This Random License Plate Left One Florida Woman Asking, ‘How Did This Get Approved?’

A South Florida retiree opened her mailbox expecting a routine registration renewal. Instead, she found a license plate that made her stomach drop. Six characters, stamped in official state lettering, spelled out something she never imagined the government would send to her front door. Nancy Dello Stritto, almost 77 years old, read it twice before the words sank in.

The plate read “SQZ A55.” Read it slowly and the crude phrase becomes impossible to miss. Dello Stritto, a Pompano Beach resident, told CBS News Miami she “went ballistic” the moment she saw it. She never requested a personalized tag. This was simply the random plate Broward County assigned to her vehicle.

“I don’t think a senior who is almost 77 will be driving around with a plate that has that to say,” Dello Stritto said, according to CBS News Miami. Her first instinct was to demand a replacement immediately. Then her sons weighed in with an opinion she did not expect, one that would turn a private irritation into a neighborhood debate.

Retirement Community Splits 16-1 Over Whether Nancy Should Keep the Plate

News of the plate spread fast through Dello Stritto’s retirement community. Neighbors stopped her in hallways and parking lots to ask if it was real. Some found it mortifying for a woman her age to display. Others found it hilarious, and pushed her to keep it exactly as issued rather than swap it for something forgettable.

Her own sons and their friends landed firmly in the second camp. They argued the plate was a rare, funny accident worth holding onto rather than erasing. Dello Stritto said the informal poll among family and neighbors currently stands at 16 to 1 in favor of keeping “SQZ A55” bolted to her bumper, according to UPI.

Dello Stritto still questioned how the sequence made it past state screening at all. “When I saw that, I went ballistic. I said, ‘How could that pass inspection?'” she told CBS News Miami. Florida runs every randomly generated plate combination through review before mailing, which only deepened her confusion about how this one slipped through untouched.

Broward County Confirms Free Replacement Is Available for Offensive Plates

Florida’s license plates are not manufactured by a private vendor. They come from a state prison facility in North Florida, a system in place for nearly a century, before being routed to county tax offices for distribution to drivers. Dello Stritto’s plate arrived through the Broward County Property Tax Collector’s office alongside her standard renewal paperwork.

CBS News Miami reached out to that office for an explanation. An office manager confirmed the county will swap out any plate a driver considers offensive, and will do it at no charge. Drivers can complete the exchange in person at the Plantation location, though the manager did not detail exactly how the “SQZ A55” combination cleared internal review before mailing.

Despite that open offer, Dello Stritto has not rushed to the counter. She said she still plans to formally notify Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles about the plate, flagging it through official channels even as she decides what to do with the tag currently on her own car.

Nancy Decides the Plate Might Be Exactly Where It Belongs

For now, the free replacement sits unclaimed. Dello Stritto has chosen to keep driving with “SQZ A55” fastened to her bumper, letting the crude combination ride out its full registration cycle rather than swapping it the moment Broward County made the offer available to her at the Plantation office.

Her reasoning has shifted from outrage toward something closer to acceptance. “I’m resigned to it; maybe it was destined for it to be on my car,” she said, adding with a laugh that she could handle a few honks from passing drivers who catch the joke rolling down the road.

A clerical fluke, a prison print run, and a county mailer combined to hand one grandmother the most talked-about bumper in her retirement community. Dello Stritto never asked for the attention, and she never requested the plate. She simply decided that fighting a random string of letters was not worth losing the laugh it kept bringing her.