Talk:Vehicle registration plate

nationality sticker - UK-Ireland

Removed the folowing form descritption of EU standardised plates

... [do not need a nationality sticker to travel between member] States (even between those with EU-internal border controls - i.e. UK and Ireland)

Between the UK and Ireland you didn't (1996) need a nationality sticker even without having EU-standard plates.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Andy G (talk • contribs) 21:46, 7 April 2004

EU number plates are mandatory in Ireland - and have been for quite some years. Recently they've cracked down on even slight modifications like italic font - this can fail your car in the NCT (National Car Test - equiv. to MOT).

I'm pretty sure EU number plates are mandatory in some other member states too (France, Germany...) - the UK is an exception in its late acceptance of the standard. (It's been universal in Ireland for 10+ years) EU plates may even be mandatory in UK too now - is there not a fuss in Scotland about the GB tag? People getting into trouble for using SCO? (What happens in NI? That's not even on Great Britain!)

Zoney 20:43, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

All new licence plates issued in Germany have the common design (you cant just buy the plates over here, they need to be issued by the registration office and carry the seal of the federal state they are registered in), but the old ones dont need to be replaced. A lot of old cars that are not used outside the country still have the old ones.

Perhaps its also noteworthy that plates are issued by local authorities in Germany and always start with a letter identifying the authority they are registered in e.g. S for Stuttgart, HH for Hanseatic City of Hamburg. They have to have the seal of the federal state, a seal stating the date when the car is required to be checked next time ( front) and a seal that the car is insured (back).

Tampering with the design is strictly verboten and can result in jail time (only in extreme cases of course, but counterfeiting the insurance seal is taken very seriously).

Simon — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.180.226.131 (talk • contribs) 21:09, 17 November 2007

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Uk number plates are covered at http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regmarks/reg_marks_current_requirements.htm which says "Since 1st September 2001 there has been an optional provision for the display of a Euro-plate for vehicles registered in the UK" and "Vehicles displaying this symbol no longer have to use the traditional oval shaped national identifier (GB) sticker when travelling within the European Union." and "The Government announced on 28 December 2001 the intention to permit the display of national flags and national identifiers on vehicle number plates. ... They will provide for the voluntary display of the Union flag, Scottish Saltire, Cross of St George and Red Dragon. Football team crests etc are not allowed."

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.44.26.73 (talk • contribs) 21:27, 5 May 2005

Images

I added some images of European plates in this and other related articles. I expect to see more from other countries added by other Wikipedians. -- Kaihsu 15:26, 2004 Apr 25 (UTC)

Surely we can't have plates from all 15 (25?) member States? Or even further afield. Also, surely use of number plates can violate privacy? Perhaps people could design a diagram for the EU at least, with made-up example registration numbers for all states?

Ireland takes the form 04-D-12345:

• • 04 refers to year
  • D refers to area of registration (Dublin)
  • 12345 is the number of registration. This starts at 1 for first car, though one can reserve a number (you still have to wait till that number is valid).

I'll probably add a specific page on Irish plates. Perhaps that's the best plan for all countries. Maybe just have one US plate and one EU plate on main page. (Which states? Also what about anonymity?)

Zoney 16:19, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The current images crop out some digits. -- Kaihsu 16:02, 2004 May 23 (UTC)

It would be best if the last one to three digits were cropped out. This would preserve privacy. It would be horrible if someone went to this site, saw their licence plate in full, and then got angry on us. Of course, for those who deliberately want to stick their entire licence plate on Wikipedia... that'll be something else. --DF08 05:22, Aug 3, 2004 (UTC)

On the other hand, license plates are a matter of public display. In most if not all jurisdictions, displaying a photograph of someone's license plate is not a legal invasion of privacy, especially if no other identifying information is given.

Of course, the ideal situation is for willing Wikipedians to show their OWN license plates on this page, thus removing the problem. —Morven 16:10, Aug 3, 2004 (UTC)

Count me in. ;-) --DF08 16:39, Aug 3, 2004 (UTC)

What's the take on non-EU European country plates? I'm sure I could shoot my Norwegian plates if wanted, as they differ quite from the EU-plates. Can't be arsed if they're not wanted, though ;) --TVPR 08:41, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have posted images of some North American plates in my collection, either samples, older plates, or current plates that are not in use any more. Spotteddogsdotorg 20:44, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

International plates in USA

"In the USA, where the international oval means nothing legally because cars must have federal-style license plates"

Not sure what this is waying. Surely a Windsorian on a day-trip to Detroit can drive their Canadian-registered car across? With a CAN oval? If not, it's noteworthy enough for a more-than-passing mention. Joestynes 09:58, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I think this is inaccurate. Cars may indeed drive in the US with foreign plates, I believe. The two neighboring countries (Canada and Mexico) have US-style license plates that are intelligible to Americans, however, so this situation rarely comes up. Certainly there is no requirement for cars from those two countries to display international ovals. I'm not sure about others. I know my former boss, a Frenchman, imported a car from France and I believe, if I remember correctly, that he drove it with French plates. —Morven 14:50, Feb 14, 2005 (UTC)

