Navigating UCF Car Tag and Parking Requirements

For students, faculty, and staff at the University of Central Florida (UCF), understanding the car tag and parking permit system is crucial for a smooth campus experience. This article outlines the requirements and processes related to UCF car tags and parking permits, including virtual permits, specialty plates, and important regulations.

Specialty License Plates and Gift Certificates

The state of Florida offers a variety of specialty license plates, including an official UCF plate, allowing drivers to show their support for Knight Nation. New specialty license plates were authorized during the 2020 legislative session, with the pre-sale process beginning October 16, 2020.

A gift certificate program is available for specialty license plates. Upon payment of the statutorily authorized annual use fee, a gift certificate may be purchased at any authorized motor vehicle office (e.g., state motor vehicle office, local tax collector office or license plate tag agency) for any of the specialty license plates currently available in Florida. At the time of purchase, a receipt will be provided, and a credit will be issued in the name of the gift recipient, which can then be redeemed by the recipient at the time the specialty license plate is purchased. The gift certificate does not have to be purchased and redeemed at the same office. The gift certificate is not required to be presented to redeem the credit, just proper identification.

Special requirement plates are a subtype of specialty license plates. Florida is honored to provide military license plates to individuals that have served our country. All military plates except the Medal of Honor plates are available at a local motor vehicle service center. Requests to order Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross, Navy Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and World War II Veteran plates MUST be submitted to the Department for processing. Personalized license plates may be ordered in person at motor vehicle service center throughout Florida.

When you Knight Your Ride, you also support UCF scholarships, including unlocking incredible opportunities for first-generation students. Yes! You can request a custom plate number - subject to availability and additional fees. To avoid paying additional fees, you can wait until your tag renewal period before switching to the UCF plate.

Virtual Parking Permits and License Plate Recognition (LPR)

UCF has transitioned to a virtual parking permit system using License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology. This system eliminates the need for physical permits, making the process more efficient and sustainable.

How LPR Works

License Plate Recognition (LPR) is smart parking technology that provides virtual permits through a vehicle’s license plate instead of paper permits or plastic hangtags. LPR increases parking efficiency on campus, provides convenience for UCF’s constituents and offers a touchless approach to attaining permit credentials. With LPR, your license plate is your virtual permit! The license plate is captured by cameras mounted on enforcement vehicles or inside parking garages. When read, the numbers of your plate are automatically referenced against the parking database to verify proper parking privileges for the designated location.

Faculty, staff, and students can register their vehicle’s license plate information into the online parking system when purchasing their virtual permits. The virtual permitting system then combines this information with your payment and generates a virtual permit linked to that vehicle’s license plate number.

Benefits of Virtual Permits

Convenience: No need to display a physical permit or transfer it between vehicles.
Efficiency: Streamlines parking enforcement and management.
Sustainability: Reduces waste by eliminating physical permits.
Cost Savings: Physical permits are treated as cash and switching to virtual reduces the need to track and inventory permits. Customers will no longer need to drive to the Parking Office and stand in long lines during the rush of the semester. About 250,000 physical permits were issued to faculty, staff, and students over the last five years, resulting in a cost savings of $245k annually.

Purchasing and Managing Virtual Permits

Starting August 7, you can purchase your permit online at the Virtual Parking Portal. You can choose to do payroll deductions or pay the entire fee with your Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Housing students should take into consideration date of move in and enrollment periods. It is recommended to order your virtual parking permit 1 week prior to the beginning of the semester so that you maximize your parking permit’s full time frame.

Annual virtual permits are valid 365 days from the date of purchase. For those who would like to purchase parking by semester, there will be a 150-day virtual permit valid 150 days from date of purchase.

To update your license plate on your virtual permit, visit the Parking Portal and select “Change license plate”. Each temporary change can be up to 14 calendar days. The temporary vehicle information will auto revert to the original vehicle information when the temporary change expires. No user action is required.

Additional Vehicle Registration

In addition of purchasing 365 annual or 150-day permit, the account holder will have the opportunity to add a second vehicle for a cost of $15. Individuals who would like to register a second vehicle to their account can do so for an additional fee of $15. However, only one vehicle per account can be parked on any one of the UCF-owned properties (Main campus, Research Park, UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center and the Rosen College, Health Sciences and Downtown campuses) at the same time or a $100 parking fine can be assessed to the account holder. If shared vehicles are found parked on campuses at the same time, the account-holder can be subject to a $100 parking fine.

Yes, one additional vehicle per account holder can be added to virtual permit orders for an additional fee of $15. However, the additional vehicle must be registered to the same household, and only one vehicle may be parked at any of the UCF locations at any given time.

Important Considerations

Permit Validity: Annual virtual permits are valid for 365 days from the purchase date, while 150-day permits are valid for 150 days.
Second Vehicle: Each account-holder can have a maximum of two vehicles registered. The second vehicle can be added for an additional fee of $15. Only one vehicle per account is permitted to park on any one of the UCF campuses.
License Plate Visibility: “Nose-in” parking is when your vehicle is parked with your license plate visible from the driving lane. Our LPR cameras will drive through the lots scanning license plates to determine whether the vehicle has a valid permit. Back-in parking is prohibited.
Virtual Daily Permits: Virtual Daily parking permits are available $8.00 per day and are allowed in General (green) student spaces. After 5:30pm, virtual daily parking permits are allowed to park in Employee, Unreserved, or Student spaces.

Parking Regulations and Enforcement

Adhering to parking regulations is essential to avoid citations and ensure fair access to parking spaces for everyone.

General Rules

Permit Requirement: The campus is parking by UCF parking permit or daily fee only.
Designated Lots: With a valid employee parking permit, you’re now able to park at any university property. This permit allows you to park in any employee-designated lot.
Residential Parking: Residential parking permits “R”,” RL” and “KP” are restricted to their individual housing communities Monday through Friday between the hours of 7:00am and 5:30pm. After 5:30pm and on weekends, residents may park in Employee or General green spaces or lots except 24 hours reserved or any other signed space. Please note residential permits are not interchangeable.
Event Parking: Garage F is complimentary for guests visiting the Knights Plaza except when there is an event.
No Free Parking: There is no free parking on campus.

Enforcement

When a vehicle parks on campus, the license plate is captured by cameras mounted on enforcement vehicles. When read, the numbers of your plate are automatically referenced against the parking database to verify a valid permit and the proper parking privileges for each parking facility. If the license plate and vehicle information are not associated with a valid virtual permit or the vehicle is parked in an inappropriate lot (Employee vs.

Penalties for Violations

A late fee is added 10 business days after issuance of citation. An academic hold is placed on student records. Employees will have a registration block added to their parking portal. All delinquent accounts can be turned over to a collection agency.

Additional Services

Motorist Assistance: Parking and Transportation provides complimentary motorist assist services to all UCF faculty, staff and student permit-holders.
New Employee Parking: Complimentary, two-week parking passes are available for new employees at the Visitor and Parking Information Center.
Lynx Partnership: No, Parking and Transportation Services has partnered with Lynx, the Central Florida Transit Authority to provide complimentary access to routes on-board Lynx shuttles.

Transition to Virtual Permits for Retirees

The department will discontinue physical permits for retirees effective September 2024. New permits will be “virtual” and valid for 3 years. LPR will automatically verify students, residents and employees’ virtual permits via their license plate. The change to LPR and virtual permits makes the permit process more sustainable by removing waste created by using physical permits.

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