Dutch vehicle registration plates
Encyclopedia
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
s are assigned bearing the same "number" (an index mark made up of letters and digits) as that shown on the vehicle's registration document. The numbering scheme
Numbering scheme
There are many different numbering schemes for assigning nominal numbers to entities. These generally require an agreed set of rules, or a central coordinator. The schemes can be considered to be examples of a primary key of a database management system table, whose table definitions require a...
used bears no relation to the place of a vehicle's registration or ownership, and numbers – which are issued in strict time order – identify the vehicle, not its owner. Thus if a vehicle changes ownership the registration number remains unchanged.
Earlier schemes (1898–1951)
The Netherlands introduced a system of vehicle registration plates on the 26th April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896.. A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to a Mr J. van Dam, who purchased the first 100% Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at the Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek.. Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906 a new system used the format xx-ddddd, where xx was a province code and ddddd a serial number. This system lasted until 1951, when the current system was introduced.Province codes
- A: GroningenGroningen (province)Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
- B: FrieslandFrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
- D: DrentheDrentheDrenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...
- E: OverijsselOverijsselOverijssel is a province of the Netherlands in the central eastern part of the country. The region has a NUTS classification of NL21. The province's name means "Lands across river IJssel". The capital city of Overijssel is Zwolle and the largest city is Enschede...
- G, GZ, GX: Noord Holland
- H, HZ, HX: Zuid Holland
- K: ZeelandZeelandZeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
- M: GelderlandGelderlandGelderland is the largest province of the Netherlands, located in the central eastern part of the country. The capital city is Arnhem. The two other major cities, Nijmegen and Apeldoorn have more inhabitants. Other major regional centers in Gelderland are Ede, Doetinchem, Zutphen, Tiel, Wijchen,...
- N: Noord Brabant
- L: UtrechtUtrecht (province)Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
- P: LimburgLimburg (Netherlands)Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...
- R: so called "Departementen" overseas areas.
Numbering schemes
The current Dutch licence plate system uses black letters on a light-reflecting yellow background. The previous series used white reflecting letters on a dark-blue background. Their numbering schemes however are the same.Dutch car number plates can be formatted as follows
| Year | Format | Side Code | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951–1965 | XX-99-99 | Side Code 1 | ||
| 1965–1973 | 99-99-XX | Side Code 2 | ||
| 1973–1978 | 99-XX-99 | Side Code 3 | In 1976 and 1977 the color blue was slightly lighter and the font was different | |
| 1978–1991 | XX-99-XX | Side Code 4 | Several letters have been reserved for specific types of vehicles | |
| 1991–1999 | XX-XX-99 | Side Code 5 | ||
| 1999–2008 | 99-XX-XX | Side Code 6 | ||
| 2006–present | NL | 99-XXX-9 | Side Code 7 | First in GAIK series, new font, black border and blue patch with NL was added. |
| NL | 9-XXX-99 | Side Code 8 | ||
| NL | XX-999-X | Side Code 9 | ||
| NL | X-999-XX | Side Code 10 | ||
Letters nowadays do not include A, E, I, O, U to avoid profane or obscene language. The letters C and Q are not used, to avoid confusion with the zero. Letters and numbers are given out in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Hence, a Dutch licence plate says all about the date of registration of a car, but nothing about where the car comes from or to whom it belongs.
Other Formats
With the introduction of the GAIK series, several other formats have been introduced as well| Format | Comment |
|---|---|
| XX-XX-99 | Used for trailers with a maximum weight of less than 750 KG, registration matches the vehicle pulling the trailer |
| XX-XX-99 | Dealer plates, used by dealerships to register current stock under their insurance, these plates have to be used when the car is used for a test-drive. |
| XX-XX-99 | Taxi plates are mandatory since December 2000, also seen a lot on cars used by doctors as these are usually managed by specialised taxi services. |
Special-use licence plates
| Letters | Description |
|---|---|
| AA | Used for vehicles registered to the Dutch royal family. (AA-??) |
| B, V | The B in the first letter position used to refer to a "Bedrijfswagen" (commercial vehicle): a special status for cars that are exclusively used for commercial purposes. Commercial licence registrations have a separate taxation class, though some 10% of the cars are registered as commercial. A commercial licence is often called "grijs kenteken" (gray registration), referring to the colour of the car's registration papers. |
| BE | Classic commercial vehicles (BE-??-??) |
| DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR | Imported classic cars. |
| KL to KZ & LM, LO, LU | Military Vehicles: (KL, KN to KZ: Royal Army, KM: Koninklijke Marine's(Royal Navy), LM: Luchtmacht (Air Force), KP: Regular car from the Koninklijke landmacht (Royal Army), KV: Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Constabulary). |
| CD | "Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??) |
| CDJ | Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands... |
| M | Motorcycles (ML-??-??) |
| BN or GN | For vehicles whose owner is not liable to taxation such as staff from embassies without diplomatic status, consulates or international organisations such as ESA European Space Agency The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states... ('B'uitenlander in 'N'ederland or 'G'een 'N'ederlander meaning Foreigner in Netherlands or Not Dutch respectively) |
| GV | For agricultural vehicles that may cross national borders (grensverkeer) (GV-??-??) or (??-??-GV) |
| HA, HF, FH | For car merchants, e.g. for test-drives with unregistered cars (Green plate). |
| HH | Dutch Scooters overseas |
| ZZ | For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. (ZZ-??-??) |
| O | Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or ??-OX-?? or ??-??-OX) |
| W | Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. (WX-??-?? or ??-WX-?? or ??-??-WX) |
This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article :nl:Nederlands kenteken contains more exceptions.
