Spanish car number plates
Encyclopedia
Vehicle registration plate
s of Spain currently use the format nnnn LLL where:
This format, introduced on 18 September 2000, is used nationwide, so there is no way of knowing where the vehicle was registered. The letter combination gives a rough idea of when the vehicle was registered, but is less reliable for determining its age, as imported second-hand vehicles are registered in the same way as new models.
The three-letter combinations reached the H series (beginning HBB) in late December 2010. At the current rate (of approximately 5 "big" series per decade) the system will exhaust around 2040.
The plates themselves are white with black characters, front and back, with a blue strip on the left containing the 12 stars of the flag of Europe and the country identifier E (for España). This strip is compulsory. The plates are usually rectangular and wide in shape, but there are also square-like plates for motorcycles, while some cars have a narrow plate inset (such as at the back of the SEAT 600
).
This system came to an end in October 1971, by which time both Madrid
and Barcelona
were approaching the number 999999. Older vehicles with such registrations, usually with five- or six-digit numbers, can still be seen on Spanish roads.
In the later years of this system, many plates were white with black characters. http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579706.html http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579662.html Today, there are a few rare cases where the blue EU country identifier strip is also carried. http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579779.html
Some serial combinations were not used, such as AA (i.e., A-9999-Z was immediately followed by A-0000-AB). Particularly, letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,J, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z were allowed in one-letter series or as the first element of two-letter series, whereas only the letters B, C, D, F,G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z were used as the second element of two-letter series. The reason to forbid vowels A, E, I and O from the second element of two-letter combinations was apparently to avoid the remote possibility of forming a few possibly-offending Spanish words when combined with some province codes, such as MA-LA "bad one" or CU-LO "arse", even though some other possibly-offending combinations, such as KK (resembling caca, meaning "shit" in Spanish) or PN (resembling pene, meaning "penis"), or politically-charged combinations such as HB (cf. Herri Batasuna) and PP (cf. Partido Popular
), were not skipped and were in fact eventually issued in Madrid and Barcelona. All series involving consonants Q and/or R were skipped. Letter R was "restored" into common use in the following new three-letter system, whereas all five vowels were entirely dropped from this new system (see section below). Letter Q, on the other hand, has never been allowed in any way on Spanish number plates; the apparent reason being its resemblance to vowel O and digit 0 (even though letter D also resembles both, and letter O resembles digit 0, and neither were similarly banned from the system, so plate numbers such as O-0000-O —with six glyphs looking identical as 0-0000-0 in the die fonts used for the plates—, and barely distinguishable pairs such as B-0000-DD vs. B-0000-OD, were issued). Some otherwise "forbidden" combinations (particularly, those involving R or ending in one of the skipped vowels) were exceptionally used in a few particular cases, such as on serial combinations on some special types of cars (such as RA, RB... on some police cars) or in province codes (such as BA, CE, GI, GR, LO, MA, OR, PO, SA, TE, VI, ZA) or special codes (such as EA for airforce land vehicles).
This system lasted until September 2000, by which time the province of Madrid was again running out of registrations, its serial combinations approaching ZZ. The system was not completely exhausted in any province at the time of the system change, however, since the last series issued in Madrid was ZX and Barcelona only reached series XG (and the next province by registration volume, Valencia, stopped far behind at series HJ). The allowed combinations ZY and ZZ were therefore never issued in any province.
Plates under this system usually consisted solely of black characters on white, though the blue European Union country identifier strip became an option in the 1990s.