You can rest assured that Canadian motorists *can* drive in the United States without issue. I live in Michigan, near the border, and I see cars with Canadian plates on a daily basis. I'm not sure exactly what the original author meant, but Canadian cars do not normally have the oval country sticker on them--just the plate with the name of the province (Ontario, Quebec, etc.) Funnyhat 23:38, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Around now, we'd be seeing vehicles from Ontario and Québec come here, possibly looking for some place warm (not really, it's currently -5 degrees Celsius right now). It's very rarely an issue. I don't see cars with a "USA" oval, nor do I see cars with a "CDN" oval. Even in other American countries, this is rarely a problem. I have a book called the Encyclopedia of World Geography and in their El Salvador article it shows a picture of a Toyota Corolla crushed by debris from the 2001 earthquake. The license plate had "El Salvador" on the top, the license plate number in the middle, and "America Central" on the bottom. I do not see an El Salvador oval plate anywhere in the photo. So it's not a problem. Here. it's a vanity thing, like the vanity license plates. I see a lot a cars, especially with Mass. plates (there are also some RI-registered cars that do the same) that have "MV" oval stickers on them ("MV" for Martha's Vineyard). So this is not unusual for me. -Daniel Blanchette 01:29, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

The international oval does mean nothing legally in the U.S. Not only can Canadian registered vehicles be driven legally in all 50 states, in certain circumstances I've seen EU-plated vehicles on U.S. roads. These are generally driven by U.S. military personnel recently back from Europe.211.59.191.28 07:16, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Any word on how one would aquire an international vehicle registration plate while in the US? Jude 21:43, 8 January 2006 CST

This is all governed by the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. I have just added some text to the article about the convention, which explains the requirements to display oval nationality stickers in the USA. In essence, the convention applies in the USA, but is waived in some cases. NFH 20:16, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I doubt that many Americans would even know what those country ovals were. I see many such stickers that are just tourism boosting mechanisms for locations in the US. For example, a common sticker where I'm from (western North Carolina) is a black "OBX" surrounded by a black oval on a white background. This does not signify any country anywhere in the world, but is simply a reference to the Outer Banks at the other end of the state. I see LOTS of these. And lots of other ones like that. You'd probably have a hard time convincing people that the official country ovals have any legal meaning. --Khajidha (talk) 15:31, 14 November 2019 (UTC)

I've a photo in a book of one of the 1960s Cobra coupé racers bearing a “USA” oval plate somewhere in Europe. It was quite common in those days for such vehicles to be driven on public roads – for testing, getting to and from races and in events like the Tour de France Automobile – so they'd have to be appropriately registered. Mr Larrington (talk) 12:15, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

Tags, tabs, and stickers

I was amazed to see the word "tags" used to refer to license-plate validation stickers. The word "tag" is ubiquitous in reference to the license plates themselves, but this is the only time I have ever seen it used to refer to the stickers. Would someone like to substantiate this usage? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.83.212.208 (talk • contribs) 02:52, 8 March 2005

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Where are you located? I don't know anything about the "tags" issue; I've heard the word used to describe the stickers on TV (nationwide networks in the U.S.) a few times. In California, where I am, people usually refer to the plates as "plates" and the stickers as "stickers."

Can anyone else illuminate this issue as to where "tags" is being used to describe plates or stickers?

--Coolcaesar 08:25, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I live in VA, although I have also lived and registered a car in MD, DC, and NJ. In all of those places, I have heard plates described as either "plates" or "tags" and the stickers simply as "stickers" (except in NJ, where they were not used at the time for most classes of vehicles). The Washington Post also uses "tag" to refer to the plates themselves rather than to the stickers. I have read descriptions of the stickers as "tabs," although I have never heard that usage in everyday speech.

Which TV shows used "tags" to describe the stickers? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.83.212.208 (talk • contribs) 13:22, 8 March 2005

In Michigan, the stickers are generally called "tabs." Plates are just plates . . . do they need a nickname? Funnyhat 23:03, 1 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Whether they "need a nickname" is beside the point. If the article is to describe the usage, it should describe what the usage is, not what you think it should be. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.140.80.231 (talk • contribs) 01:50, 4 April 2005

"Tags," "tabs" and "stickers" are all regionalisms. "Tags" mean either "plates" or "stickers" depending on where you are.211.59.191.28 07:12, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Several edits

