Permanent registration; fleet license plates.

(1) As used in this section, the term “fleet” means nonapportioned motor vehicles owned or leased by a company and used for business purposes. A fleet consists of a minimum of 100 motor vehicles or a minimum of 25 trailers or semitrailers. Vehicles registered as short-term rental vehicles are excluded from the provisions of this section.

(2)(a) The owner or lessee of a fleet of motor vehicles shall, upon application in the manner and at the time prescribed and upon approval by the department and payment of the license tax prescribed under s. 320.08(2), (3), (4), (5)(a) and (b), (6)(a), (7), and (8), be issued permanent fleet license plates. All vehicles with a fleet license plate shall have the company’s name or logo and unit number displayed so that they are readily identifiable.

(b) The plates, which shall be of a distinctive color, shall have the word “Fleet” appearing at the bottom and the word “Florida” appearing at the top unless the license plate is a specialty license plate as authorized in s. 320.08056. The plates shall conform in all respects to the provisions of this chapter, except as specified herein. For additional fees as set forth in s. 320.08056, fleet companies may purchase specialty license plates in lieu of the standard fleet license plates. Fleet companies shall be responsible for all costs associated with the specialty license plate, including all annual use fees, processing fees, fees associated with switching license plate types, and any other applicable fees.

(c) In addition to the license tax prescribed by s. 320.08(2), (3), (4), (5)(a) and (b), (6)(a), (7), and (8), an annual fleet management fee of $2 shall be charged. A one-time license plate manufacturing fee of $1.50 shall be charged for plates issued for the established number of vehicles in the fleet. If the size of the fleet is increased, an issuance fee of $10 per vehicle will be charged to include the license plate manufacturing fee. If the license plate manufacturing cost increases, the department shall increase the license plate manufacturing fee to recoup its cost. Fees collected shall be deposited into the Highway Safety Operating Trust Fund. Payment of registration license tax and fees shall be made annually and be evidenced only by the issuance of a single receipt by the department. The provisions of s. 320.0605 do not apply to vehicles registered in accordance with this section, and no annual validation sticker is required.

(3) If a recipient of fleet license plates fails to properly and timely renew or initially register vehicles in its fleet, the department may impose a delinquency penalty of $50 or 10 percent of the delinquent taxes due, whichever is greater, if the failure is for not more than 30 days, with an additional 10 percent penalty for each additional 30 days, or fraction thereof, that the failure continues, not to exceed a total penalty of 100 percent in the aggregate; however, the penalty may not be less than $50.

(4) All recipients of fleet license plates authorized by this section must provide the department with an annual vehicle reconciliation and must annually surrender all unassigned license plates. Failure to comply with this subsection may result in fines of up to $1,000 for each occurrence, or in suspension or termination from the fleet program.