How do European license plates work?
Jun 8th 2003, 4:52 am
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
How do European license plates work?
How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
license plate? Please give an example.
Thanks,
Brett
license plate? Please give an example.
Thanks,
Brett
Jun 8th 2003, 5:32 am
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
On Sun, 08 Jun 2003 16:52:20 GMT, Brett wrote
> How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> a European license plate? Please give an example.
Which country? They're all different.
The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
In France, the final two digits denominate the Department in which the
car is registered (76, I think, is around Rouen).
In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
waas registered.)
I'm not sure of the situation in other European countries, but a UK
plate isn't a licence plate as you would understand that: it doesn't
"expire", as it's a numerical identifier for the vehicle and has
nothing to do with confirming that tax has been paid for any given
year.
(The equivalent of an annual "licence" here is a paper disc -- the "tax
disc" -- displayed behind the windscreen; that verifies that the tax
has been paid to the end of the month noted on the disc.)
--
Cheers,
Harvey
For e-mail, change harvey to whhvs.
> How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> a European license plate? Please give an example.
Which country? They're all different.
The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
In France, the final two digits denominate the Department in which the
car is registered (76, I think, is around Rouen).
In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
waas registered.)
I'm not sure of the situation in other European countries, but a UK
plate isn't a licence plate as you would understand that: it doesn't
"expire", as it's a numerical identifier for the vehicle and has
nothing to do with confirming that tax has been paid for any given
year.
(The equivalent of an annual "licence" here is a paper disc -- the "tax
disc" -- displayed behind the windscreen; that verifies that the tax
has been paid to the end of the month noted on the disc.)
--
Cheers,
Harvey
For e-mail, change harvey to whhvs.
Jun 8th 2003, 5:49 am
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 11:52:20 -0500, "Brett"
wrote:
>How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
>license plate? Please give an example.
Try this site http://iquebec.ifrance.com/rolf1/plates/d/codes/m.html
Gordon
wrote:
>How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
>license plate? Please give an example.
Try this site http://iquebec.ifrance.com/rolf1/plates/d/codes/m.html
Gordon
Jun 8th 2003, 6:18 am
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 08 Jun 2003 16:52:20 GMT, Brett wrote
> > How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> > a European license plate? Please give an example.
> The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
> registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
The two-letter province designation on Italian license plates is no longer
always the case -- at least, it wasn't around '95, '97.
--L
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 08 Jun 2003 16:52:20 GMT, Brett wrote
> > How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> > a European license plate? Please give an example.
> The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
> registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
The two-letter province designation on Italian license plates is no longer
always the case -- at least, it wasn't around '95, '97.
--L
Jun 8th 2003, 6:51 am
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
In message , Brett
writes
>How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
>license plate? Please give an example.
In general you can't -- every country has its own numbering system and
in general they don't expire, they tend to indicate when and where the
car was first registered.
In the case of the UK and Republic of Ireland owners have to pay an
annual tax whose expiry date is shown on a paper disc displayed on the
bottom left of the windshield.
Cars which never leave their own country don't need to have any country
ID - otherwise they should have a white oval on the rear of the car
showing the country code (1 to 3 letters). Recently many cars registered
in the EU have the 12 EU stars on a blue section on the rear number
plate, with the country code underneath the stars.
The UK numbering system was changed a couple of years ago, and now looks
like:
MA 52 XYZ
The first two letters indicate the area where the car is registered -
the initial "M" means "Manchester and Merseyside", the second letter is
split between different registration offices in the area, in this case
the first half of the alphabet indicates the Manchester office, the
second half is Liverpool. The two numbers indicate when the car was
first registered - on 1st March the number is the same as the year, so
cars registered today are "03", on 1st September 50 is added to the
number. The three letters are individual to the car. So in this example,
the car was first registered in Manchester between 1 September 2002 and
28 February 2003.
The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!). Not all
letters were used to indicate the year (I, O, U and Z were too like 1,
0, V, and 2, and Q was used to identify imported or kit cars when the
age couldn't be determined).