First, I've never even heard of vanity plates in any other country than the US. Hence, I remove "In some countries", and replace this with "In the US". Second; "Some railfans have gone insane with their tags, others have gone off the deep end with their railroad themed tags." What does this even mean? It's gone anyhow. Third, I'm pointing here from other articles I edit, such as Dutch_Vehicle_Registration_Plates. Lines like "the dutch do not have vanity plates" etc. are superfluous as per my first point. WP is supposed to be internation, not aimed specifically at a US audience - thus the articles should be written so as to promote this goal. --TVPR 11:36, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

In the UK there are "personalised number plates" that you can buy - they are not a different design of plate (though some use an illegal, stylised font) but you choose the alphanumerics (such as R1CK or M3 T00). I know this is popular in many countries. violet/riga (t) 12:07, 30 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Aye, but they're not vanity plates per se - I'd rather say they fit into the novelty category. But then thats just me :) User:TVPR — Preceding undated comment added 00:15, 31 March 2005

A difficult decision really. They can show vanity, but not all the time. Perhaps just calling the section "personalised plates" would be the best, combining the two (which could be subsections if that works best). violet/riga (t) 00:20, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This sounds like a good solution, although I'm not bold enough to implement it. The way I see the definitions, a "vanity" plate is a judicially valid registration plate, whereas a "novelty" - albeit displaying some form of vanity, perhaps - is not something you can exchange your regular, standardised (and boring ;)) plates with. They're more like extras. My POV's have stirred up hornets nests over details before, though, so I'll leave them out here. --TVPR 02:31, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Just to point out...the federal countries reference should have stayed because those countries all share federal governments.

In countries with unitary national governments (like the majority of EU members), EVERYTHING is micromanaged from the national capital including license plates. That's the point of using the word "federal," to distinguish how federal governments usually don't manage license plates directly. This is why, for example, American and Mexican state governments have the flexibility to play around with their license plates designs all the time, by using with different materials (like plastic), or by printing bar codes, color background graphics, and URLs.

--Coolcaesar 07:30, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Why move to licence plate?

Hey! Why was this page moved? I think all the North American Wikipedia users like me were perfectly happy with the way it was at license plate. It was created under the name "license plate," and nearly all of the content was drafted with reference to that spelling by North Americans, so it should stay there!

--Coolcaesar 02:05, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Agreed. Is it really worth all of that bother just to spite Americans? 216.214.103.34 22:38, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Coolcaesar: It was a new user's edit, one who was not familiar with policy. I asked him directly on his talk page; seemingly, he mistook the original title for a typo, not being familiar with AmE spelling and wished to correct this. Anon user: Keep your shirt on, and lose the "everybody hates America" paranoia. It is unbecoming. Assume good faith and Don't bite the newcomers are both fitting quotes here.--TVPR 08:48, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Which policy? However I see no reason to use American English since British English is older and should be the standard. --ckorff 10:13, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It's been hashed out in bloody battles. The policy is to continue using whichever dialect the article was written in first. See WP:MOS#National_varieties_of_English. Incidentally, your argument is unconvincing, since these two dialects of modern English share a common ancester-- from which, they have each diverted to a noticeable degree. --Yath 18:11, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)

license plate theft

In some American states like California, license plate theft is a serious problem, and it is common to see many vehicles without license plates.

Huh? I've lived in California for a long time and never heard of this. Can we have some references for this statement? --Yath 20:36, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Oops. I just did a little research on the periodical databases and it turns out it's not as big a problem as I thought. It's really a problem only in inner-city Los Angeles. --Coolcaesar 07:15, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Recent changes to article by DavidWBrooks

The article is becoming a bit of a mess now because user DavidWBrooks took out the "Large countries with federal governments" heading which I had inserted. While trying to revise the article, I then realized something important.

The basic problem with the article is that some details of license plates vary widely from country to country, but others do not. What we need is for some user who knows a lot about license plates (I personally know a lot about freeways but not so much about plates) to isolate all the elements that are identical and put them in the front of the article under a heading like "In general," and then the other country-specific stuff can be broken off into later sections. --Coolcaesar 07:23, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

How about a split?

Would it make more sense to have an entry on North American license plates, European "number plates", and plates from the rest of the world? Or possibly better subdividing the existing entry? Spotteddogsdotorg 01:01, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Personally, I would support the idea of a license plate article and a number plate article, and vehicle registration plate could be a disambiguation page. Additionally, if North American plates are in a separate article then the North american article will use American english. — Jesse's Girl | Please talk! 18:34, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

New name

This article has become very international in scope, therefore a neutral title should be chosen. I'm going to be bold and move this article to Vehicle registration plate, a neutral, specific and formal term. This move is in line with the MoS. SpNeo 18:14, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Done, double redirects fixed. SpNeo 18:19, 1 August 2005 (UTC)

Replacing plates vs. using periodic decals

The following text from the article is at odds with my experience:

In other countries, such as in the United States, plates (known as license plates) are required to be changed periodically (though, for cost-saving purposes, the recent tendency has been to simply replace a small decal on the plate's surface). Additionally, most US states follow a "plate to owner" policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold, the seller removes the current plate(s) from the vehicle and the buyer must either obtain new plates from his state of residence, or attach plates that he already holds from that state, as well as formally registering the vehicle under his name and the plate number, with the state authorities.

