Spanish Registration Plate Guide

The current number plate format for Spanish Registered Vehicles has been in place since the year 2000 and consists of four numbers followed by three letters (eg. 1234 ABC). Prior to this regional letter codes were used. The letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z are all used, whilst all vowels and the letter Q are excluded, so the current system allows for 80 million possible combinations. At the current rate of vehicle registrations this system should last until about 2040.

How it works

The first four numbers of a Spanish Number Plate are a counter which runs from 0000 to 9999. The next 3 letters are a sequence which started with 0000 BBB in September 2000 and will finally end with ZZZ. As at Nov 2023 we are up to MLK, so once there have been 10,000 registrations the letter sequence will change to MLL. Consequently there is no exact method of determining the date a Spanish Vehicle was registered, just an approximation based on the first letter of the sequence.

Using this guide

This guide can be used to find out the month and year a particular number plate was issued by using the last 3 letters of the registration number.So for example, the registration numbers ending MDD to MDS were issued in January 2023.