License plate

A license plate, licence plate, number plate or registration plate (often referred to simply as a plate, or colloquially tag) is a small metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle for official identification purposes. On many vehicles, they appear in pairs, with one attached to the front and another attached to the rear, although certain jurisdictions and vehicle types only require one plate—usually the rear. The plate has a serial number on it which is the same on all plates attached to the vehicle, the purpose of which is to identify the vehicle uniquely from others on roads, usually within the same country. Having a current license plate change usually is evidence of a vehicle being licensed for use on a public highway, or of a tax having been paid in connection with the vehicle.

In some countries, such as in the United Kingdom, a vehicle usually only has one set of plates (known as number plates) following its initial sale as the information displayed on the plates is static from then on throughout the vehicle's life. In other countries, such as in the United States, plates (known as license plates) have 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).

Plates usually are either directly fixed to a vehicle, or may be located in a plate frame which is itself fixed to the vehicle . Sometimes the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the vehicle service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can purchase customized and specialty frames to replace the original frames. Usually plates are designed to conform to certain standards of clarity with regards to being read by the human eye in day or at night, or by electronic equipment.

Some drivers purchase smoke-colored or tinted covers that go over the license plate, usually to prevent such electronic equipment from scanning the license plate number. Although useful to those avoiding detection from police, these covers are not legal in all U.S. states and are looked down upon in others.

License plates have been around almost as long as automobiles. In the U.S., where each state oversees plates, New York state has required plates since 1901. Massachusetts was the first state to require government-issued plates, in 1903.

Usage

In Canada, Mexico, Australia, Germany, and the United States, license plates are usually issued by provincial, territorial, or state governments. The federal government issues plates only for its own vehicle fleet and for vehicles owned by foreign diplomats.

In most other countries, license plates are issued by an agency of the national government.

Plate numbering and lettering

Generally, the appearance of plates is frequently chosen to contain symbols, colors, or slogans associated with the issuing jurisdiction. The format for license plate numbers (which often contain characters) will provide enough numbers for all the motor vehicles in the jurisdiction. So, for example, Wyoming, the smallest U.S. state by population, issues plates with the numbers in the format NN NNNN or NN NNNL, with the first two numbers restricted to 1–23 and 99 (one code for each of the state's 23 counties, and 99 for rental vehicles); Rhode Island, the smallest state by area, uses the formats LL-NNN and NNNNN; while California and certain other populous states use a seven-character format such as LLLNNNN or NLLLNNN, where N is a number and L is a letter. Plates on vehicles other than passenger cars, such as trucks and trailers, may have different formats such as NLNNNNN. In some U.S. states, information such as the county of registration or the month of expiration is encoded into the number. A few states place the county of registration explicitly on the plate, above or below the number. The closest thing to a generic numbering format in the U.S. is LLL-NNN or NNN-LLL for passenger cars, LL-NNNN for trucks, L-NNNNN for trailers, and either LLNNN or NNNNNN for motorcycles.

While it is popularly believed that license-plate numbers are assigned randomly, the usual practice is to assign them in ascending order, beginning with a starting point such as AAA-001. Thus, someone familiar with the sequence can determine roughly when the license plate was issued. In a few cases, numbers are assigned in descending order. For example, when Virginia switched to a seven-character for its standard issue in 1993, numbers beginning with AAA-1000 were already in use for extra-cost ornamental plates; therefore, the new standard license plates were issued in descending order from ZZZ-9999. Special "400th Anniversary" license plates, issued since 2003, are numbered in ascending order from JAA-1000.

Sometimes, there is a problem with unintentional profane or inappropriate messages. Thus most numbering sequences do not include lettering such as FUK, DIE, KKK, BTK, or USA; and numbering usually does not include 911 or 666, except in California.

In New Zealand, license plate numbering went from LLNNNN to LLLNNN in February 2001 with the arrival of ZZ9999, which was followed by AAA104 instead of AAA001 for some reason. Between 1905 and 1964, the number plates went from 000001 to 999999.

Showing current registration on plates

Historically, many U.S. and Canadian plates were replaced every year, although the general practice in modern times is to send new validation stickers to vehicle owners every year or two, to indicate that the vehicle registration is still valid.

Tags that are not up to date quickly attract the attention of law enforcement, because registration "renewal" is a transaction that can usually be undertaken only by the car's registered owner. A delinquent registration tag is often an indicator that the vehicle may be stolen. Even with the tags, many states used to require that all license plates be replaced every few years, although that practice is being abandoned due to the expense of continually producing large numbers of plates. Maryland, for example, formerly mandated that all license plates be replaced every five years (except for apportioned trailers, which were registered on an eight-year schedule), but has not done so since 1986.