I can only speak from my experience in California, but in that state, for at least the last 30 years, none of the above has been true. The plates are issued only once per vehicle, decals are issued yearly to indicate that registration fees have been paid, and the plates normally remain with the vehicle when it is transferred to another owner. Which states handle these things differently (if not now, then recently)? --Yath 21:50, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

In every jurisdiction in which I've ever registered a car (MD, VA, DC, and NJ), at least one of those things has been true. Doctor Whom 16:57, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

In Rhode Island, beginning in 1980, we switched to changing plates to the decal system. When cars were tested every year to see if it complied with Federal emissions and safety regulations (it is now every two years), the decal was changed (so long as you paid your renewal fee). Today, the renewal fee part is true, but now the decal is changed every four years (before the changeover to the "standard" ugly ocean wave plates the last decal shown on Mom's old plates was 1998, and before that was a decal from 1994. They are made using reflective material, maybe so that the police can find vehicles easier. Before, the decals were on the top left corner of the license plate. Eventually, whoever placed the decal on your plate would put it anywhere he wanted. That's from what I know here. Interestingly, cars with DEM beach passes (to gain season-wide free access to public beaches maintained by the Rhode Island Department of Environment Management, aka RIDEM or simply DEM) are required to have the passes (which function almost like an EZ-Pass) on the driver's side of the windshield, near the plate, though I've been seeing weird white decals on the plates lately. I don't know if these show state vehicles (which still use the old-style plates) or what the story is. -Daniel Blanchette 01:41, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

In Michigan, everything as originally quoted, save the "required to be periodically replaced" part, hold true. The current white-on-blue style has been in place since 1984. In that time, we've gone from the 123 ABC format, to ABC 123 around 1994, and then to ABC1234 in 2005 (with a slight modification to ABC 1234 here in 2006), and low-lettered 123 ABC-style plates are still around. Of course, validation stickers are used, and quite a layer of them can be seen on those plates. —IW4 18:39, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

NY has changed its standard plate designs perhaps 2x in that last 30 years - each time you were given the option of keeping your old plate number, but having it on the new plate design (for a fee) or getting a new number with your new plate, but changing to the new design was mandatory; once the grace period ran out, a few people received tickets for continuing to display the old plates on thier vehicles (even if the plate number was correct). So I suppose this is a sort of periodic replacement, with a lengthy and perhaps irregular period. Instead of using a sticker on the plate, two windshield stickers are used, one for the yearly (safety and) emmissions inspection, the other to indicate payment of the biannual registration fee.

When selling a vehicle, the owner keeps the old plates or turns them in to the state, or destroys them (I don't know that the last option is legally acceptable, but I've never heard of anyone getting into trouble for it). On purchasing a vehicle, the purchaser may elect to receive new plates (with a new number) or to transfer a set already in his/her possession onto the new vehicle. --Badger151 20:35, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Japan, and vanity plates

First, whomever it was that said vanity plates don't exist outside the US, yr wrong.  :) Many countries have them.

On Japan: Licence plates for cars & trucks in Japan are more complex than described. White background with green text means private vehicle over 660cc engine size. Green background with white text means commercial registration, same engine category. There are other options; The most common is yellow background, black text. This is referred to as a "Kei car" - private vehicle, engine size 660cc or *smaller*. Reverse colours (black background, yellow text) means, again, commerical vehicle registration. You can also see white background plates with red text, but they're very rare.

The characters on the plate are mis-described too. The top kanji are the name of the prefecture (state) the vehicle is registered in. There are 47 prefectures, and twelve (?) "designated cities' (meaning, basically, cities large enough in population to be administered as a state by themselves). The numbers next to the prefecture name indicate the registration office in that prefecture. The remainder of the characters (one hiragana character and up to four numbers) are the actual plate number. Where numbers below 1000 are needed a solid dot will be on the plate as a placeholder rather than leaving empty space. This is done to help prevent fraud.

Someone want to correct the entry?  :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.152.93.75 (talk • contribs) 21:05, 2 December 2005

Should 'Vehicle licence' be merged here?

I think Vehicle licence is a distict thing, and should remain separate for the following reasons...

