Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands

Dutch vehicle registration plate

Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands are vehicle registration plates issued by the national road traffic agency (Dutch: Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW)).

RDW vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" (a sequence of characters composed of letters and digits) as that shown on the vehicle's registration document. The numbering scheme used bears no relation to the place of a vehicle's registration or ownership, and numbers – which are issued in strict time order – identify the vehicle, not its owner. Thus, if a vehicle changes ownership, the registration number remains unchanged.

Earlier schemes

The Netherlands introduced a system of vehicle registration plates on 26 April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896.[1] A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to a Mr J. van Dam, who purchased the first 100% Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at his own Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek.[2] Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906, a new system used the format xx-ddddd, where xx was a province code and ddddd a serial number. This system lasted until 1951, when the current system was introduced.

Province codes

Numbering schemes

The current Dutch licence plate system uses black letters on a light-reflecting yellow background. The previous series used white reflecting letters on a dark-blue background. Their numbering schemes however are the same.

Dutch car number plates can be formatted as follows

Year Format Side Code Comment
1951–1965 Side Code 1
1965–1973 Side Code 2
1973–1978 Side Code 3 In 1976 and 1977 the color blue was slightly lighter and the font was different
1978–1991 Side Code 4 Several letters have been reserved for specific types of vehicles
1991–1999 Side Code 5
1999–2008 Side Code 6 First in GAIK(Gecontroleerde Afgifte en Inname Kentekenplaten, eng.: controlled issue and taking of licenceplates) series (except for 99-DX-XX-series), new font, black border and blue patch with NL were added.

This series is currently issued for motorcycles (99-MX-XX).

2006–present Side Code 7 This series is currently issued for heavy goods vehicles (99-BXX-9).
Side Code 8 The first letter can be K, S, T, X, or Z only; the V series for light commercial vehicles is already exhausted, and all other letters are reserved for export number plates.
Side Code 9 This series is currently issued for light commercial vehicles (VX-999-X) and from 30 March 2015 also for passenger cars. [3]
2011–2015 Side Code 10 This series is issued for mopeds only (D-001-BB till F-999-ZZ)
2015–present Side Code 11 This series is currently issued for mopeds (DBB-01-B till FZZ-99-Z)
Unused Side Code 12 This series is not yet in use
Side Code 13 This series is not yet in use
Side Code 14 This series is not yet in use

Letters nowadays do not include vowels as to avoid profane or obscene language. To avoid confusion with a zero, the letters C and Q are also omitted. Letters and numbers are given out in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Hence, a Dutch licence plate says all about the date of registration of a car, but nothing about where the car comes from or to whom it belongs.

Other formats

With the introduction of the GAIK series, several other formats have been introduced as well

Format Comment
XX-XX-99 Used for trailers with a maximum weight of less than 750 kg, registration matches the vehicle pulling the trailer. Also used for export, temporary and provisional (single coded, H for 1 month and Z for 1 week) vehicles.
XX-99-99 Trader plates, used by automotive companies to register current stock under their insurance, these plates are to be used if the car is used for a test-drive and has no insurance on its own license plate. It is forbidden to park a car on the public road with trader plates fitted.
XX-XX-99 Taxi plates are mandatory since December 2000 for vehicles used to transport people, but aren't part of the public transportation system.

Recent changes

The licence plates have subtly changed shape in 2002, when not only the letter type (or font) changed, but also a few other changes were made.

Mopeds have after F-999-ZZ now the new side code 11, beginning with DBB-00-B.[5] As the old series of licence plates for cars, big and small lorries has come to an end, new vehicles are registered with marks in the format DD-LLL-D (where 'D' is a digit, and 'L' is a letter). Small lorries have also D-LLL-DD and from January 2013 LL-DDD-L is used for small lorries. The registration plate format for personal cars is D-LLL-DD and issuing of this is started on 5 March 2013 because the DD-LLL-D combinations are exhausted on that day. From 30 March 2015 DD-LLL-D combinations are also exhausted and LL-DDD-L is now in use.

Current series

Motorcars

Motorcycles

Mopeds

DBS-01-D till DBS-99-D and DBS-01-S till DBS-99-S registrations are all not used for to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also in the future all DxS-01-D till DxS-99-D and all DxS-01-S till DxS-99-S (x means the second letter D till Z) registrations will not be used for the same reason.

