Personal car registration number plates...history

Personal car registration number plates...and why there are different types of registration numbers

These are the UK car registration number plate styles:

Dateless registrations

Suffix registrations

Prefix registrations

Current style registrations

Let’s start at the beginning…..in the early 1900’s to be precise.

As the number of cars on the road began to increase at the turn of the 20th century, there were a few ‘mishaps’ ! But it was impossible to trace the cars involved. And so, in 1903, the idea of the car registration number plate was born……

Car number plates became compulsory as of 1^st January 1904. The first car registration number ever to be issued was A1, to Earl Russell - who camped overnight to make sure he got the plate. Even then, there was a passion for special personal car registration number plates.

Early personal car registration number plates were made up of up to 2 letters and 4 digits, i.e. AA 9999. Like this:

Combinations of 2 letters were allocated to different areas of the country, and car registration plates were issued as they were needed. When an area got to 9999, they were issued another set of 2 letters, and started again.

Unlike today, early car registration number plates didn’t identify the year they were issued. And that's why they are referred to as dateless registration numbers.

This worked very well. But no-one had anticipated just how popular cars would become. So, by the 1930’s, the number and letter combinations for registration numbers began to run out. The answer….add another letter, so that each car registration number had 3 letters instead of 2. And that lasted for another 20 years.

In the 1950’s, letters and number combinations began to run out again. The solution? Swap the numbers and letters around!

But, by the 1960’s, cars had become very popular. And, as personal car registration number plates were never re-issued, it became clear this system was not going to last.

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1963…..enter suffix car registration numbers. For the first time, the registration number indicated the year it was issued. The suffix format was 3 letters, up to 3 digits, and a final letter (which indicated the year of issue). Here’s an example:

The last letter (in this case R) indicates it was issued between August 1976 and July 1977. To help you further, you'll find all the suffix car registration release dates listed for you.

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Twenty years later, we found ourselves running out of suffix letters. So, the answer was to reverse the format. The new prefix car registration numbers was introduced in 1983. This time the first letter indicated the year of issue. Here’s an example:

The first letter (in this case X) indicates it was issued between September 2000 and February 2001. To help you further, you'll find all the prefix registration release dates listed for you.

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As we ran out of prefix letters, the format changed again. In 2001 came the current style registration number plates. This time the digits indicate the year of issue, starting with 51 in September 2001.

We’ve shown you an example below.

The digits (in this case 55) dates this number plate to between September 2005 and February 2006. You'll find here all the current style registration release dates listed for you.

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‘So what’s the history of car number plates got to do with it?’ we hear you ask. Well, lots, actually!!

We don’t need to tell you how popular personal car regisraton number plates have become. But one of the questions we get asked time & again is ‘How do you know how much a number plate is worth?’

Their history is very important. Older car number plates tend to be more sought after, although there are still lots of other factors which come into play.

Dateless number plates are the most desirable – and the fewer the number of letters and digits the better. Why? Because:

	They look great because there’s no age identifier
	They’re very old (A1 is now more than 100 years old!), giving them an ‘antique’ value

	And many were lost as cars were scrapped over time – so there’s less of them around.

Take a look at how much is my number plate worth? for more detail.

Remember: you cannot apply a number plate to a vehicle if it makes the vehicle appear newer than it is.

If you are unsure, then please contact us for advice. We will be happy to help.

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