Both systems were susceptible to problems with rivalries between regions, that caused trouble for motorists travelling out of their provinces or trying to sell their vehicles second-hand. The second system also suffered when the major languages of Spain
were co-officialized, with the renaming of some provinces resulting in mismatches between the name and the code. For instance, the GE code for Gerona became mismatched when that province was renamed Girona
after Catalan
became co-official—so it was replaced with the GI code (even though it could have been replaced simply by G, which would have fitted both the Catalan and Spanish versions of the province name, but the Catalan nationalists' goal was to state clearly that the name was in Catalan and not in Spanish). OR for Orense was similarly changed into OU for Ourense
(Galician nationalists similarly wanted to make the province code unmistakably Galician
rather than ambiguously Galician/Spanish, since both Orense and Ourense happen to contain the letters O and R and therefore the change would not have been strictly necessary). There were also unsuccessful movements to have other province codes changed, such as substituting AS (from Asturias
) for O (from the name of its capital Oviedo
), prompted by city rivalries even internal to provinces (e.g., some people from Gijón
, the largest Asturian city, chose to register their vehicles in the province of Girona, with code GI resembling the initials of Gijón, so as to avoid having the province code O on their cars, which stood for the initial of the Asturian capital Oviedo, the archrival of Gijón). The province code LO for La Rioja
(which stood for the name of its capital city Logroño
) was slated for change into LR the same day that the new system without province codes entered into use, so it never got used.
and the so-called "touristic plates", provisory plates that allow foreigners to use a vehicle bought in Spain before registering it in their country.
The trailer plates begin with the prefix R signifying remolque, the Spanish word for trailer, caravan or literally "on tow".
The tourist plates begin with the prefix P signifying provisional, usually issued to vehicles for export or until the registration process has been completed. They are sometimes seen on manufacturer's prototypes.
An additional series exists for historic vehicles with the prefix H followed by four numbers and four letters, making a nine digit plate which can be difficult to fit onto some historic vehicles!
Moped
s and microcar
s with cylinders under 50 cc were not required to have a national plate and town and city administration tax them and issued their own yellow plates.
Vehicle registration plate
A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies the vehicle within the issuing region's database...
s of Spain currently use the format nnnn LLL where:
- nnnn is a sequence number from 0000 to 9999,
- LLL is a "counter" comprising three letters, which increments after the sequence number reaches 9999. The vowels A, E, I, O and U, plus Q (which can be easily confused with O) and the special Spanish letter ÑÑÑ is a letter of the modern Latin alphabet, formed by an N with a diacritical tilde. It is used in the Spanish alphabet, Galician alphabet, Asturian alphabet, Basque alphabet, Aragonese old alphabet , Filipino alphabet, Chamorro alphabet and the Guarani alphabet, where it represents...
, are not used. This leaves the 20 consonant letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y and Z for use on the registration plates. This allows for 203 possible three-letter combinations (from BBB to ZZZ), which means a total of 80 million registration numbers are possible in this system.
This format, introduced on 18 September 2000, is used nationwide, so there is no way of knowing where the vehicle was registered. The letter combination gives a rough idea of when the vehicle was registered, but is less reliable for determining its age, as imported second-hand vehicles are registered in the same way as new models.
The three-letter combinations reached the H series (beginning HBB) in late December 2010. At the current rate (of approximately 5 "big" series per decade) the system will exhaust around 2040.
The plates themselves are white with black characters, front and back, with a blue strip on the left containing the 12 stars of the flag of Europe and the country identifier E (for España). This strip is compulsory. The plates are usually rectangular and wide in shape, but there are also square-like plates for motorcycles, while some cars have a narrow plate inset (such as at the back of the SEAT 600
SEAT 600
The SEAT 600 was a Spanish car made by SEAT from May 1957 to August 1973. It helped to start the economic boom, the Spanish Miracle , that came at the end of the slow recovery from the Spanish Civil War...
).
1900 to 1971
The first system, introduced in 1900, consisted of a letter code denoting the province the vehicle was registered in (the full list of codes appears below), followed by a sequence number of up to six digits. The codes were normally made up of the first one or two letters of the province name or the name of the provincial capital (many provinces are named after their capitals), under the provisions of a 1926 regulation. In the earliest days, some provinces used three-letter codes, but these were abolished after 1926.This system came to an end in October 1971, by which time both Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
were approaching the number 999999. Older vehicles with such registrations, usually with five- or six-digit numbers, can still be seen on Spanish roads.