Lorries (weighing more than 3.5 tons)

Lorries (weighing 3.5 tons or less than 3.5 tons)

Trailers

Bobtail Trailers

Special-use licence plates

Letters Description
B, E, S
Caribbean Netherlands. License plates are smaller than in the European Netherlands and do not carry an EU flag. License plates start with one letter: B for Bonaire, E for St. Eustatius and S for Saba, followed by three or four digits. The colour of the plate differs per island. Some plates start with different letters, sometimes similar to that of the European Netherlands: V for commercial vehicles, TX for taxi, D for governmental vehicles, AB for buses.
AA
Used for vehicles registered to the Dutch royal family. (AA-??) or (AA-???).
B, V The B in the first letter position used to refer to a "Bedrijfswagen" (commercial vehicle): a special status for cars that are exclusively used for commercial purposes. Commercial licence registrations have a separate taxation class, though some 10% of the cars are registered as commercial. A commercial licence is often called "grijs kenteken" (gray registration), referring to the previous colour of the car's registration papers, which is now, like commercial vehicles, green. (XB-??-??), (??-??-XB), (??-XB-??). Above capacity of 3,500 ton (BX-??-XX) till (??-BXX-?). And till capacity of 3,500 ton (VX-??-XX) till (VX-???-X).
BE Classic commercial vehicles (BE-??-??).
DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR, DZ
Imported classic cars 40 years of older. (DE-??-??) till (DZ-??-??).
YA, YB and YD Imported classic cars younger than 40 years (yongtimers). (??-YA-??) till (??-YD-??).
KL to KZ & LM, LO, LU, DM
Military Vehicles: (KL, KN to KZ: Royal Army, KM: Koninklijke Marine's(Royal Navy), LM: Luchtmacht (Air Force), KP: Regular car from the Koninklijke landmacht (Royal Army), KV: Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Constabulary). Example: (KL-??-??) and (??-KL-??) which is used from Royal Army. Also DM but only in the sidecodes 7, 9 and 10. The third letter is B till Z but not an A, C, E, I, M, O, Q, U, W, or Y.
CD
"Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??).
CDJ
Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice (CDJ-???).
BFG
Used for private vehicles of Dutch and German military servants working for British Forces Germany/NATO. They are issued by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Military Police in Driebergen. They carry a different font, similar to that of the German license plates, to allow them being produced in Germany if necessary.[6]
RC
NATO vehicles. RC stands for 'Région Centrale', dating from when the NATO headquarters were situated in France. Currently in use by Joint Force Command Brunssum. Newer license plates are yellow, look like the regular ones and have dashes between the letters and numbers and in the middle of the numbers (similar to Side Code 1, but yellow plates).
M
Motorcycles. Several letters in sidecode 1. After that (MX-??-XX) till (??-MX-XX).
BN or GN
For vehicles whose owner is not liable to taxation such as staff from embassies without diplomatic status, consulates or international organisations such as ESA (BN or GN-??-??), (??-??-BN or GN), (??-BN or GN-??).
GV
For agricultural vehicles that within the Netherlands, do not need a license plate but may cross national borders with countries where they do (i.e. Belgium) (grensverkeer/border traffic) (GV-??-??).
HA, HF, FH
For car merchants, e.g. for test-drives with unregistered cars (green plate) (FH or HA or HF-??-??).
HH
Dutch mopeds abroad (has been abolished with the introduction of registration plates for mopeds in 2005) (HH-????).
ZZ
For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. Vehicles with these license plates do not need a periodic check-up. The extra long, double articulated buses in Utrecht also carry ZZ license plates. (ZZ-??-??).
O Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or OX-??-XX) O is only used as the first letter!
W Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. (WX-??-??) till (??-WX-XX).
AF Used by Allied Forces Northern Europe vehicles. (AF-XX-??)

This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article nl:Nederlands kenteken contains more exceptions.

Vehicle registration

Since January 1, 2014, the Netherlands has an all plastic vehicle registration on credit card format. This and the driving licence (which is the same size) are the only things you have to carry with you while driving in the Netherlands. This registration looks the same (green) for every vehicle category, only the information on the card differs. It has a chip which contains more detailed information about the vehicle. All previously issued vehicle registrations will remain valid until the car changes ownership, or until when the owner requests replacement vehicle registration documents to be issued. While you previously needed a so-called overschrijvingsbewijs (a separate document that came with the vehicle registration) in order to sell your vehicle, this has now been replaced with a code. If you bring the registration card and the correct code you can sell the vehicle, even if you do not have the original letter (that comes with the new car registration) stating the code.

Vehicle registration card

References

  1. ↑ "Geschiedenis van de kentekenplaat". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  2. ↑ "Groninger Motorrijtuigen Fabriek". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  3. ↑ http://nos.nl/artikel/2027625-nieuwe-kentekens-vandaag-de-weg-op.html
  4. ↑ "Dutch call back car licence plates with 'Nazi' initials". Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2010.
  5. ↑ (Dutch) Changes 2014 Q2
  6. ↑ http://mpbundels.mindef.nl/11_serie/11_60/11_60_120.htm

External links

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