Michigan Disability Parking: Placards, Plates and the Yellow Free-Parking Sticker

Choose a credential for the person and the vehicle

The Secretary of State's disability parking overview distinguishes blue permanent placards, red temporary placards, green organizational placards and disability plates. A portable placard is useful when someone travels in several vehicles, including a relative's car. Michigan's disability plate identifies the particular vehicle on its registration record. Michigan allows an eligible person to have a plate and a placard, but ordinarily issues only one individual placard. Plan around the transportation the person actually uses instead of ordering a second placard for each household car.

Eligibility involves a qualifying limitation, rather than an age threshold or a driver's preference for a shorter walk. MCL 257.19a identifies the statutory disability criteria. The application covers qualifying blindness and limitations involving walking, assistive devices, oxygen dependence and specified physical conditions. A disability benefit award from another program does not complete Michigan's parking certification. The medical professional must evaluate the parking criteria and complete the appropriate portion of the actual application.

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Prepare the individual application

Use the current BFS-108 individual placard application. Its February 2026 revision asks for the applicant's Michigan address, identifying information, signature and medical certification. A person who is not a Michigan resident can qualify only for a temporary Michigan placard and still needs a Michigan address. The form also provides a representative's signature section when the applicant cannot sign or is too young to sign. A caregiver should complete that section accurately, without signing as though they were the applicant.

The form names physicians, chiropractors, optometrists, physician assistants and physical therapists for the certification process. It requires a copy of the professional's medical license when the professional is licensed outside Michigan. Optometrists cannot certify the separate free-parking section. If the applicant already had a Michigan disability plate, the application provides a place for that plate number and explains when additional medical certification is unnecessary. Follow the exception printed on the form instead of assuming every repeat transaction needs another appointment.

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Submit an application through an available channel

The placard transaction page directs original applications to a Secretary of State office or the mailing address in the application instructions. Online service handles eligible renewals and replacements. Self-service stations do not process placards. This distinction matters when a family is already visiting a kiosk for vehicle tabs: that machine cannot issue the new parking credential as an additional transaction.

Original individual placards have no state issuance charge. Permanent blue placards have a four-year term; temporary red placards last for the period certified, up to six months (official placard sources checked October 21, 2026). Temporary parking authority does not become permanent when the first card expires. If the condition continues, obtain a fresh application and the required medical determination. Keep a copy of the completed paperwork so the placard number and supporting information remain available if the physical card is misplaced.

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Use the placard only for the qualifying person's trip

Michigan's parking statute, MCL 257.675, governs use and misuse. Reserved parking is available when the person with the qualifying disability drives or is being transported. A relative cannot borrow the placard for a separate shopping trip because they normally provide transportation. Likewise, an inherited vehicle does not give its new owner permission to keep using a deceased person's parking credential.

Display the placard from the rearview mirror while parked and remove it before driving. Read the signs for the actual space, including restrictions that apply independently of disability access. Keep the adjacent access aisle clear for wheelchair lifts and transfers. A disability placard identifies parking eligibility; it does not reserve a particular public space or authorize stopping wherever a driver finds convenient. Report misuse through local law enforcement, which handles parking enforcement rather than the office that processed the application.

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Apply for a disability plate when it fits the household

The disability plate service is intended for a permanent disability. Eligible passenger vehicles can include a motor home, pickup or van owned or leased by the person with the disability, or by another person in the same household. Complete Form MV-110 and use its medical-certification instructions. The plate application is different from the individual placard form, even though both establish related parking privileges.

The governing disability plate statute should be read alongside ordinary registration requirements. A disability designation does not eliminate the need to keep the vehicle registered and properly insured. Use the tab and plate renewal service for the vehicle record. A portable placard's expiration date and a vehicle registration's expiration date belong to different records; renewing either one does not automatically extend the other.

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Request the yellow sticker separately

Free parking has a narrower eligibility test than permission to use a reserved space. The yellow sticker goes on a permanent blue placard, and the applicant must have a valid Michigan driver's license. The professional must certify the additional limitation concerning payment-machine access or the severe mobility criteria described in BFS-108. A disability plate alone does not establish that entitlement.

The Secretary of State's disability parking brochure explains the practical distinction. Carry the correctly marked placard when using the benefit in another vehicle. Privately owned parking lots and garages are not required to provide free parking under this program. Travel also requires attention to the destination's rules: another jurisdiction may recognize the Michigan disability credential without extending Michigan's payment exemption. Check the parking operator's posted conditions before assuming the yellow sticker covers that location.

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Renew or replace the correct record

Michigan's Quick Renewal and Replacement service asks for the placard number, its expiration date and an email address. The transaction page lists free permanent renewals and a $10 replacement charge for lost or stolen placards, with payment-processing charges possible online (checked October 21, 2026). Its damaged-placard section lists free replacement, while the overview groups damage with charged replacements. For a damaged card, identify that reason to the office before paying a lost-card charge.

For renewal timing, MCL 257.675(5)(e) supplies the detail behind the different agency summaries. The ordinary window is the 45 days immediately before expiration. A person who will be outside Michigan during that window, or has another accepted good cause, can apply up to six months early (statute checked October 21, 2026). Explain the travel or other circumstance when requesting the earlier service. Update the address associated with the record before requesting delivery. Once a replacement is issued, stop using the old placard if it later turns up.

If the department questions continued eligibility, read the notice as a separate action from an ordinary renewal reminder. The parking statute provides notice and an opportunity to be heard before the specified cancellation, suspension or revocation actions. Gather the credential number, the notice and the documents relevant to its stated reason. Buying a replacement does not resolve a finding that someone is no longer eligible, and another household member cannot take over the affected person's credential.

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Organizations use their own application

Transportation organizations apply through BFS-109, rather than collecting employees' personal placards. Green organizational credentials support transportation of eligible passengers and do not become an employee parking benefit. The organization should keep track of which vehicle carries each placard and return credentials when it stops providing the qualifying transportation. Staff turnover should not leave an active placard in an unrelated personal vehicle or disconnect it from the organization's records.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can a Michigan placard travel with me in a friend's vehicle?
The portable credential can be used when you are driving or riding in that vehicle. Its parking privilege follows the eligible person during the trip, so your friend cannot use it after dropping you off for an unrelated errand.

Does Michigan require another medical form to renew every permanent blue placard?
The overview says BFS-108 is required for an original permanent placard, but ordinarily is not required for its renewal. A new temporary placard involves another application and medical certification because the expected duration must be established again.

Is a disability plate enough to avoid Michigan parking-meter charges?
Meter-fee relief requires the separate yellow free-parking sticker on a permanent placard and satisfaction of that program's additional conditions. The plate's wheelchair designation, by itself, establishes reserved-space eligibility rather than a general payment exemption.

What should I do after finding the placard I already replaced?
Use the replacement credential and stop displaying the superseded one. Michigan prohibits knowingly using a placard that has been canceled or replaced, even when the person originally named on it still has the same qualifying disability.

Can I obtain an original placard at a Michigan self-service station?
Placard transactions are unavailable at those stations. Submit the original individual application by mail or at a Secretary of State office; the online placard service is intended for the renewal and replacement transactions it supports.

How does a passenger-transport organization get Michigan parking placards?
It uses the organizational BFS-109 application and documents its qualifying transportation role. Organizational placards must be controlled by the organization and used for transporting eligible passengers, rather than distributed as personal credentials to its drivers.

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More Michigan SOS guides

The other Michigan SOS guides, 52 of them: