So you were driving behind a Penske rental truck the other day and noticed something interesting: It had Indiana license plates. And not only were you nowhere near Indiana, but the plates were actually customs with a “Penske” logo below the standard string of letters and numbers. The truth is that Indiana is getting creative and going out of its way to court rental truck companies.

Many states are trying to court registrations. For example, Maine charges $20 a year for a semi truck trailer registration. With Florida charging $609, it’s no surprise that trailers from all over the country call Maine “home.” And the state of Maine gets a nice boost in its budget.

In 2004, Indiana rolled out the first commercial truck custom license plate program. This means that fleet operators can request branded license plates for their trucks–if they register them in Indiana. And fleet operators loved the option.

Dan McMackin of UPS said, “The benefit of this program to us was evident on a number of levels…Not only does it cut down on plate theft potential, we think it helps with branding. These plates look good on the truck and anytime you can extend your brand, we think that’s good for business.”

Stephen Russell, chairman and CEO of the Celadon Group trucking company said, “We lose 100 to 150 plates to theft every year.” In some states semi-truck tractor plates can run you $1,800. So it makes sense that un-branded ones get stolen often.

For these two reasons, a ton of trucking companies register many vehicles in Indiana. These include UPS, Allied Van Lines Inc., Atlas Van Lines Inc., FedEx Corp., Global Van Lines Inc., ,and North American Van Lines. The DOT reports tat 274,068 commercial trucks are registered in the state. In addition, many truck rental companies also register in Indiana. Two big ones include Penske and Ryder.

So next time you see a rental truck with an Indiana plate–complete with its company logo–you know why. Find out why so many semi-trucks have Florida license plates.