Donaldson R F UK Number Plate Age Checker
Enter a UK registration number to see the period it was issued in, worked out from the age identifier or the year letter on the plate.
Age identifier table
How UK plates show their age
Current style (September 2001 onwards) — two letters, two numbers, three letters, e.g. AB21 CDE. The two numbers are the age identifier. Plates issued from March to August carry the year (21 = 2021); from September to February they carry the year plus 50 (71 = September 2021 to February 2022). The first letter shows the DVLA region where the vehicle was first registered.
Prefix style (August 1983 to 2001) — a year letter first, e.g. S123 ABC. Suffix style (1963 to 1983) — a year letter last, e.g. ABC 123 Y. Earlier plates have no year letter.
Important: a plate shows when that style of number was issued, not necessarily how old the vehicle is. Owners can transfer or buy “cherished” plates, so a car can carry a plate older or newer than itself. To check a vehicle's real details use the official GOV.UK vehicle enquiry service. This tool does not look up any vehicle and sends nothing anywhere.