In the event any registration card or license plate is lost, mutilated or becomes illegible, the owner or legal representative or successor in the interest of the owner of the vehicle for which it was issued, as shown by the records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, shall immediately make application for and obtain a duplicate or substitute or a new registration and license under a new number, as determined to be most advisable by the Department, upon the applicant furnishing information satisfactory to the Department and the payment of any fee required under the provisions of § 56-3-1320.

If a license plate is lost an application shall be made within ten days to the Department for replacement along with the required fee on forms prescribed by the Department. If a license plate is disfigured, mutilated or defaced to an extent to make it difficult to read, it shall be returned to the Department within ten days with an application for replacement and the required fee. The Department shall issue the replacement plate along with the current revalidation sticker.