Since the late 1980s the Irish Republic has used the format
99 D 12345
Where the first two numbers are the year of registration, the letters
indicate the county (D = Dublin) and the other numbers identify the car.
I think only Dublin has 5 or 6 digit car numbers, but that's where all
the people are! County Kildare might produce something like 03 KE 145
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
writes
>How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
>license plate? Please give an example.
In general you can't -- every country has its own numbering system and
in general they don't expire, they tend to indicate when and where the
car was first registered.
In the case of the UK and Republic of Ireland owners have to pay an
annual tax whose expiry date is shown on a paper disc displayed on the
bottom left of the windshield.
Cars which never leave their own country don't need to have any country
ID - otherwise they should have a white oval on the rear of the car
showing the country code (1 to 3 letters). Recently many cars registered
in the EU have the 12 EU stars on a blue section on the rear number
plate, with the country code underneath the stars.
The UK numbering system was changed a couple of years ago, and now looks
like:
MA 52 XYZ
The first two letters indicate the area where the car is registered -
the initial "M" means "Manchester and Merseyside", the second letter is
split between different registration offices in the area, in this case
the first half of the alphabet indicates the Manchester office, the
second half is Liverpool. The two numbers indicate when the car was
first registered - on 1st March the number is the same as the year, so
cars registered today are "03", on 1st September 50 is added to the
number. The three letters are individual to the car. So in this example,
the car was first registered in Manchester between 1 September 2002 and
28 February 2003.
The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!). Not all
letters were used to indicate the year (I, O, U and Z were too like 1,
0, V, and 2, and Q was used to identify imported or kit cars when the
age couldn't be determined).
Since the late 1980s the Irish Republic has used the format
99 D 12345
Where the first two numbers are the year of registration, the letters
indicate the county (D = Dublin) and the other numbers identify the car.
I think only Dublin has 5 or 6 digit car numbers, but that's where all
the people are! County Kildare might produce something like 03 KE 145
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
Jun 8th 2003, 7:22 am
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Arwel Parry" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In message , Brett
> writes
> The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
> letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
> until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
> September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
> registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
> reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
> car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!).
Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
still some of these formats around and much prized. Especially the very
earliest that may have just one or two letters and numbers - ie A 1
There was a classic incident when someone returned to his car in a park to
find that the car next his had exactly the same number plate as his. On
investigation it turned out that his car had different number plates on the
front and back and he had not noticed although he had driven it for a year
or two. The front had one in the form 123 ABC and the back 123 ABC.
I recollect that "AM" was used in Wiltshire and it started 111 AAM, then
BAM, then CAM and everyone wondered if they would use DAM. Such innocent
days. They omitted it! But when the numbers-first sequence came round they
did use 123 DAM!
Michael Forrest
[email protected] - change to Friday to reply
news:[email protected]...
> In message , Brett
> writes
> The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
> letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
> until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
> September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
> registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
> reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
> car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!).
Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
still some of these formats around and much prized. Especially the very
earliest that may have just one or two letters and numbers - ie A 1
There was a classic incident when someone returned to his car in a park to
find that the car next his had exactly the same number plate as his. On
investigation it turned out that his car had different number plates on the
front and back and he had not noticed although he had driven it for a year
or two. The front had one in the form 123 ABC and the back 123 ABC.
I recollect that "AM" was used in Wiltshire and it started 111 AAM, then
BAM, then CAM and everyone wondered if they would use DAM. Such innocent
days. They omitted it! But when the numbers-first sequence came round they
did use 123 DAM!
Michael Forrest
[email protected] - change to Friday to reply
Jun 8th 2003, 8:16 am
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Forrest" wrote
| Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
| you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
| still some of these formats around and much prized.
AFAIK the only restriction on changing plates between cars is that the plate
cannot mis-represent the car as being younger than it is.
Owain
still looking for OWA 1 N :-)
| Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
| you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
| still some of these formats around and much prized.
AFAIK the only restriction on changing plates between cars is that the plate
cannot mis-represent the car as being younger than it is.
