What year is this plate?
Enter the two-digit age identifier or a full registration. Answers instantly from the DVLA numbering rules.
21
21 plates were issued between 1 March 2021 and 31 August 2021.
A 21 plate means the car was first registered between March and August 2021, unless the plate was moved to it later. The next identifier, 71, started that September.
- Issued from
- 1 March 2021
- Issued until
- 31 August 2021
- Age if plate is original
- 5 years
What plate will be issued in…
March 2027 falls in the March to August period, so new cars will get the 27 plate.
Recent identifiers
March plates use the year (21). September plates add 50 (71).
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The period a plate's age identifier or year letter was first issued in, and so roughly how old the car is when it still wears its original plate. It applies the numbering rules to what you type; it does not look the car up.
Whether the plate has been moved from another car, or the age of a car on a cherished, dateless or Northern Ireland plate. An imported car gets the identifier for its UK registration date, not its build date. Look up the full registration for that.
- Source: DVLA vehicle registration numbering rules and the memory tag table in leaflet INF104. No vehicle data is queried on this page.
Three plate systems, one country
The current format began in September 2001 and runs until February 2051. Before it, plates carried a single year letter at the start (prefix, 1983 to 2001) or the end (suffix, 1963 to 1983). Northern Ireland uses its own format with no age identifier.
A plate may never make a car look newer than it is. A private plate can move to a newer car, but not to an older one, so the identifier gives the earliest date the car can have been first registered. A Q plate means the age of the vehicle could not be established.
Current, 2001 onwards
Two memory tag letters, two age digits, three random letters. The identifier changes every March and September.
Prefix, 1983 to 2001
A letter first: A123 BCD. A was August 1983, Y was March to August 2001.
Suffix, 1963 to 1983
A letter last: ABC 123A. A was 1963, Y was August 1982 to July 1983.
Northern Ireland
Letters and up to four digits, with an I or Z among the letters. No age identifier at all.