Spanish car number plates
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There are two main forms of Spanish car number plates, as the system changed recently.
The old system was of the form XX-NNNN-YY (black digits on white plate), where XX is a one- or two-letter code denoting the province the car was registered in, NNNN is a four digit number to make the plate unique (zeros on the left are shown), and YY is a one- or two-letter code which is incremented by one place after the four digit number reaches 9999 — for example A-9999-Z is followed by A-0000-AA. Older cars may use six digits instead of four and two letters, for example A-741923 (it finished on 1956 when Madrid near reached the 999 999).
The province codes used are normally the first one or two letters of the province name or the name of the provincial capital, after 1926 regulation. Often the province is named after its capital. The provincial system was susceptible to problems with regional rivalries, that caused trouble for motorists travelling out of their provinces or trying to sell second-hand their vehicles. Also the changes of placenames following the co-officialization of the major languages of Spain introduced a mismatch between the name and the code.
The new system (September 2000) is the same nationwide, and consists of four digits followed by three letters (except vowels, which are not permitted to avoid possibly impolite words), for example 8291 BDF. The letter code is sequential (from BBB to DZZ, FBB to HZZ, JBB to NZZ, PBB to PZZ, RBB to TZZ, and VBB to ZZZ - A, E,I, O,Q and U are not used) and the numbers go from 0000 to 9999 within the same three-letter combination. In this system there is no way of knowing where the car was registered. The letter code gives a rough idea about when the vehicle was registered and made.
The number plates themselves are white with black lettering, front and back. The left-side European blue bar with the letter E for España within the twelve stars is optional on the old system, but compulsory on the new system.
The plates are usually rectangular and wide. There are less common plates with an almost square shape for motorcycles and some cars with a narrow plate inset (such as the back of the SEAT 600).
Contents |
[edit] Provincial codes
| A | Alicante | |
| AB | Albacete | (the ancient code, before 1926 was ALB) |
| AL | Almería | |
| AV | Ávila | |
| B | Barcelona | |
| BA | Badajoz | |
| BI | Bilbao (capital of Biscay) | |
| BU | Burgos | |
| C | La Coruña (A Coruña) | |
| CA | Cádiz | |
| CC | Cáceres | (the ancient code, before 1926 was CAC) |
| CE | Ceuta (Spanish exclave in Morocco) | (before 1926, ME) |
| CO | Córdoba | |
| CR | Ciudad Real | |
| CS | Castellón (Castelló) | (the ancient code, before 1926 was CAS) |
| CU | Cuenca | |
| G | Gibraltar (UK overseas territory) | |
| GC | Las Palmas | (before 1926, TE) |
| GR | Granada | |
| FP | Fernando Poo ("Spanish island of Guinea") | No longer used. |
| GE | Gerona (Girona) | |
| GI | Gerona / Girona | (replacement for GE, correlative) |
| GU | Guadalajara | |
| H | Huelva | |
| HU | Huesca | |
| IB | Islas Baleares / Illes Balears (not only Ibiza) | (replacement code for PM) |
| IF | Ifni (former Spanish territories on Morocco) | |
| J | Jaén | |
| L | Lérida (Lleida) | |
| LE | León | |
| LO | Logroño | |
| LR | La Rioja | (the replacement for LO but never entered) |
| LU | Lugo | |
| M | Madrid | |
| MA | Málaga | |
| ME | Marruecos Español ("Spanish Morocco") | (-1926) divided into Ceuta & Melilla |
| ML | Melilla (Spanish exclave on Morocco) | |
| MU | Murcia | |
| NA | Navarra | (after 1918) |
| O | Oviedo now Asturias | |
| OR | Orense (Ourense) | |
| OU | Orense / Ourense | (the replacement code for OR, correlative, 2002) |
| P | Palencia | |
| PA | Pamplona | (after 1918 changed to NA) |
| PM | Palma de Mallorca | |
| PO | Pontevedra | |
| RM | Rio Muni ("Spanish Guinea") | No longer used. |
| S | Santander now Cantabria | |
| SA | Salamanca | |
| SE | Sevilla | |
| SG | Segovia | (the ancient code, before 1926 was SEG) |
| SH | Sahara Occidental ("Spanish Sahara") | (the previous code was AOE Africa Occidental Española). No longer used. |
| SO | Soria | |
| SS | San Sebastián / Donostia (capital of Guipuscoa) | |
| T | Tarragona | |
| TE | Territorio Español ("Spanish Territory") | (issued for Islas Canarias, before 1926) divided on GC & TF |
| TE | Teruel | (the ancient code, before 1926 was TER) (correlativity on TER code) |
| TEG / TG | Territorio Español de Guinea ("Spanish Guinea") | divided on FP & RM |
| TF | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | (after 1926) |
| TO | Toledo | |
| V | Valencia | |
| VA | Valladolid | |
| VI | Vitoria (capital of Alava) | |
| Z | Zaragoza | |
| ZA | Zamora |
[edit] State codes
These keep the old system of letter code plus numbers.
- CME - Cos de Mossos D'esquadra (Corp of Mossos d'Esquadra). The autonomous police force of Catalonia
- DGP - Dirección General de la Policía ("Spanish Police")
- E - Ertzaintza. (autonomous police force of the Basque Country)). The E has a special "wiggly" form.
- EA - Ejército del Aire ("Spanish Air Force")
- ET - Ejército de Tierra ("Spanish Army")
- FN - Fuerzas Navales / Armada ("Spanish Navy")
- GSH - Gendarmería del Sahara ("Spanish colonial police on Sahara"). Not longer existing.
- PGC - Parque de la Guardia Civil ("Spanish civil guard", a militarized police force similar to French "Gendarmerie Française" or Italian "Cuorpo di Carabinieri")
- MF - Ministerio de Fomento ("Public Works Ministry") (no correlativity with MOP)
- MMA - Ministerio de Medio Ambiente ("Environment Ministry")
- MOP - Ministerio de Obras Públicas ("Public Works Ministry") (now replaced by MF)
- PME - Parque Móvil del Estado (state owned vehicles)
- PMM - Parque Móvil del Ministerio (state owned vehicles, on a Ministry) (now replaced by PME)
[edit] Color plates
There are other plates with different background colors for trailers and the so-called "touristic plates", provisory plates that allow foreigners to use a vehicle bought in Spain before registering it in their country.
[edit] City plates
Mopeds and minicars with cylinders under 50 cubic centimeters were not required to have a national plate and town and city administration tax them and issue their own plates.
