Spanish Number Plates

Changing your UK Car, Motorbike, Quad Bike, Motor Home or Trailer onto Spanish Number Plates can cost a lot less than you may think and we're happy to provide you with a FREE, No Obligation Quotation. One of the most frequently reported benefits that our customers tell us about is that they have managed to find cheaper insurance once they change across to Spanish Number Plates but there are many other benefits too. -- Read more about the Benefits When Importing

Number Plate Format

The current number plate format for Spanish Registered Vehicles has been in place since the year 2000 and consists of four numbers followed by three letters (eg. 1234 ABC). Prior to this regional letter codes were used. The letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z are all used, whilst all vowels and the letter Q are excluded, so the current system allows for 80 million possible combinations. At the current rate of vehicle registrations this system should last until about 2040.

How it works

The first four numbers of a Spanish Number Plate are a counter which runs from 0000 to 9999. The next 3 letters are a sequence which started with BBB and will finally end with ZZZ. As at May 2023 we are up to MGY, so once there have been 10,000 registrations the letter sequence will change to MGZ. Consequently there is no exact method of determining the date a Spanish Vehicle was registered, just an approximation based on the first letter of the sequence.

Previous Format

Before the latest matriculation system was introduced in the year 2000, Spanish registration numbers were based on the province in which the vehicle was registered. It followed the format ABC-1234-YZ, where the first section denoted the province and could be 1, 2 or 3 letters, the middle section was a numeric counter from 0000 to 9999 and the final section was an alphabetic counter that increased when all the numbers had been used in the second section.

Some notable province registration prefixes are: A - Alicante, AL - Almería, B - Barcelona, GR - Granada, M - Madrid, MA - Malaga, MU - Murcia and V - Valencia, although there were 72 different prefixes in total. The letter Q was never used for registration anywhere in a registration number.

Private Number Plates

Unlike the United Kingdom, private number plates have never been issued in Spain and aside from state registration numbers and diplomatic plates, all vehicles follow the new registration format that was introduced in September 2000.

Get a Free No Obligation Quotation

If you'd like us to supply you with a price for importing your UK registered vehicle on to Spanish Number Plates then click on the button below and we'll be happy to provide you with a no obligation quotation, completely free of charge.