Recent changes
The licence plates have subtly changed shape in 2002, when not only the letter type (or fontTypeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
) changed, but also a few other changes were made.
- Combatting fraudulent reports of stolen licence plates (giving one three weeks to break speed limits with an alibi), licence plates are replaced immediately but using the same number. The new licence plate is tagged with a small number 1 over the first dash, that is increased with each new plate.
- A blue background is used for taxis.
- White letters on a blue or black background are used for oldtimersAntique vehicle registrationAntique vehicle registration is a special form of motor vehicle registration for vehicles that are considered antique, classic, vintage, or historic...
older than January 1, 1978. - Black letters on a white background are used for small trailers that hide the car's actual licence plate.
- Large trailers, caravans etc. have now got their own black/yellow licence plate.
- The letter Y is no longer used for cars, but instead for fast motor boats.
- SDB till SDZ and also SSB till SSZ will not be used because SD and SS reminds to WW II in the Netherlands.
The RDW (the government service handles the registrations) will soon exhaust all the combinations of licence numbers. The RDW has started requiring regular licence plates for moped
Moped
Mopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements.Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals , but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their...
s, replacing the old insurance licence plates. As the old series of the licence plates for the cars and the smaller lorries have ended, they started using the same licence plates, that is formatted as DD-LLL-D.
Motorcars
- 01-DB-BB, registration 1999/2000
- 01-FB-BB, registration 2000
- 01-GB-BB, registration 2000/2001
- 01-HB-BB, registration 2001/2002
- 01-JB-BB, registration 2002
- 01-LB-BB, registration 2002/2003
- 01-NB-BB, registration 2003/2004
- 01-PB-BB, registration 2004/2005
- 01-RB-BB, registration 2005
- 01-SB-BB, registration 2005/2006
- 01-TB-BB, registration 2006/2007
- 01-XB-BB, registration 2007
- 01-ZB-BB, registration 2007/2008
- 01-GBB-1, registration 2008 (00 don't exist in the G-series)
- 00-HBB-1, registration 2008/2009
- 00-JBB-1, registration 2009
- 00-KBB-1, registration 2009/2010
- 00-LBB-1, registration 2010
- 00-NBB-1, registration 2010/2011
- 00-PBB-1, registration 2011
- 00-RBB-1, registration 2011
- 00-SBB-1, registration 2011 (current series)
Motorcycles
- MB-01-BB, registration 1979/1998
- MB-BB-01, registration 1998/2011
- 01-MB-BB, registration 2011 (current series, now MB)
Mopeds
- 01-DBB-1, registration 2005/2006
- 01-FBB-1, registration 2006
- DB-001-B, registration 2006
- FB-001-B, registration 2006/2008
- D-001-BB, registration 2008/2011
- F-001-BB, registration 2011 (current series)
Lorries (weighing more than 3.5 tons)
- BB-BB-01, registration 1994/2011 (current series, now BZ)
Lorries (weighing less than 3.5 tons)
- 01-VB-BB, registration 1998/2001
- 01-BB-BB, registration 2001/2006
- 01-VBB-1, registration 2006/2009 (00 don't exist in this V-series)
- 1-VBB-00, registration 2009 (current series)
Trailers
- WB-00-01, registration 2000/2008
- 00-WB-01, registration 2000/2008
- 00-01-WB, registration 2000/2008
- WB-01-BB, registration 2000/2008
- WB-BB-01, registration 2000/2008
- 01-WB-BB, registration 2008 (current series, now WH)
External links
- http://www.nummerplaat.com/
- Rijksdienst van het Wegverkeer (RDW)
- http://www.rdw.nl/nl/voertuigeigenaar/algemeen/contacting_the_rdw.htm