In the later years of this system, many plates were white with black characters. http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579706.html http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579662.html Today, there are a few rare cases where the blue EU country identifier strip is also carried. http://muestrama.fotopic.net/p27579779.html
1971 to 2000
The second system used the format XXX-NNNN-YY, where XXX was a one- or two- letter province code or a two- or three-letter special code (such as ET for army cars and DGP for police cars), NNNN was a sequence number from 0000 to 9999 (always four-digit numbers, padded with leading zeroes if necessary), and YY was a one- or two-letter "counter" series which incremented after the sequence number reached 9999; for instance, M-9999-BC was followed by M-0000-BD.Some serial combinations were not used, such as AA (i.e., A-9999-Z was immediately followed by A-0000-AB). Particularly, letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I,J, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z were allowed in one-letter series or as the first element of two-letter series, whereas only the letters B, C, D, F,G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z were used as the second element of two-letter series. The reason to forbid vowels A, E, I and O from the second element of two-letter combinations was apparently to avoid the remote possibility of forming a few possibly-offending Spanish words when combined with some province codes, such as MA-LA "bad one" or CU-LO "arse", even though some other possibly-offending combinations, such as KK (resembling caca, meaning "shit" in Spanish) or PN (resembling pene, meaning "penis"), or politically-charged combinations such as HB (cf. Herri Batasuna) and PP (cf. Partido Popular
People's Party (Spain)
The People's Party is a conservative political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation in 1989 of the People's Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship...
), were not skipped and were in fact eventually issued in Madrid and Barcelona. All series involving consonants Q and/or R were skipped. Letter R was "restored" into common use in the following new three-letter system, whereas all five vowels were entirely dropped from this new system (see section below). Letter Q, on the other hand, has never been allowed in any way on Spanish number plates; the apparent reason being its resemblance to vowel O and digit 0 (even though letter D also resembles both, and letter O resembles digit 0, and neither were similarly banned from the system, so plate numbers such as O-0000-O —with six glyphs looking identical as 0-0000-0 in the die fonts used for the plates—, and barely distinguishable pairs such as B-0000-DD vs. B-0000-OD, were issued). Some otherwise "forbidden" combinations (particularly, those involving R or ending in one of the skipped vowels) were exceptionally used in a few particular cases, such as on serial combinations on some special types of cars (such as RA, RB... on some police cars) or in province codes (such as BA, CE, GI, GR, LO, MA, OR, PO, SA, TE, VI, ZA) or special codes (such as EA for airforce land vehicles).
This system lasted until September 2000, by which time the province of Madrid was again running out of registrations, its serial combinations approaching ZZ. The system was not completely exhausted in any province at the time of the system change, however, since the last series issued in Madrid was ZX and Barcelona only reached series XG (and the next province by registration volume, Valencia, stopped far behind at series HJ). The allowed combinations ZY and ZZ were therefore never issued in any province.
Plates under this system usually consisted solely of black characters on white, though the blue European Union country identifier strip became an option in the 1990s.
Both systems were susceptible to problems with rivalries between regions, that caused trouble for motorists travelling out of their provinces or trying to sell their vehicles second-hand. The second system also suffered when the major languages of Spain
Languages of Spain
The languages of Spain are the languages spoken or once spoken in Spain. Romance languages are the most widely spoken in Spain, of which Spanish is the country's official language...
were co-officialized, with the renaming of some provinces resulting in mismatches between the name and the code. For instance, the GE code for Gerona became mismatched when that province was renamed Girona
Girona
Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...
after Catalan
Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...
became co-official—so it was replaced with the GI code (even though it could have been replaced simply by G, which would have fitted both the Catalan and Spanish versions of the province name, but the Catalan nationalists' goal was to state clearly that the name was in Catalan and not in Spanish). OR for Orense was similarly changed into OU for Ourense
Ourense
Ourense is a city in northwestern Spain, the capital of the province of the same name in Galicia. Its population of 108,674 accounts for 30% of the population of the province and makes it the third largest city of Galicia.-Population:...
(Galician nationalists similarly wanted to make the province code unmistakably Galician
Galician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
rather than ambiguously Galician/Spanish, since both Orense and Ourense happen to contain the letters O and R and therefore the change would not have been strictly necessary). There were also unsuccessful movements to have other province codes changed, such as substituting AS (from Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
) for O (from the name of its capital Oviedo
Oviedo
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city....