A Vehicle licence is a permit to use a vehicle on a public road, whereas a Vehicle registration plate displays an index key into a database of registered vehicles, used to identify the vehicle for law enforcement, or whatever. It could be that in some juristictions the Vehicle registration plate is the same thing as a Vehicle licence , but in others, notably the UK, the two are not related, other that the Vehicle licence, which is a small paper disc to be displayed on the vehicle, usually stuck inside the windscreen (windshield), has the vehicle's registration number (as displayed on the Vehicle registration plate) printed on it to ensure that it can only be used in that vehicle. In the UK a Vehicle registration plate usually stays with a vehicle for life, remaining the same regardless of owner, or address, and whether the vehicle is actually licensed or not, and is purely for vehicle identification purposes. It may, however, make sense to merge the licensing details from Vehicle registration plate to Vehicle licence thus making the former more generic, and concerned with the plate's function as a means of easy identification of a vehicle. De Facto 00:39, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

A vehicle licence in the UK is not a disc in the window. That is the tax disc - to show road taxes have been paid. The license is made up (now anyway) of 2 parts - a plastic id card and a piece of paper with further details about vehicle classifications and points etc... It used to be all paper style. --Localzuk 21:23, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

You are confusing the Driving Licence with the Vehicle Licence. A driver has to have a Driving Licence - which is as you describe, a plastic card and and a paper counterpart. However, each motor vehicle used or kept on the public road in the UK also has to have a Vehicle Licence which appears as a paper disc. For most vehicles, though not all, a tax, known as the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) is payable to obtain the Vehicle Licence, so the Vehicle Licence (the paper disc) is often referred to as a Tax Disc. - De Facto 09:43, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

We need to define a licence plate as a subset of a vehicle registration plate. A licence plate is a specific type of vehicle registration plate or number plate that incorporates a vehicle licence. This is the reason why Americans tend to use the phrase licence plate whereas British people use the more generic phrase number plate. The article starts by just presenting these terms as alternatives with equal meaning, which is incorrect. In other words, all licence plates are number plates, but not all number plates are licence plates. We should keep the subjects of vehicle licensing and vehicle identification distinctly separate. Nfh 21:44, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Believe it should remain separate. In many jurisdictions, a vehicle license is issued separately (typically after the vehicle has been tested and is a separate activity from registration (though typically a prerequisite for registration) 211.59.191.28 07:25, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Agree. The plate and the license are not always the same thing, depending on the country. In fact I'd go as far as to say (without any proof!) that it's more common than not that the two are distinct. Graham 06:14, 25 January 2006 (UTC)

• Agree. Do not merge. They are not only distinct as issued, but plates are often collected and discussed as artifacts. Licenses are also a topic in document forgery. --Dystopos 01:43, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I think it's clear that we should not merge them. --Yath 18:45, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

The term 'licence plate' in commercial aviation

How do we move this section out of the article? It has nothing to do with the topic at hand, and this is not a disambiguation page. Chris 02:24, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Irregular shapes

Northwest Territories and Nunavut plates are well-known as irregularly-shaped, that of a polar bear. However, did not some US states, in the 1980s-1990s, have plates shaped like the state, if the state was roughly rectangular? Ones eligible for this quality would be Montana, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas. GBC 21:46, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't remember encountering irregular plates in the 1980s and '90s, but I do seem to recall seeing some plates from perhaps the 30's or 40's that were not of the standard size. And I think that I read an article somewhere that stated that in the US, in the begining, it was the vehicle owner's option as to how to display the vehicle's regitration number - people used wood, metal, or even painted the number directly onto the radiator/grill. --Badger151 20:42, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

DUI/OMVI

In Ohio, and probably other places, we issue special orange and yellow license plates for people convicted of a DUI/OMVI. Possibly could be mentioned here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.20.127.229 (talk • contribs) 21:21, 25 May 2006

I've never heard of that or seen that in any of the West Coast states, but it certainly sounds like a good idea. --Coolcaesar 23:07, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Here is a good example: http://www.dui.com/drunk_driving_research/dui_license_plate.html

Maybe it's just Ohio that does it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.20.127.229 (talk • contribs) 21:16, 31 May 2006

What's an OMVI? Also, some other state, supposedly New Jersey, bans DUIers from getting vanity plates. 68.39.174.238 02:23, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

A similiar law went before the Louisiana legislature a year or two ago and supposedly passed, but I've yet to see any of them here yet. Sf46 (talk) 01:31, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Pakistan

I am moving an uncited section of the info for Pakistan here, If it's correct, can someone please add a source and move it back to the article. Thanks, --Apyule 21:46, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Now the Pakistani authorities are implanting VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) chips in all cars sold in Pakistan to be able to identify the owner through satellite tracking etc‹The template Talkfact is being considered for merging.› .

Prisons?

Don't they make licence plates in prisons (Or used to)? 68.39.174.238 02:20, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

I think they gave that up as it became more of an automated process. --Badger151 06:30, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

No, in California they still make them at Folsom State Prison. See the official Web page at [1] (you have to scroll down a bit). --Coolcaesar 10:19, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

In Victoria, and the Northern Territory, Australia, what Australians and Brits call 'number plates' were still made in prisons at 2008. However, all other Australian states' plates are made by a company. Walkingmelways (talk) 14:12, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

color of plates

why does my state have two different color lettering for thier plate? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.54.154.152 (talk) 21:30, 6 February 2007 (UTC).

