Used Car Age

The current car registration system tells you easily where and when a car was first registered. So BF 52 XYZ was registered in Birmingham between 1st September 2004 and 28th February 2005.
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Scroll down to find out the age of a used car.

Check here to find the location codes for the new style car number plates and to see a list of places in the West Midlands that we specialise in

Current 'YY' Style Plates (e.g. AB 52 CDE)

By introducing the current car registration system in September 2001 with a 51 plate, many people were confused - especially when the next number in the sequence was 02. It didn't seem logical at first. However, once you get the logic it is very simple, logical and will last for 99 years without change. Clever really.

51 - Sep 01 to Feb 02
02 - Mar 02 to Aug 02
52 - Sep 02 to Feb 03
03 - Mar 03 to Aug 03
53 - Sep 03 to Feb 04
04 - Mar 04 to Aug 04
54 - Sep 04 to Feb 05
05 - Mar 05 to Aug 05
55 - Sep 05 to Feb 06
06 - Mar 06 to Aug 06
56 - Sep 06 to Mar 07

Old Style 'Prefix' Plates (e.g. A 123 BCD)

A - Aug to Jul 1983-84
B - Aug to Jul 1984-85
C - Aug to Jul 1985-86
D - Aug to Jul 1986-87
E - Aug to Jul 1987-88
F - Aug to Jul 1988-89
G - Aug to Jul 1989-90
H - Aug to Jul 1990-91
I - Letter not used as easily confused with the number 1
J - Aug to Jul 1991-92
K - Aug to Jul 1992-93
L - Aug to Jul 1993-94
M - Aug to Jul 1994-95
N - Aug to Jul 1995-96
O - Letter not used as easily confused with zero
P - Aug to Jul 1996-97
Q - Letter reserved for kit cars and easily confused with zero
R - Aug to Jul 1997-98
S - Aug to Jul 1998-99
The "run-out" of this system produced frequent changes to use up the remaining letters
T - Mar to Aug 1999
U - Letter not used as too similar to V
V - Sep 99 to Feb 2000
W - Mar to Aug 2000
X - Sep 2000 to Feb 2001
Y - Mar to Aug 2001
Z - Letter not used as easily confused with the number 2

Very Old Style 'Suffix' Plates (e.g. ABC 123 D)

A - Jan to Dec 1963
B - Jan to Dec 1964
C - Jan to Dec 1965
D - Jan to Dec 1966
E - Jan to Jul 1967. Registration letter changes moved to August in 1967
F - Aug 67 to Jul 68
G - Aug 68 to Jul 69
H - Aug 69 to Jul 70
I - Letter not used as easily confused with the number 1
J - Aug 70 to Jul 71
K - Aug 71 to Jul 72
L - Aug 72 to Jul 73
M - Aug 73 to Jul 74
N - Aug 74 to Jul 75
O - Letter not used as easily confused with zero
P - Aug 75 to Jul 76
Q - Letter reserved for kit cars and easily confused with zero
R - Aug 76 to Jul 77
S - Aug 77 to Jul 78
T - Aug 78 to Jul 79
U - Letter not used as too similar to V
V - Aug 79 to Jul 80
W - Aug 80 to Jul 81
X - Aug 81 to Jul 82
Y - Aug 82 to Jul 83
Z - Letter not used as easily confused with the number 2

Prior to 1963, cars had no age identifier but they did have a location indicator.
My first car was NS 5647. This meant it was the 5647th car to be registered in the North of Scotland since the location indicator was introduced. If only I'd kept it!

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