Owain
still looking for OWA 1 N :-)
Jun 8th 2003, 8:18 am
#8
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Arwel Parry" wrote
| Cars which never leave their own country don't need to have any country
| ID - otherwise they should have a white oval on the rear of the car
| showing the country code (1 to 3 letters). Recently many cars registered
| in the EU have the 12 EU stars on a blue section on the rear number
| plate, with the country code underneath the stars.
With nationalists and separatists having a proud history of displaying
unofficial country codes like CYM and ALBA or ECOSSE.
Owain
| Cars which never leave their own country don't need to have any country
| ID - otherwise they should have a white oval on the rear of the car
| showing the country code (1 to 3 letters). Recently many cars registered
| in the EU have the 12 EU stars on a blue section on the rear number
| plate, with the country code underneath the stars.
With nationalists and separatists having a proud history of displaying
unofficial country codes like CYM and ALBA or ECOSSE.
Owain
Jun 8th 2003, 8:24 am
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
On 8/06/03 6:52 pm, in article [email protected],
"Brett" wrote:
> How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
> license plate?
The French car license plates are attached forever to the car. No expiration
date. There is no yearly registration fee either. Our driver's licenses
function in the same fashion.
The only control on a car is a "controle technique" which is an exhaustive
analysis of the car which has to be done every couple of years or so once
the car is over several years old. In addition to this CT sticker, one has
to have insurance. These are on the windshield of the car.
Earl
"Brett" wrote:
> How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from a European
> license plate?
The French car license plates are attached forever to the car. No expiration
date. There is no yearly registration fee either. Our driver's licenses
function in the same fashion.
The only control on a car is a "controle technique" which is an exhaustive
analysis of the car which has to be done every couple of years or so once
the car is over several years old. In addition to this CT sticker, one has
to have insurance. These are on the windshield of the car.
Earl
Jun 8th 2003, 8:27 am
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
...
> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
> waas registered.)
An older arrangement was that the last (or only) two letters of the two or
three letter group indicated the place of first registration. However, I am
not sure whether that survived right up until the change to the current
system.
Colin Bignell
news:[email protected]...
...
> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
> waas registered.)
An older arrangement was that the last (or only) two letters of the two or
three letter group indicated the place of first registration. However, I am
not sure whether that survived right up until the change to the current
system.
Colin Bignell
Jun 8th 2003, 8:39 am
#11
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
> waas registered.)
The old UK system also indicated the area where the car was first
registered. The *last* two of the three letters indicated this, though the
system wasn't exactly intuitive, so unless you knew the codes it wasn't much
help.
Regards
Jonathan
news:[email protected]...
> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
> waas registered.)
The old UK system also indicated the area where the car was first
registered. The *last* two of the three letters indicated this, though the
system wasn't exactly intuitive, so unless you knew the codes it wasn't much
help.
Regards
Jonathan
Jun 8th 2003, 8:43 am
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
Harvey Van Sickle wrote:
>
> On Sun, 08 Jun 2003 16:52:20 GMT, Brett wrote
>
> > How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> > a European license plate? Please give an example.
>
> Which country? They're all different.
>
> The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
> registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
It used to be that Italian license plates began with two letters
indicating the province, but this is no longer true, although there are
still many of this type on the road. Thus, Italians have lost a good
part of their ammunition when they curse the driver who has just passed
them on a curve.
Barbara
>
> On Sun, 08 Jun 2003 16:52:20 GMT, Brett wrote
>
> > How can one tell the expiration date and country (province?) from
> > a European license plate? Please give an example.
>
> Which country? They're all different.
>
> The Italian ones, for example, have letters which signify the city of
> registration ("Fi" for Firenze/Florence), for example.
It used to be that Italian license plates began with two letters
indicating the province, but this is no longer true, although there are
still many of this type on the road. Thus, Italians have lost a good
part of their ammunition when they curse the driver who has just passed
them on a curve.
Barbara
Jun 8th 2003, 10:22 am
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
Barbara Vaughan wrote:
> It used to be that Italian license plates began with two letters
> indicating the province, but this is no longer true, although there are
> still many of this type on the road. Thus, Italians have lost a good
> part of their ammunition when they curse the driver who has just passed
> them on a curve.