), prompted by city rivalries even internal to provinces (e.g., some people from Gijón
Gijón
Gijón , officially Gijón / Xixón, is a coastal industrial city and a municipality in the autonomous community of Asturias in Spain. Early mediaeval texts mention it as "Gigia". It was an important regional Roman city, although the area has been settled since earliest history...
, the largest Asturian city, chose to register their vehicles in the province of Girona, with code GI resembling the initials of Gijón, so as to avoid having the province code O on their cars, which stood for the initial of the Asturian capital Oviedo, the archrival of Gijón). The province code LO for La Rioja
La Rioja (Spain)
La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...
(which stood for the name of its capital city Logroño
Logroño
Logroño is a city in northern Spain, on the Ebro River. It is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, formerly known as La Rioja Province.The population of Logroño in 2008 was 153,736 and a metropolitan population of nearly 197,000 inhabitants...
) was slated for change into LR the same day that the new system without province codes entered into use, so it never got used.
Old provincial codes
| Code | Province | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A | Alicante Alicante (province) Alicante or Alacant is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Murcia on the southwest, Albacete on the west, Valencia on the north, and the Mediterranean Sea on the east... |
|
| AB | Albacete Albacete (province) Albacete is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Granada, Murcia, Alicante, Valencia, Cuenca, Ciudad Real and Jaén.... |
ALB used until 1926, correlative |
| AL | Almería Almería (province) -History:The rich customs and Fiestas of the denizens retain links deep into the past, unto the Moors, the Romans, the Greeks, and the Phoenicians.During the taifa era, it was ruled by the Moor Banu al-Amiri from 1012 to 1038, briefly annexed by Valencia , then given by Zaragoza to the Banu Sumadih... |
|
| AV | Ávila Ávila (province) Ávila is a province of central-western Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered on the south by the provinces of Toledo and Cáceres, on the west by Salamanca, on the north by Valladolid, and on the east by Segovia and Madrid. Ávila has a... |
|
| B | Barcelona Barcelona (province) Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia.-Overview:It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea.... |
|
| BA | Badajoz Badajoz (province) The province of Badajoz is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Seville, and Huelva, and by Portugal.... |
|
| BI | Bilbao Bilbao Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain... (capital of Biscay Biscay Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao... ) |
|
| BU | Burgos Burgos (province) The province of Burgos is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Álava, La Rioja, Soria, Segovia, and Valladolid. Its capital is the city of Burgos... |
|
| C | La Coruña A Coruña (province) The province of A Coruña is the most North-western Atlantic-facing province of Spain, and one of the four provinces which constitute the autonomous community of Galicia... (A Coruña) |
|
| CA | Cádiz Cádiz (province) Cádiz is a province of southern Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, the southernmost part of continental Western Europe.... |
|
| CC | Cáceres Cáceres (province) The province of Cáceres is a province of western Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Extremadura. It is bordered by the provinces of Salamanca, Ávila, Toledo, and Badajoz, and by Portugal.... |
CAC used until 1926, correlative |
| CE | Ceuta Ceuta Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish... (Spanish exclave in North Africa) |
from 1922 |
| CO | Córdoba | |
| CR | Ciudad Real Ciudad Real (province) The province of Ciudad Real is a province of South-central Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Albacete, Jaén, Córdoba, Badajoz, and Toledo. Its extent is effectively that of the old province of La Mancha... |
|
| CS | Castellón (Castelló) | CAS used until 1926, correlative |
| CU | Cuenca Cuenca (province) Cuenca is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha.-Guide to the area:Located in a natural setting of beauty, the Old Town of Cuenca occupies a superb site between two river gorges. Famous are its 15th Century "hanging houses" , that appear... |
|
| FP | Fernando Po Bioko Bioko is an island 32 km off the west coast of Africa, specifically Cameroon, in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea with a population of 124,000 and an area of . It is volcanic with its highest peak the Pico Basile at .-Geography:Bioko has a total area of... ("Spanish island of Guinea") |
1961–1969, one of two replacements for TG |
| GC | Las Palmas Las Palmas (province) The Province of Las Palmas is a province of Spain, consisting of the eastern part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.-Composition:... |
from 1926, one of two replacements for TE |
