Age of car?

[daisylulu]

Can you tell how old/new a car is here from the number plate and if so then how?

Louise

[Beachcomber]

http://www.aplicacionesinformaticas.es/ ... ricula.htm

[malagaman2005]

I don't know if this site is 'official' but it's not accurate. I've just put in the reg of 3 of my vehicles and they all came up as registered in 2003 which is only correct for one of them, so don't rely on it.

[Beachcomber]

It's accurate for mine but they all have the older type provincial registration numbers.

[country boy]

No...sorry mine was registered in Dec. 2000 and it comes up as 2003
Just tried our scooter as well which was 2006 and that shows as 2003 as well

[costakid]

i have just entered the reg no of a 2008 car and it came back as 2003.

[daisylulu]

Thanks for the reply

I thought it may be similar to the UK system where you can tell the age of a car just by looking at the number plate, seems a bit more confusing

[Beachcomber]

Here's another one:

http://www.coches-belgica.com/matriculas.html

You have to download a program and I haven't tried it.

[country boy]

I think you can tell with the modern numbering by the first letter of the three letters. 'B' being 2000, 'C' 2001 etc. It works for our vehicles; 'G' being 2007 presumably this year's are 'H's

[Don]

First point, in 2008 we still have "G", not yet got to "H".
I know this because of second point in that re-registering a vehicle gets it a "new" plate and I got "GDH" just a couple of months back and I havent yet seen an "H" on the road. Thus the plate gives you a clue as to its most recent registration but an older vehicle can get a newer plate if for any reason it is re-registered. I know "DWK" was 2005 and "BTX" 2001. I think the old style plates stopped in 2000 and the first of the new style plates was "BBB" as they do not use vowels in the sequence now.

[daisylulu]

Thankyou all, so following those thoughts would this registration make the year of the car 2000.....3441 BMW?

[country boy]

I got 'BDS' in December 2000 and 'FGB' in Oct 2006...take it from there. (Malaga that was).

[Don]

Thankyou all, so following those thoughts would this registration make the year of the car 2000.....3441 BMW?

About right daisylulu, mid to late 2000, unless it was re-registered. Doesnt matter where in Spain you are under the new system as they are all issued chronologically and centrally.

[El Cid]

We got BCP in Nov 2000 so you might just be in 2001

Sid

[Wicksey]

I think the middle letter changes roughly each month. We ordered a new car in Sept 2000 and got it in the Oct and we were told that we would be getting the first of the new type registration with a BBD. With Sid having a BC in Nov and Country Boy and BD in Dec, this would seem to follow. They don't use vowels so that would make BMW about July 2001??

[Don]

BMW comes way before BTX Wicksey so if BMW was 2001 it was very early 2001 and there is a rush of sales around the turn of the year.

[daisylulu]

Thanks all I don't own the car but I'm looking for one, saw it for sale and wondered how old it is

[scampicat]

We have FNW for our car which was matriculated onto Spanish plates in 2007.

Nice really, as it's real date of birth is 1997!

[Don]

Quite so scampicat, and with many people importing cars and bikes from other countries, the re-registration on to a "new" plate is something to watch for if you are buying. My bike of 2004 now has a 2008 GDH plate. You can see cars with plates which just dont fit the model of car so they are obvious imports. A 2007 plate on a model which ceased production in 2000 is not a rare sight.

[Beachcomber]

When I moved from Almería to Málaga I changed my AL plate for an MA one and got a brand new registration on an eight year old car. However, there was a note on the ficha técnica showing the date of original registration.