Further to the thread about districts of first registration last week, and in particular one point made that the government "missed a golden opportunity" to reform the UK's number plate format properly in 2001:
Why do number plates show a vehicle's age anyway? It's about as relevant as showing the area where its paperwork was first filled in IMO.
The police don't pull vehicles in for random checks based on age but on their condition and appearance. When buying or selling a car the age is given in the advert, and when listing a sale online the date of first registration is looked up by the likes of e bay, AT etc. Most manufacturers make subtle changes to their model ranges every year, so any car enthusiast (or dealer) can tell the difference between, say, a 2006 BMW and a 2008 BMW just by looking.
The only reason I can think of for age being shown on UK numberplates is so that snobbish owners can get one up on the neighbours come plate change time :)
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>> Why do number plates show a vehicle's age anyway? It's about as relevant as showing
>> the area where its paperwork was first filled in IMO.
>> The only reason I can think of for age being shown on UK numberplates is
>> so that snobbish owners can get one up on the neighbours come plate change time
Correct. Its only there because the SMMT lobby for it to increase car sales.
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It's always puzzled me, given that US plates don't reveal the age of the car, that characters in US cop shows and the like can confidently call in a sighting of a '1967 Mustang' or whatever. When I'm travelling in other countries, I have only the vaguest idea how old are the cars I'm seeing, based on what I know of production dates - and in America I don't even know those. So what do the TV cops see that I don't?
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...So what do the TV cops see that I don't?...
The script.
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So what do
>> the TV cops see that I don't?
>>
A car from the days when they all had distinctive styling, and even their own "personality" rather than the anonymous blob-mobiles that pass for motorised transport these days.
Up to the mid-1980's I could pretty much tell at a glance, and without seeing the badge, which manufacturer any car had come from even if the precise model required a little more scrutiny in some cases. Nowadays I have to rely on the badges.
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The year is possibly incorporated because it increases the quantity of registrations possible without increasing the quantity of characters.
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In California, you get a number plate and own it. Get a new car and I think I am right in saying you transfer the plate.
My brother has a reg plate that is Star Wars related for example. Something to do with R2-D2. Quite memorable if needs be for someone seeing it! I won't say what it is but it's quite cool actually. But he's sad and built a fully working R2-D2 droid.
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>>The police don't pull vehicles in for random checks based on age but on their condition >>and appearance.
Not so sure about that, Dave. I was in a line of traffic many moons ago that was being slowed down by the police. It looked to me as if they would be stopping us all, but they didn't, they just stopped the older cars and waved the rest of us on.
I guess that they were checking for MOTs.
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That's all checked by ANPR now though Clk Sec.
On the TV programmes it seems that these days they pull cars both old and new for either having obvious defects or having obvious idiots inside them. I've run several cars 12 years old or more without being stopped in years - I put it down to keeping them clean and making them look looked-after.
Last edited by: Dave_TDCi on Tue 1 May 12 at 19:41
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Yes, I've almost certainly gone back to pre ANPR days there, Dave.
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There was a DVLA liveried van (I think a contractor) clamping cars with out of date tax discs in a local Tesco car park recently. Not all wheel clamping is banned in Scotland, a shock for some. :-)
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>> The year is possibly incorporated because it increases the quantity of registrations possible without increasing
>> the quantity of characters.
How? It uses up combinations faster.
The year indicator makes it harder to pass off a car as being newer than it is. I'm pretty sure that's a rationale that's been used. I'm also fairly confident that the stimulation of car buying is a bigger factor, though it's unclear to me that it creates a net benefit for the UK given the proportion of imports.
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Like the locality identifier it makes plates more memorable for witnesses etc.
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Irish plates also show the year of manufacture.
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Any ideas on what format the Scottish plates will have after independence?
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they won't be able to afford new cars.
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Probably right. They'll maybe just have to run around in cheap second hand Jap jobs 'till things settle.
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Small country, so fewer combinations required. Something like
SK 1NT
ought to do it.
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When the age identifier started "A" reg in 1963 it ran from Jan to Dec, in 1967 "E" reg ran from Jan to July and then the new year was deemed to be from Aug 1st, reason I believe was to coincide with the motor show.
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>> When the age identifier started "A" reg in 1963 it ran from Jan to Dec,
>> in 1967 "E" reg ran from Jan to July and then the new year was
>> deemed to be from Aug 1st, reason I believe was to coincide with the motor
>> show.
>>
I thought it was to avoid the workload new registrations creates coinciding with the christmas/new year holidays.
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>> Irish plates also show the year of manufacture.
And the county of first registration, thanks to lobbying by the motor trade. All done soley to drive new car buying in January. There were two unexpected outcomes:
1. The county is shown on the plate, creating an higher price for D (Dublin) reg cars - because Dublin buyers are terrified anything run "outside the pale" has been used as a tractor - and C (Cork) reg cars because Cork buyers are fiercely loyal and choose cars supplied by Cork dealers in preference to "outsiders".
2. Sales are predicted to plummet for 2013 because the superstitious won't risk driving around in a car with 13 on the front. 13 D 666 will be a nightmare to shift off the lot second-hand 8-)
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Assuming the number format is AB12XYZ, if one wants to quickly remember the part of the number (say hit & run case), which bit are more important, AB12 or XYZ?
I think AB12 is easier to remember but XYZ is probably more unique for identifying the vehicle from database.
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I promise that I'm not swivel eyed, but I thought it was a requirement of our friends in the European Parliament.
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Definitely XYZ movilogo. Depending on the area you're in or the particular type of vehicle there might be hundreds or even thousands of AB12s about. At one company I drive for, the keys for their 50-odd trucks are hung on hooks marked with the last 3 letters of the truck's reg, so AAG, AHF, BXZ etc. If they were marked with the first half then we'd have 10 each of FJ58, FJ09 and so on.
It's sufficiently rare to see two vehicles with the same last three characters as to make it a very good way to identify them. In fact a colleague has just got a 61 plate car ending in ZKT, which was the end of my 53 reg some years ago. This is the first time I've seen that combination since I had it.
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Why exactly is a car's age shown on numberplates? - Zero
