[3] In 1956, the United States, Canada, and Mexico came to an agreement with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Automobile Manufacturers Association and the National Safety Council that standardized the size for license plates for vehicles (except those for motorcycles) at 6 inches (15 cm) in height by 12 inches (30 cm) in width, with standardized mounting holes.

As of 2022[update], four types are available: three are valid for 72 hours, 144 hours, and 30 days respectively; the fourth is the "one-trip" tag, which is issued only to unladen vehicles traveling from a single origin to a single destination (either of which must be in Texas) and is valid for 15 days.

[8] In February 2022, it was reported that as many as 1.2 million fraudulent temporary Texas tags were sold in the United States in 2021.

This gave them access to the Texas DMV database, which they could use to print temporary tags and sell them online for profit.

Most drivers who purchased the tags did so to make their vehicles untraceable when committing crimes, or to avoid paying tolls and registration fees.