A Guide to UK Number Plates

01/09/2026

Every vehicle on British roads has a unique number plate, but what exactly do they mean?

A standard UK number plate can tell you both the age of the car and where it was originally registered. To celebrate the upcoming release of the new number plates, read on to find out how to correctly read UK car plates.

When do the new number plates come out?

New number plates are released twice a year, on the 1^stof March and the 1^st of September. For example, the 25 plate was released on March 1^st 2025 and will apply to any new vehicle that is produced and registered right up until 31^st of August 2025. After this date, it will become the 75 plate.

If you’re confused where the latest 76 comes from, don’t worry, let us explain.

What do the numbers mean?

It is important to know the age of a vehicle before buying to understand how much insurance will cost, and to assess the quality of the car. The third and fourth digits, the only numbers on the plate, signify the year that the vehicle was made. This is called the ‘age identifier’.

For example, a vehicle that was produced between March 1^st 2025 and August 31^st 2025 will be registered with ‘25’ as the age identifier on the plate.

When the plate change happens in September, you simply add 50 to this number, which is why the plates will have ‘75’ from 1^st September 2025.

To see this again in practice, look back to the 2019 plate going from ‘19’ to ‘69’ in September 2015, and the 2009 plate going from ‘09’ to ‘59’ in September of 2009. This has been the number plate standard across all vehicles registered since 2001, so people are quickly able to work out the age of a vehicle.

You can upcoming and future registration years below:

Registration	Released	Year
Upcoming releases
76 plate	September 2026	2026
27 plate	March 2027	2027
77 plate	September 2027	2027
28 plate	March 2028	2028
78 plate	September 2028	2028
29 plate	March 2029	2029
79 plate	September 2029	2029
30 plate	March 2030	2030
80 plate	September 2030	2030

You can also see how old a car is by the numbers in the registration plate using the helpful table we've created.

Registration	Released	Year
Current & past
26 plate	March 2026	2026
75 plate	September 2025	2025
25 plate	March 2025	2025
74 plate	September 2024	2024
24 plate	March 2024	2024
73 plate	September 2023	2023
23 plate	March 2023	2023
72 plate	September 2022	2022
22 plate	March 2022	2022
71 plate	September 2021	2021
21 plate	March 2021	2021
70 plate	September 2020	2020
20 plate	March 2020	2020
69 plate	September 2019	2019
19 plate	March 2019	2019
68 plate	September 2018	2018
18 plate	March 2018	2018
67 plate	September 2017	2017
17 plate	March 2017	2017
66 plate	September 2016	2016
16 plate	March 2016	2016
65 plate	September 2015	2015
15 plate	March 2015	2015
64 plate	September 2014	2014
14 plate	March 2014	2014
63 plate	September 2013	2013
13 plate	March 2013	2013
62 plate	September 2012	2012
12 plate	March 2012	2012
61 plate	September 2011	2011
11 plate	March 2011	2011
60 plate	September 2010	2010
10 plate	March 2010	2010
59 plate	September 2009	2009
09 plate	March 2009	2009
58 plate	September 2008	2008
08 plate	March 2008	2008
57 plate	September 2007	2007
07 plate	March 2007	2007
56 plate	September 2006	2006
06 plate	March 2006	2006
55 plate	September 2005	2005
05 plate	March 2005	2005
54 plate	September 2004	2004

What about the letters?

The first two letters of the number plate that appear before the age identifier also have meaning. The DVLA refers to these two letters as ‘memory tags’, and they represent the region where the car was registered. The first letter is the overall region, and the second letter tells us the postal area in the region.

Here is a table of the memory tags and what region they are referring to:

The remaining three letters at the end of the number plate are purely random, and are just used to help identify individual cars. Every number plate is unique to a specific vehicle, and even cars with personalised and customised number plates are still originally registered with a number plate that uses this system.

This current system will remain in place until February 2051, when the final plates will end on 00 before a new system will be designed.

Looking to get behind the wheel of a 76 plate car? Speak to our sales team today to take a step in the right direction to driving your dream vehicle.

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