The tags are usually placed on one corner of the plate, while the month of the year in which the tags would expire is printed in an opposing corner. Some jurisdictions combine the year and month on one sticker. In others, the plate's validation is a decal displayed from the inside of the windshield. The colour of plate stickers and windshield decals often change annually, to allow for easier detection by police.

Most validation stickers are either serialized (with the serial number recorded on the registration), or are printed by a special printer at the time of registration or renewal with the vehicle's license plate number on them to discourage fraudulent sticker use (the sticker will be valid only for the plate for which it was intended).

Plate lifecycle

In the United States, plates typically stay with vehicles throughout their useful life, unless owners move to another state and bring their vehicles with them. In American law, when a person moves to a new state, he or she is required to establish "residency" in the new state, which includes registering the vehicle with that new state's government — it will then issue new plates that must be attached to the vehicle.

When a vehicle is sold, the disposition of the license plates depends on state law. In some states, the license plates are assigned with the vehicle to its new owner. In other states, the license plates remain with the seller, who may, for a fee, transfer the license plates and any unused portion of the current registration to a new vehicle. Some states issue a new plate whenever the car is sold.

Plate mounting

Many American states are now strictly enforcing laws that require all vehicles to have two license plates (one mounted on or near each bumper). This is to increase the effectiveness of red-light cameras, which work only if a vehicle can be linked back to its registered owner.

Special plate content and shapes

In the United States and Canada, many states and provinces distinguish their license plates through distinctive colour schemes and logos. For example, the cowboy logo often associated with the state of Wyoming has appeared on that state's license plates for several decades. The license plates of the Yukon have featured a prospector panning for gold. Vermont license plates have frequently featured a green and white colour scheme. Other states, such as California and Louisiana offer a simpler scheme, often with a white background and little decoration (although Louisiana has recently switched to a graphic design with a graphic of the state bird, the pelican). In recent years, states such as Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia have begun to put the address of the state's official web site on their general issue plates. In Canada's Northwest Territories and Nunavut, the license plates are cut out from the sheet material in a bear shape.

Europe

In the European Union, number plates of a common format are issued throughout (albeit still optional in some member states). Nevertheless, individual member states use differing numbering schemes, and even colors (e.g. the United Kingdom and France have yellow plates at the rear; see British car number plates). The common design consists of a blue strip on the left of the plate. This blue strip has the E.U. motif (12 yellow stars), along with the country code of the member state in which the vehicle was registered. With this vehicles do not require international code stickers for traveling between member states.

Car registration plates from France, as observed 2004.	A car registration plate from Germany, as observed 2005.	Car registration plate from Sweden	Manx (not in the EU) car registration plate
Polish plate issued shortly before EU membership	Lithuanian plate issued shortly before EU membership

People's Republic of China

Main article: licence plate of China

The People's Republic of China issues vehicles licence plates at its Vehicle Management Offices, under the administration of the Ministry of Public Security.

The current plates are of the 1992 standard, which consist of the one-character provincial abbreviation, a letter of the Latin alphabet, and five numbers or letters of the alphabet (e.g. Jing A-12345, for a vehicle in Beijing). The number order is produced at random; i.e. Jing A-12345 will not be issued before Jing A-12344. A computer handles the randomization. (A previous licence plate system, with a green background and the full name of the province in Chinese characters, actually had a sequential numbering order, and the numbering system was eventually beset with corruption.)

Yellow plates are issued for large vehicles of Chinese nationality. Blue plates, the most common sort, are issued for vehicles of Chinese nationality, which are small or compact in size. Black plates are issued for vehicles belonging to foreigners and persons from Hong Kong and Macao. (Black licence plates are handed to vehicles of any size, as long as they are of foreign nationality.)

Japan

Main article: licence Plate (Japan)

License plates in Japan are either white with green text, or the reverse. The top line names the office at which the vehicle is registered, and includes a numeric code that indicates the class of vehicle. The bottom contains one symbol (typically a kana), and up to four digits.

Russian Federation

In Russia, plate format has changed since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The current format uses a letter followed by 3 digits and two more letters. To improve legibility of the numbers for Russian cars abroad, only a small subset of Cyrillic characters that look like Latin characters is used. Finally, the region number (77 and 99 for Moscow, 78 for Saint-Petersburg) and letters "RUS" are included, as well as the national flag. There is a different format for trailers (4 digits and 2 letters).

Some regions (inside the Federation) are not required to have the flag on the licence plates.