Is your state North Carolina? If so, see Vehicle registration plates of North Carolina. I had wondered if the red lettering indicated NCSU fans and blue indicated UNC or Duke fans, but the reality is less interesting. --BDD (talk) 23:03, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

License plate lookup

Might it be useful to have information about the availability of and links to sites where one can find the registered owner of a car that that contained a driver who greeted you warmly but whose name you can't remember, or one that just missed you?

Obform 13:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Main issue with that would be abuse...someone almost killed you on the road because they were busy talking on their cell phone, so you look up their plate, and, well, I think the rest is self explanatory.

Negativity13 (talk) 04:16, 2 July 2008 (UTC)

Vehicle Registration Taxes

What is this section doing in this article at all? It's in my opinion both unrelated and half-useless (less informative than a stub).

213.162.65.17 13:23, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

It also has geographic bias. I say take it out. 38.100.35.16 17:33, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've removed it. It has nothing to do with registration plates, which is the subject of this article. Graham87 06:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

License / licence

The name "vehicle registration plate" is a good compromise to remove British or American bias.

However, the use of "license plate" at some places and "licence plate" at others is very annoying. My personal usage is "licence plate", but Wikipedia policy is to follow whatever spelling convention the article was first written in. If I am not mistaken, that should be "license plate". (Perhaps a note could be added at the very first instance that British/Commonwealth spelling is "licence".)

Bathrobe 07:41, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

by city

this article doesnt say anything about if plates (the first letters) in USA depend on the city/state that you live on, or are they complitely random? 72.70.243.78 17:55, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

UHH it is America Everything is random. There ha never been clear cut rules on American plates MKLPTR (talk) 09:42, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

It's very random in the U.S. In most states it's whatever is the next number or letter in sequence that's available; it has nothing to do with your residence. --Coolcaesar (talk) 10:57, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Eight states code their plates by the county of issuance, and still others spell out the county name in full on the plate itself, but not as part of the plate serial. See U.S. and Canadian license plates‎ for more information. And American plates do have "clear-cut rules"; they just vary by state. Qqqqqq (talk) 06:29, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

To: "User:Qqqqqq" you have missed the point. In America you can't look at some letters or mumbers to determine EXACTLY to the county level where they are from. For Example:

Using the above image. The "KA" means that this vehicle is/was Registered in the City of Karlsruhe county in wich has the County Seat in Karlsruhe. or "DD" Would be Dresden, "HH" is Hamburg, BZ is Bautzen, or is KI Kiel. That is just Germany However France has the last 2 numbers I think, that correspond to their Department. And for most other people One little known fact. The U.S.A. is the ONLY country in which you can 100% personalize your car registration plate. How's that for the First Amendment.>BR> MKLPTR (talk) 07:32, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Just saw this. It's not surprising that "missed the point" when your point was so unclear. For nearly every vehicle registered in the U.S., you can tell which state it's from (roughly equivalent to the first set of letters on German plates), and for some state, you can also tell the county (roughly equivalent to the second set of letters on German plates). So in some states you can tell "exactly" where a plate was issued, while for others you cannot. Also, all Canadian provinces save Quebec, as well as the states of Australia and several European nations allow the complete personalization of the plate serial. And there are probably a few other countries I'm missing. Qqqqqq (talk) 02:12, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Your comment on vanity plates is not entirely correct...Canada also has 100% personalizable (is that a word?) vanity plates.

04:20, 2 July 2008 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Negativity13 (talk • contribs)

No, Quebec doesn't have them, and I think maybe one of the Maritimes doesn't as well. Qqqqqq (talk) 04:55, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Black plates in the UK

Why are these not mentioned anywhere? In the UK, i think it's historical vehicles, can have plates with a black background and white lettering. An example can be see here: http://www.olavsplates.com/foto/gb_pwf97r.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elkrobber (talk • contribs) 13:37, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Black UK plates are mentioned on the British number plates page, linked to this one via the European vehicle registration plates page. Md84419 19:27, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Also, Antique vehicle registration is linked from this page and mentions historical vehicles in the UK. 38.100.35.16 (talk) 21:15, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Indo-tempo.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 07:19, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Inaccurate heading: "Vehicle registration plates by country"

I may be nitpicking excessively, but not all the regions in this section are countries. The EU is not a country, nor is North America. Furthermore, the "North America" section does not cover North America, just the US and Canada. Mexico is part of NA (or so I was taught), but has its own separate section. I'm not sure if it's worth changing, but that jumped out at me as I cruised past this article. LoLo McSpanky (talk) 17:07, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

EU plate design patent dispute

I removed the following text. If there is a patent, valid or otherwise, that dispute belongs between the patent holders and the relevant authorities in the various countries. I see no relevance for a Wikipedia article -- especially not in a summary section that links to the main article.

