Information about suffix style number plates
Suffix style number plates were introduced by the DVLA (at that point the DVLC) in 1963. They are known as “suffix style” as the last letter or “suffix” is the age identifier (click to see the years).
It is easy to identify a suffix style registration as they always follow the same structure, that is as follows:
Letter Letter Letter {space} up to 3 numbers, Letter. E.g:
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| Or: |
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The reason for the change in system from “dateless plates” which preceeded this format was two-fold;
firstly the DVLC were running out of dateless combinations to use having already issued millions of vehicle registration marks across the country.
The second reason was to increase customer protection since the key attribute of the suffix style number plate is that it would now be easy to identify
the age of a vehicle. A by-product of making a vehicle’s
age easily distinguishable is that it created and does continue to propel a demand in the motor industry.
The introduction of the “age identifier”, in this case a letter at the end of the number plate, depending on the date the vehicle was first registered (see below), brought about a new rule in registration transfers which is crucially important when choosing a new number plate.This rule is that you cannot make a vehicle appear younger than it actually is by assigning a registration mark with a newer age identifier to it. For example you cannot assign or display a number plate ending in the suffix letter C (1965 reg) to a vehicle first registered in 1963 which must have a suffix letter A or an older or dateless registration.
Years + links
Please see a list of suffix letters with the years in which they were issued. You can click on the plate to browse through the suffix registrations
that we have available from that year.
So, for example |
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1967 |
registrations ending in F will have been first issued in 1967. In the example above click the plate image to browse through the F Reg options or Click on a relevent image below or click here to search all suffix plates |
JAN-DEC |
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1963 |
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1964 |
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1965 |
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1966 |
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JAN-JUL (THUS RARE) |
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1967 |
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AUG-JUL |
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1967 |
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1968 |
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1969 |
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1970 |
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1971 |
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1972 |
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1973 |
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1974 |
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1975 |
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1976 |
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1977 |
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1978 |
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1979 |
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1980 |
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1981 |
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1982 |