Police forces have special numbers on blue colored plates. There are special series (usually numbers starting with A) reserved for government officials (for example, A 001 AA usually belongs to the governor of the region). These numbers have a larger flag instead of the region number.

Rich businessmen, prominent politicians and crime lords often use illegally acquired special licence plates (government or police) to get preferential treatment from the transport police and as a status symbol.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Brazil adopted its current system in 1990, which uses the form LLL NNNN, with a dot between letters and numbers. A combination given to one vehicle cannot be transferred to another vehicle. Above combination there is a metallic band with the state abbreviation (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, PR = Paraná, etc.) and the name of the municipality. This band can be changed, changing the seal (plastic or lead-made).

The size of the Brazilian licence plates is normally 380 x 130 mm, but can be made plates on Japanese size or European size

The Brazilian Licence Plates use colors to show its type, and front and rear plates use same color:

black on gray: Particular white on red: any kind of paid transportation (buses, cabs, etc.) red on white: driver's school (auto-escola in Brazil). black on white: official use (government, police department, fire department, federal, state or city-owned for public services). gray on black: collection (30-years vehicles or more with an excellent conservation and plus than 80% of originality. white on green: dealer-testing or in some cases, test-drive (most of test-drive cars use black on gray plates). white on blue: constructor-testing or diplomatic use (in this case, using CD NNNN or CC NNNN).

The letters of the plate can describe its state of origin. Vehicles can be relocated from one state to another, but their plate's combination will show the origin.

AAA-0000 to BEZ-0000 = PR = PARANÁ; BFA-0000 to GKI-0000 = SP = SÃO PAULO; GKI-0000 to HOL-0000 = MG = MINAS GERAIS; and so on.

Vanity and specialty plates

In some countries, people can pay extra and get vanity plates: licence plates with a custom number (character set). For example, a vanity license plate might read "MY TOY". Generally vanity plates are not allowed to have profane or obscene messages on them, and of course they must also be unique.

In California, it is possible to have certain symbols on a vanity plate. The available symbols are a heart, hand, or star.

In New Jersey, people convicted of drunk driving are banned from using vanity plates.

Even the railroad railfan has a custom tag to denote either a locomotive model or road number. In the U.S. state of Georgia (where the number of letters/numbers was recently extended from six to seven), the & cannot be used, so if a railfan wanted a plate number with the & (IE: B&O GM50); the railfan would have to order it as shown: BO GM50. Some states also have separate locomotive licence tags.

Novelty licence plates

There also exist novelty licence plates, often sold in gift or novelty shops. Similar to vanity plates, these novelties are printed with an individual's name, but unlike vanity plates they are not intended for legal identification of an automobile. They can be displayed in the rear window, for example, or on the front of vehicles registered in jurisdictions that only require a valid plate on the rear of the vehicle.

International codes

On the international level the licence plates of different countries are distinguished by a supplementary licence plate country code. This country designator is displayed in bold block uppercase on a small white oval plate or sticker on the rear of the vehicle near the number plate.

The allocation of codes in maintained by the United Nations as the Distinguishing Signs of Vehicles in International Traffic, being authorized by the UN's 1949 and 1968 Conventions on Road Traffic. Many, but far from all, vehicle codes created since the adoption of ISO 3166 coincide with either the ISO two or three letter codes.

For a full list of licence plate country codes, see List of international license plate codes.

Imitation International codes

In Canada and the United States, where the international oval is not officially used, putting one on a car is purely a matter of personal discretion. This has given rise to a tourist-driven industry of imitation international code stickers. For example, the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts has MV, while the Outer Banks region of North Carolina uses OBX. Stickers of this sort are usually visibly different from any real international code sticker, but some places sell what could appear to be real stickers, touting that the abbreviation refers to their venue.

See also

• ALPCA
• Austrian car number plates
• Australian car number plates
• Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)
• Belgian car number plates
• British car number plates
• Croatian car number plates
• Dutch vehicle registration plates
• German car number plates
• Greek car number plates
• Indonesian car number plates
• Irish vehicle registration plates
• Japanese license plates
• List of fictional licence plate numbers
• List of international licence plate codes
• Romanian car number plates
• Turkish car number plates
• Vehicle identification number

External links

• Automobile License Plate Collectors Association
• License Plates of the World
• Licence Plate Mania
• U.S. License Plates 1969-Present
• License Plates collector's portal
• License Plate Maker
• Information on Alaska License Plates
• Pennsylvania License Plates
• Information on Animal/Pet Friendly Plate Programs in the USA
• Photographs taken by Olav Arne Brekke of license plates from around the world