If anyone feels differently, or wants to integrate it into the main EU plate article (as opposed to the summary section here), the text I removed was:

This 'common design' is claimed to be a registered design - number 2053070 - registered at the UK Patent office by David and Nansi Mottram in 1995 [2]. However, Ireland introduced this style of vehicle registration plate on 1st Jan 1991 under regulation S.I. No. 287/1990, [3]. Portugal introduced plates with the common design in 1992, and Germany introduced plates with the common design in January 1994 [4], [5], No successful challenge has been launched upon the registered design to date.

-Stian (talk) 02:35, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Temporary plates

I don't believe the bit about paper plates almost everywhere. Maybe this is true in North America, if so, please state so, and cite a source. Temporary plates for test driving, export, etc., probably deserve being mentioned here. Free-zombie (talk) 09:54, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

I think the claim is referring only to the U.S. and Canada, which is certainly true. A couple of other countries have temporary paper plates (Argentina comes to mind), and several more have temporary metal plates (as in many European nations). I'll look for a source, but it's probably going to have to be the official jurisdictions' sites on temporary registrations, which will not prove 'all'- or 'most'-type claims. Qqqqqq (talk) 16:07, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Legality of photos of plates

A friend asked me: why do the tv shows blurr the car plates shown there? Can I upload photos I've taken with cars and their license plates? --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 05:12, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Someone thinks Europe is a country.

Could someone correct the headings in the article so that it doesn't look like it was written by a brain donor. Europe is a continent, not a country. Either change the heading to 'Vehicle registration plates by continent' or list the different countries in Europe.

If the individual countries of Europe do not warrant a separate heading then neither do the countries of Asia or North America etc. A bit of consistency would be nice.

~~Worldtraveller~~ 20 September 2009 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.9.139.98 (talk • contribs) 23:07, 19 September 2009

License Plate Holders with glass

If license plate holders with tinted, clear, or smoky glass are illegal in the United States, why are they sold in such auto part stores such as AutoZone?

Also, is there a place where one can look laws such as this? 64.136.26.231 (talk) 02:58, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

They are meant for 'show cars only' - or so they will tell you. I cant help but detect a 'nudge nudge, wink wink' in that disclaimer.RebelKnightCSA (talk) 19:24, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Handicap license plates

I noticed there are no handicap plates listed. So...I submit my own. Im too new to upload directly, but hopefully one of you would be good enough to do it for me, if such a request is permissible: http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/1842/xyzzy2better.jpg Thanks in advance. For the record, this is my work, and its public domain.RebelKnightCSA (talk) 02:17, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Unclear image

The Andorran license plate image does not include the entire plate, and is very blurry. If anyone here has a better image, please upload it, because I do not live in Andorra.  Awesomeness  talk  21:58, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

states that do not require a front plate

info is incorrect.. someone has listed Illinois as one of the states where you do not need a front license plate. you will get a ticket for not having registered plates on the front and rear of your car, unless you have a temporary sticker. got pulled over for it by state police on I-57 on the way to Chicago, and then ticketed in Chicago by a meter-maid for same reason.. This state is terrible.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.225.172.199 (talk) 11:31, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Earliest licence plate

Apparently, Victoria had them in 1884, before the European ones currently cited in this article as being "first": http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/20102010/72/bc-victoria-birthplace-licence-plate.html. 142.103.207.10 (talk) 23:28, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Untitled

Hi Wiki Nazis - why is the Russian Federation in Asia? Your own, Wikipedia's article on Russian Federation states that Russia covers 40% of Europe and is the largest European state with 80% of its population living in the European part of the country. Russia was always considered a European power - until last few years where there was a deliberate push by its American enemy to change the perception - so why woul you put the whole thing in Asia? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.146.176.26 (talk) 12:39, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Duplicate Plate in Australian States ??

When the number of cars were fewer it was possible to give the states a different series of number, say:

• NSW AAA000-HZZ999
• VIC IAA000-LZZ999
• QLD MAA000-PZZ999
• ...
• ...
• COM ZAA000-ZZZ999 (especially Commonwealth organisations, with red "Z")

When the number of cars exceeded what was possible with these combinations, a certain a amount of chaos ensued.

• QLD changed to 000ABC-999XYZ
• WA went to 7 digits, 1ABC789
• NSW went to ABC12D-WXY89Z
• and then to AB12CD-WX89YZ.
• and so on.

