, peace officer, or government worker.
• Disregards road safety.
• Has obscene, scandalous, or sexual content.
• Uses offensive or derogatory language.
• Encourages criminal activity.
• Could be confused with another plate (e.g., MAG1 and MAGI).
• Is illegal or is a registered trademark.

With these rules in mind, we’ve pulled together some of the most outrageous, eye-catching, and just plain weird license plates the SAAQ rejected over the past year.

To keep things fun and organized, we’ve split them into a few categories, showing off the creative (and occasionally inappropriate) ideas people tried to get onto the road.

This article contains graphic content that might not be suitable for some readers.

Safety-sensitive submissions

A few applicants made plates that, well, didn’t exactly send the best message when it comes to road safety. These combinations suggested a disregard for safety or even encouraged criminal activity.

• ROADKL
• SPEEDYY
• SPEEDUP
• BLIND
• TEKILAA
• LABATT5
• M0JIT0S
• 2FASTC4
• BEERGUY
• FMYLIFE
• FKGFAST
• PQLICE
• HEYC0PS

Confusing submissions

Some submissions featured letter and number combinations that were likely designed to be easily misinterpreted or resemble other plates. The following plates didn’t make the cut because they could lead to mix-ups on the road:

NSFW submissions

A lot of the folks we share the road with have dirty minds. Without any filters in place, these license plate ideas would’ve definitely raised some eyebrows.

The sheer number of submissions referencing the “Hawk Tuah” meme was honestly baffling.

While we had to leave out a few that were just too vulgar to share, here are the ones we can safely show you:

• 4SSHOLE
• SUCKMEE
• TIPENIS
• CALISSS
• LICKASS
• 50DOMI3
• DICKPILL
• MTFKA
• SMOLPP
• TABRNAQ
• PHUCKER
• B0UBIES
• MUDRFKR
• HAWKTAA
• HAKTUA
• HUAKTUA
• HAWKTHH
• HUCKTUA
• HWKTUA
• HAWKT0A
• HAKTUAH
• HWKTUAH
• H0KTUAH
• HUKTUAH
• AWKTUAH
• HAWKTAH
• HAWKTUH
• HAWKTUA

In the meantime, people will have to settle for expressing themselves the old-fashioned way: with bumper stickers.