What Do Car Registration Plates Tell Me About The Car (uk Answers Only Please)?
I remember years ago when every new model was given a letter which told you the year of manufacture but modern day number plates have number plates like “CF07 ABX” for example, I used to think this meant that the car was manufactred in Cardiff in 2007- CF07 but there are also plates which say things like XE55 OEF” so it can’t be that….
sharethis
The first two letters tell you where the car was first registered when it was new. The first letter refers to the Licencing Office itself, ie P for Preston, L for London, S for Scotland, C for Wales (Cymru), Y for York, etc.
The areas around these central offices are segmented like a pie chart. Scotland, for example, would be divided into many different areas, and each area would be given a letter also. So a car from Scotland would have numbers beginning with SA, SB, SC, etc.
The numbers that follow refer to the year in which the car was first registered. The year is divided into half. The first half begins on 1st March, the second half on 1st September. From 1st March last year ‘07′ appeared on plates. From 1st September last ‘57′ appears. From the 1st March this year it will be ‘08′. The first digit ‘0′ means the first six months of the registration year, and ‘5′ the last six months. The second number is the year itself 2007, 2008, etc.
The final three letters in the number are random.
Incidentally, when we get to 2010 the numbers relating to the two halves of the year ie the ‘0′ and the ‘5′ will go up by one.
So from 1st March 2010 the numbers will be ‘10′ and ‘60′ for the latter half of the year. 2020 = ‘20′ and ‘70′ etc.
Hope this helps!
the numbers change twice a year, so 07 means it was sold in 1st half of 2007. 55 means it was sold in 2nd half of 2005
the first two letters are the area that it was first registered the first number is either a 5 or a zero if its a five it was registered after september if its a zero it was registered between march and august the second number is the year and the last 3 letters are random
e.g. sn52oea sn=the area 52 = september onwards untill march 2003 (even if its registered in jan 03 it will be a 52 plate) and oea is random hope this helps
New car models show the year of make in the two middle numbers If it says 07, it was built it the first half of 2007, if it says 57, it was built in the second half of 2007. Likewise for 06, 56, etc.
the year of the car (age), and the location of the car where the car is from
Most of the 2 letter prefixes realate to the place where the car was first registered for example CK55 XXX is a Cradiff plate. However with the DVLA conning millions out of motorists you can buy a CK plate even if you live in Oxford if those are your initilas and you want to buy it. However most new plates on the road relate to place of registration. I am not sure if XE is a place registration.