| GE | Girona Girona (province) Girona is a province of north-eastern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Barcelona and Lleida, and by France and the Mediterranean Sea.... (Gerona) |
replaced by GI in 1992 |
| GI | Gerona / Girona | from 1992, replacement for GE, correlative |
| GR | Granada Granada (province) Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea . Its capital city is also called Granada.The province covers an area of 12,635 km²... |
|
| GU | Guadalajara Guadalajara (province) Guadalajara is a province of central/north-central Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Cuenca, Madrid, Segovia, Soria, Zaragoza, and Teruel... |
|
| H | Huelva Huelva (province) Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by Portugal, the provinces of Badajoz, Seville, and Cádiz, and the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Huelva.... |
|
| HU | Huesca Huesca (province) Huesca , officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca.Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées... |
|
| I | Ifni Ifni Ifni was a Spanish province on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, south of Agadir and across from the Canary Islands.It had a total area of 1,502 km² , and a population of 51,517 in 1964. The main industry was fishing.... (former Spanish province in Morocco) |
1951–1961, replaced by IF |
| IB | Islas Baleares / Illes Balears (not only Ibiza) | from 1997, replacement for PM, correlative |
| IF | Ifni | 1961–1969, replacement for I |
| J | Jaén | |
| L | Lérida (Lleida) | |
| LE | León León (province) León is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.About one quarter of its population of 500,200 lives in the capital, León. The weather is cold and dry during the winter.... |
|
| LO | Logroño | |
| LR | La Rioja | replacement for LO, but never entered |
| LU | Lugo Lugo (province) Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in the north by the Cantabrian Sea .The population is 356,595 , of... |
|
| M | Madrid | |
| MA | Málaga Málaga (province) The Province of Málaga is located on the southern coast of Spain, in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the South, and by the provinces of Cádiz, Sevilla, Córdoba and Granada.Its area is 7,308 km²... |
|
| ME | Marruecos Español ("Spanish Morocco Spanish Morocco The Spanish protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence.-Territorial borders:... ") |
used for Ceuta and Melilla, replaced by CE and ML in 1922 |
| ML | Melilla Melilla Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa... (Spanish exclave in North Africa) |
|
| MU | Murcia Region of Murcia The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast.... |
|
| NA | Navarra | from 1918, replacement for PA, correlative |
| O | Oviedo (now Asturias Asturias The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages... ) |
|
| OR | Orense (Ourense) | replaced by OU in 1998 |
| OU | Orense / Ourense | from 1998, replacement for OR, correlative |
| P | Palencia Palencia (province) Palencia is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of León, Cantabria, Burgos, and Valladolid.... |
|
| PA | Pamplona Pamplona Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions... |
replaced by NA in 1918 |
| PM | Palma de Mallorca | replaced by IB in 1997 |
| PO | Pontevedra Pontevedra (province) Pontevedra is a province of Spain along the country's Atlantic coast in southwestern Europe. The province forms the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Galicia... |
|
| RM | Rio Muni Río Muni Río Muni is the Continental Region of Equatorial Guinea, and comprises the mainland geographical region, covering 26,017 km².-History:Río Muni was ceded by Portugal to Spain in 1778 in the Treaty of El Pardo... ("Spanish Guinea") |
1961–1969, one of two replacements for TG |
| S | Santander (now Cantabria Cantabria Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria... ) |
|
| SA | Salamanca Salamanca (province) Salamanca is a province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, Valladolid, Ávila, and Cáceres; and by Portugal.... |
|
| SE | Sevilla | |
| SG | Segovia Segovia (province) Segovia is a province of central/northern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Burgos, Soria, Guadalajara, Madrid, Ávila, and Valladolid.... |
SEG used until 1926, correlative |
| SH | Sahara Occidental ("Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara Spanish Sahara was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was ruled as a territory by Spain between 1884 and 1975... ") |
the previous code was AOE, which stood for Africa Occidental Española. Discontinued 1976 |
| SO | Soria Soria (province) Soria is a province of central Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. Most of the province is in the mountainous Sistema Ibérico areaIt is bordered by the provinces of La Rioja, Zaragoza, Guadalajara, Segovia, and Burgos.... |
|
| SS | San Sebastián San Sebastián Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its... / Donostia (capital of Gipuzkoa) |
|