It is not know if the same number can be used in more than one state/territory. Tabletop (talk) 12:38, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Dubious claim in 'History'

It can hardly be true that registration plates are older than automobiles. According to the Wiki article 'History of the automobile' the year 1886 is regarded as the beginning of the modern automobile, and this is earlier than the first registration plates.109.158.133.196 (talk) 12:46, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Country-specific subsections

As a matter of fact, we have articles on vehicle registration plates in (almost) all countries. There articles are collected in templates which are included at the bottom of this article. However, on top of this, we have a number of short sections describing a random selection of specific countries. Do we actually need them? Expansion to all 200 countries available does not see realistic or rational, may be we should just remove the sections, keeping a couple of them to present examples and refer to the country-specific articles?--Ymblanter (talk) 10:49, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

I do not see any interest, unwatching the page.--Ymblanter (talk) 06:56, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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Article conflict vis-a-vis history

This article states, at #History, that "[r]egistration plates have been around for longer than there have been automobiles. France was the first country to introduce the registration plate with the passage of the Paris Police Ordinance on August 14, 1893" (¶ 1). However, Automobile redirects to Car, which states, in the lead, "[t]he year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the modern car. In that year, German inventor Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen" (¶ 1). For the moment, I'm marking the claim in this article as dubious, but I'm hoping that someone with better knowledge of this can sort it out. --Badger151 (talk) 18:33, 20 August 2016 (UTC)

A failed attempt to be all-encompassing

The article as it stands appears to be attempting to deal in detail with every aspect of the physical display of vehicle registration / licensing marks in every jurisdiction in the world all in one single Wikipedia entry.

Not only is this an absurdly over-ambitious aim, in my view – and one highly unlikely to result in a lucidly written article that is easily navigable by the reader in search of information on the subject – but the error is seriously compounded by the inclusion of such over-particular information in the general introduction to the article as the following:

The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered. The next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well. The third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate.

I don't know (since it isn't stated) to what jurisdiction those observations apply, but they can surely be relevant to only – what? a single-figure percentage of all the registration plates issued in the world?

Wikipedia already has plenty of articles of the type Vehicle registration plates of Australia, Vehicle registration plates of Brazil, Vehicle registration plates of China, etc. and the article here should confine itself to universal, or near-universal, generalities (amounting to no more than a paragraph or two) on the subject of registration / licence plates, followed by a comprehensive list of links to the Vehicle registration plates of X-type articles already mentioned.

This would have the additional benefit of eliminating a great deal of repetition. Such statements as Jordan requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates, for instance, are already in the Vehicle registration plates of Jordan article, so why repeat them here?

I would very much welcome a discussion on these points. -- Picapica (talk) 23:50, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

I absolutely agree. There is a lot of absolutely unnecessary repetition here.--Ymblanter (talk) 19:41, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

Licence vs registration.

The article wrongly uses "licence plate" and "number plate" and "registration plate" interchangeably in some sections. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 42.2.34.156 (talk) 08:31, 20 March 2017 (UTC)

Proposed split

This article should probably be for the general concept and history, and the list should be split into a separate list article at List of Vehicle registration plates by country/territory. Dmartin969 (talk) 03:59, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Support, sounds good to me. -- DeFacto (talk). 07:08, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Typeface reconstruction

• 
  like this example
• 
  Arkansas-similar in height:width ratio to Erbar Light Condensed; Hill House typeface has a very similar curled 2
• 
  Cuba-finial ends of characters are beveled instead of serifed
• all letters were used, note Cubans repainted their old plates so some letters do not clearly show underlying bevel
  all letters were used, note Cubans repainted their old plates so some letters do not clearly show underlying bevel
• 
  North Carolina-variable thicknesses, similar to Goudy's Lining Gothic design of 1921-changing direction-North Carolina changed stamping typefaces every 3-4 years, better to illustrate that
• 
  please note characters D and F tilt \, characters C, E, P, R, and the lower leg of J tilt /, B is a distinctive style, both legs of the H tilt inward at the top, and characters A, K, N, S, T, U, W, X and Y don't tilt, not certain if other letters were used
• 
  my crude mockup of end idea-without grey background-that's something my old MSPaint does
• 
  my crude mockup of end idea-without grey background-that's something my old MSPaint does
• 
  changing direction-North Carolina changed stamping typefaces every 3-4 years, better to illustrate that
• 
  my crude mockup of end idea-without grey background-that's something my old MSPaint does

Article(s)

Vehicle registration plates, FE-Schrift

Request

please make characters uniform like File:FE-Schrift.svg, sorry for my strange images and eyeballing … -- Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 14:47, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

I have inverted some so all characters are darker than their background--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 04:29, 12 April 2018 (UTC)

Graphist opinion(s)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Number plates in Bangladesh.jpeg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:06, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

English / Non-English alphabet

Add tallies / lists of what countries, despite not using the English alphabet usually, still stick to using it on vehicle registration plates, e.g., Taiwan. Jidanni (talk) 14:50, 9 May 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• 2010 Idaho License Plate.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:38, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Maine "IEATA55" Plate.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:54, 9 April 2023 (UTC)