Personalized number plates and the maths behind them

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An original number plate, a personalized one, or just a general one. Often in auctions, one comes for sale and reaches a high selling price. But what is the math behind the letters and number combinations of the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) in the United Kingdom? We asked the specialists from CarReg about it. They are specialised in private number plates since 1988 and could tell us everything about them.

“Vehicle number plates have a rich history. They were created following the Motor Car Act of 1903. The first-ever plate was issued in London and was A1. These first plates were based on Dateless registrations which lasted from 1903 - 1963. They had 1 or 2 letters followed by a number up to 9999.

In 1963 vehicle number plates moved to a Suffix registration which lasted until 1983. In this case, there was a letter at the end of the plate number corresponding to the date, so A started with 1983 then 1984 was B and so on.

The prefix system started in 1983. From then on, the plate would start with a letter starting with A for 1983. There were also 2 letters at the end which indicated the area the plates were registered. This system was updated in 2001 to allow the police to more easily identify vehicles based on a 3-point system. They include the local region marked by the 2 letters. Followed by a date, id starting with 51 in September 2001. The last 3 letters being random letters which allowed the DVLA to create many plates and also bring a system where there are very custom plates with unique names built from the plate numbers and letters.”

Are you looking for a specific and unique number plate for your PreWarCar or modern? Contact CarReg if you require a valuation for interesting number plates. Besides this, they are always looking to buy stock from old vehicles for which you can contact them.

Photo sources: Beaulieu Motor Museum, daily echo and CarReg.