Number Plate Formats Explained

There are several established formats for number plates. Here we explain each of them and what information they communicate about the vehicle they're on.

Formats

Dateless 1903 - 1963, Suffix - 1963 to 1983, Prefix - 1983 to 2001, New Style - 2001 - Present

Dateless Registrations Explained: 1903 - 1963

When registrations were introduced in 1903, and before the suffix format came into effect in 1963, they had no discernable year identifying letters or digits on them. With a registration like this it's impossible to tell (without insider knowledge) how old the vehicle displaying it is.

Prefix registrations are so called because their initial (prefix) letter identifies the age of a vehicle, suffix registrations because their trailing (suffix) letter identifies the age of the vehicle and the New style reg can identify a vehicle age from the two digit number they contain. All of these styles of registration follow the rule that they cannot be assigned to vehicles that were manufactured before their date of issue.

But because dateless registrations have no way to identify their age (hence their name), these registrations can be assigned and displayed on vehicles of any age. Because these format registrations date back to pre-1963, they're considered the cream of the crop in the number plate world. They're often very difficult to come by, simply because vehicles they were originally on will have long since been scrapped.

They do, however, come with a history attached to them and you can be sure that the reg you're buying will be one of only a small number of similar reg still on the roads.

Dateless reg come in various configurations, either with 1, 2, 3 or 4 digits followed by 1, 2 or 3 letters, or the reverse with 1, 2 or 3 letters followed by 1, 2, 3 or 4 digits. The letters in the registration would originally have been able to identify the area of the country in which the registration was issued.

We presently have 37,855 dateless registrations on our database.

106 KKR

8 VUR

UTE 24

RT 3297

511 LLS

79 L

PCT 5

677 ALF

1 RUA

VAP 908

2 BCT

120 EK

95 GA

89 DJ

56 TL

Dateless Number Plates

Suffix Registrations Explained:
1963 - 1983

Suffix registrations are those which follow the format of three letters, a number which can be 1, 2 or 3 digits in length, and finally a single year identifying letter.

The first three characters would originally have been able to identify the area of the country in which the registration was issued. In our example FVL indicates that this registration would have been released in Lincoln.

The number is simply a way of uniquely identifying one registration from the possible 999 alternatives with the same prefix and suffix combinations that could be out there.

The final letter (or suffix hence the name of this style of registration), would originally have been used to determine the age of the vehicle it was being displayed on. You can see a full table of release years below, but for our example, F would suggest 1967.

INSERT SUFFIX SEARCH

A - 1963	G - 1968	N - 1974	W - 1980
B - 1964	H - 1969	P - 1975	X - 1981
C - 1965	J - 1970	R - 1976	Y - 1982
D - 1966	K - 1971	S - 1977
E - 1967	L - 1972	T - 1978
F - 1967	M - 1973	V - 1979

Missing Letters

Have you spotted that the I, O, Q, U and Z are not included amongst the suffix letters? The 'I' and 'Z' were reserved for Northern Ireland registrations. 'Q' is always reserved to register vehicles whose date of manufacture is unknown - a 'Q' mark is non-transferable. 'O' and 'U' are not used as they are too easily confused with 'Q' and 'V'.

Assigning Suffix Number Plates

As these registrations have an age identifier (the suffix), you can only assign them to vehicles of the same age as the registration or younger. As with all registrations that carry a year identifier you can make your vehicle look as old as you want, but not one day newer.

So, for example, the above registration - FVL 144M - could be assigned to any vehicle first manufactured after 01/08/1973, but you'd be unable to put it on a vehicle that was manufactured before that date as you would be giving the impression that the vehicle was more modern than it is.

We presently have 71,135 suffix registrations on our database.

TOM 41A

BHO 115E

JOD 71Y

NDV 411F

DAP 477B

WCU 580Y

CFM 284W

OGU 782D

SEC 71ON

RYL 44IN

TAO 355S

DAR 55Y

PAT 333W

DOU 666H

GER 811D

Prefix Registrations Explained:
1983 - 2001

Prefix registrations are those which follow the format of a single year identifying letter, then a number (which can be 1, 2 or 3 digits in length), and then finally three more letters.

The prefix character is to describe the age of the vehicle as explained in the table of years of release below. In this example K would be from 1992.

The number is simply a way of uniquely identifying one registration from the possible 999 alternatives with the same prefix and suffix combinations that could be out there.