Now the province can be optionally put in small letters under the first
registration year, but it is not compulsory.
--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail: [email protected]
> It used to be that Italian license plates began with two letters
> indicating the province, but this is no longer true, although there are
> still many of this type on the road. Thus, Italians have lost a good
> part of their ammunition when they curse the driver who has just passed
> them on a curve.
Now the province can be optionally put in small letters under the first
registration year, but it is not compulsory.
--
Luca Logi - Firenze - Italy e-mail: [email protected]
Jun 8th 2003, 10:33 am
#14
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
In message , Forrest
writes
>"Arwel Parry" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> In message , Brett
>> writes
>> The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
>> letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
>> until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
>> September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
>> registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
>> reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
>> car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!).
>Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
>you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
>still some of these formats around and much prized. Especially the very
>earliest that may have just one or two letters and numbers - ie A 1
Oh yes, "cherished numbers" - a very profitable little sideline for the
DVLA!
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
writes
>"Arwel Parry" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> In message , Brett
>> writes
>> The old UK system, since the early 1980s, was K 123 ABC where the single
>> letter indicated when it was registered (changed annually on 1st August
>> until near the end of the 1990s when it changed twice, in March and
>> September), and the last two of the group of three letters indicate the
>> registration office. Between 1962 and the early 80s the system was
>> reversed, and you got numbers like ABC 123 K (a trailing K indicates a
>> car new between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972, I remember!).
>Before that it was just ABC 123 for a time and then 123 ABC for a bit. As
>you are allowed to transfer your old number plate to a new car there are
>still some of these formats around and much prized. Especially the very
>earliest that may have just one or two letters and numbers - ie A 1
Oh yes, "cherished numbers" - a very profitable little sideline for the
DVLA!
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
Jun 8th 2003, 10:43 am
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: How do European license plates work?
In message , Jonathan Morton
writes
>"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
>> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
>> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
>> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
>> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
>> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
>> waas registered.)
>The old UK system also indicated the area where the car was first
>registered. The *last* two of the three letters indicated this, though the
>system wasn't exactly intuitive, so unless you knew the codes it wasn't much
>help.
That's true. The old registration offices were based on the pre-1974
local government boundaries, but they weren't terribly informative even
so.
"CA" used to be Caernarfonshire for instance, but
"UN" was Denbighshire, and
"FF" was Meirionethshire -- and many counties had multiple letter codes
anyway. After 1974 all the North Wales codes were transferred to the
Chester office which used them without much regard to where in its area
the registrants lived!
You could tell a car was registered in Scotland because one of the last
two letters was "S", while Ireland used to be "Z" I think -- I remember
Z used to be prevalent on Irish Republic plates until they abandoned the
pre-independence system in the 1980s.
Northern Ireland, I believe, still uses the pre-1962 system.
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
writes
>"Harvey Van Sickle" wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> In the UK, though, until a couple of years ago you couldn't reliably
>> tell much from the number plate on the car apart from the year it was
>> first registered. (Now the first two letters indicate where the car
>> was first registered -- but not necessarily where the owner comes from,
>> just where the dealership decided to obtain the registrations -- and
>> the next two digits identify a six-month period during which the car
>> waas registered.)
>The old UK system also indicated the area where the car was first
>registered. The *last* two of the three letters indicated this, though the
>system wasn't exactly intuitive, so unless you knew the codes it wasn't much
>help.
That's true. The old registration offices were based on the pre-1974
local government boundaries, but they weren't terribly informative even
so.
"CA" used to be Caernarfonshire for instance, but
"UN" was Denbighshire, and
"FF" was Meirionethshire -- and many counties had multiple letter codes
anyway. After 1974 all the North Wales codes were transferred to the
Chester office which used them without much regard to where in its area
the registrants lived!
You could tell a car was registered in Scotland because one of the last
two letters was "S", while Ireland used to be "Z" I think -- I remember
Z used to be prevalent on Irish Republic plates until they abandoned the
pre-independence system in the 1980s.
Northern Ireland, I believe, still uses the pre-1962 system.
--
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/