The last three characters would originally have been able to identify the area of the country in which the registration was issued. In the above example the WTB indicates that this registration would have been released in Liverpool.

INSERT Prefix SEARCH

A - 1983	G - 1989	N - 1995	W - 2000
B - 1984	H - 1990	P - 1996	X - 2000
C - 1985	J - 1991	R - 1997	Y - 2001
D - 1986	K - 1992	S - 1998
E - 1987	L - 1993	T - 1999
F - 1988	M - 1994	V - 1999

Missing Letters

Have you spotted that the I, O, Q, U and Z are not included amongst the prefix letters? The 'I' and 'Z' were reserved for Northern Ireland registrations. 'Q' is always reserved to register vehicles whose date of manufacture is unknown - a 'Q' mark is non-transferable. 'O' and 'U' are not used as they are too easily confused with 'Q' and 'V'.

Assigning Prefix Number Plates

As these registrations have an age identifier (the prefix), you can only assign them to vehicles of the same age as the registration or younger. As with all registrations that carry a year identifier you can make your vehicle look as old as you want, but not one day newer. So, for example, the above registration - K50 WTB - could be assigned to any vehicle first manufactured after 01/08/1992, but you'd be unable to put it on a vehicle that was manufactured before that date as you would be giving the impression that the vehicle was newer than it is.

We presently have 6,906,084 unique prefix registrations on our database which you can search through.

F20 KOP

W90 JNY

H21 LLP

L15 TOT

X11 PHE

K121 LAD

G4 DBR

D14 NSP

J5 TSP

J9 UJO

F22 ONE

K7 HRJ

A26 WEN

R25 GTV

J21 MAP

New Style Registrations Explained:
2001 - Present

These registrations are those which you will currently find on newly registered vehicles. They follow the format of a two letter prefix, followed by a two digit year identifier and finally three more letters.

The New Style reg became the current standard for vehicles from the second half of 2001 - and replaced the exhausted prefix format. For the first time in UK mainland registrations the letter Z was allowed as a character in the last three letters - but not in the prefix.

The two prefix letters of this registration would originally have been used to identify the area of the country in which the registration was issued. In this example, SK indicates a Scottish release, most likely from the Edinburgh DVLA Vehicle Registration Office.

The two digit number in the registration would originally have been used to to determine the age of the vehicle it was being displayed on - as shown in the below table. In our example, 64 means a year of release for this number plate of 2014 (specifically the second half).

The final three letters are random characters.

Year	March Release	September Release
2001		51
2002	02	52
2003	03	53
2004	04	54
2005	05	55
2006	06	56
2007	07	57
2008	08	58
2009	09	59
2010	10	60
2011	11	61
2012	12	62
2013	13	63
2014	14	64
2015	15	65
2016	16	66
2017	17	67
2018	18	68
2019	19	69
2020	20	70
2021	21	71
2022	22	72
2023	23	73
2024	24	74
2025	25	75

Year	March Release	September Release
2026	26	76
2027	27	77
2028	28	78
2029	29	79
2030	30	80
2031	31	81
2032	32	82
2033	33	83
2034	34	84
2035	35	85
2036	36	86
2037	37	87
2038	38	88
2039	39	89
2040	40	90
2041	41	91
2042	42	92
2043	43	93
2044	44	94
2045	45	95
2046	46	96
2047	47	97
2048	48	98
2049	49	99

As these registrations have an age identifier (the two digits), you can only assign them to vehicles of the same age as the registration or younger. As with all registrations that carry a year identifier you can make your vehicle look as old as you want, but not one day newer.

We presently have 64,821,987 of these style registrations on our database for you to search.

EO11 BYK

H003 SES

MY14 GTR

LO11 YAL

GP51 GPS

CL71 RKE

KO14 PET

LE56 LEO

ET09 ERN

MP18 DOG

SA21 HED

MS20 HRA

WL14 AMM

JO53 PHS

EM11 LYY

Number Plate Formats Explained

Formats

Dateless Registrations Explained: 1903 - 1963

Suffix Registrations Explained: 1963 - 1983

INSERT SUFFIX SEARCH

Missing Letters

Assigning Suffix Number Plates

Prefix Registrations Explained: 1983 - 2001

INSERT Prefix SEARCH

Missing Letters

Assigning Prefix Number Plates

New Style Registrations Explained: 2001 - Present

Suffix Registrations Explained:
1963 - 1983

Prefix Registrations Explained:
1983 - 2001

New Style Registrations Explained:
2001 - Present