| T | Tarragona Tarragona (province) Tarragona is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is bordered by the provinces of Castellón, Teruel, Zaragoza, Lleida, Barcelona, and the Mediterranean Sea.... |
|
| TE | Territorio Español ("Spanish Territory") | used for Islas Canarias, replaced by GC and TF in 1926 |
| TE | Teruel Teruel (province) Teruel is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel.It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia , Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Zaragoza.... |
TER used until 1926, correlative |
| TF | Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (province) Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife also Province of Santa Cruz is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about half of the Atlantic archipelago, including the islands of Tenerife, La Gomera, El Hierro, and La Palma, and... |
from 1926, one of two replacements for TE |
| TG | Territorio Español de Guinea ("Spanish Guinea Spanish Guinea Spanish Guinea was an African colony of Spain that became the independent nation of Equatorial Guinea.-History:The Portuguese explorer, Fernão do Pó, seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1472. He called it Formosa , but it quickly took on the name of... ") |
TEG used until 1926, replaced by FP and RM in 1961 |
| TO | Toledo Toledo (province) Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila.... |
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| V | Valencia Valencia (province) Valencia or València is a province of Spain, in the central part of the Valencian Community.It is bordered by the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Teruel, Castellón, and the Mediterranean Sea... |
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| VA | Valladolid Valladolid (province) Valladolid is a province of central/northwest Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Zamora, León, Palencia, Burgos, Segovia, Ávila, and Salamanca.... |
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| VI | Vitoria (capital of Álava Álava Álava is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Álava. Its capital city is Vitoria-Gasteiz which is also the capital of the autonomous community... ) |
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| Z | Zaragoza Zaragoza (province) Zaragoza is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon.Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. Other towns in Zaragoza include Calatayud, Borja, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Ejea de los Caballeros and Tarazona.Its... |
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| ZA | Zamora Zamora (province) Zamora is a Spanish province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.The present-day province of Zamora province was one of three provinces formed from the former Kingdom of León in 1833, when Spain was re-organised into 49 provinces.It is bordered by... |
State codes
These keep the old system of letter code plus numbers.- CME – Cos dels Mossos d'Esquadra (Corps of the Mossos d'EsquadraMossos d'EsquadraThe Mossos d'Esquadra are the police force of Catalonia, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. It is the oldest civil police force in Europe, founded in the 18th century as the Esquadres de Catalunya to protect the people of Catalonia....
). The autonomous police force of Catalonia - DGP – Dirección General de la Policía ("Spanish Police")
- CNP – Cuerpo Nacional de Policía (since 2008) ("Spanish Police")
- E – ErtzaintzaErtzaintzaThe Ertzaintza , is the police force of the Basque Country, one of the autonomous communities of Spain. An Ertzaintza member is an ertzaina .- Origins :...
(Autonomous police force of the Basque Country)). The E on the plate is in a special Basque font. - EA – Ejército del Aire ("Spanish Air ForceSpanish Air Force-The early stages:Hot air balloons had been used with military purposes in Spain as far back as 1896. In 1905, with the help of Alfredo Kindelán, Leonardo Torres y Quevedo directed the construction of the first Spanish dirigible in the Army Military Aerostatics Service, created in 1896 and located...
") - ET – Ejército de Tierra ("Spanish ArmySpanish ArmyThe Spanish Army is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies - dating back to the 15th century.-Introduction:...
") - FN – Fuerzas Navales / Armada ("Spanish NavySpanish NavyThe Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...
") - 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 "Corpo dei CarabinieriCarabinieriThe Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...
") - 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)
Diplomatic plates
Diplomatic plates are either red, yellow or blue and start with the letters "CD" (red), "CC" (green), "TA" (yellow) or "IO" (blue). The first set of numbers stands for the embassy or organisation and the second for the specific car from an organisation.Special U.S. Military Plates
The U.S. Military was required to have special Plates up to 1972 when servicemen could use regular civilian plates such as the ones pictured to the upper right.Colour plates
There are other plates with different background colours for trailersTrailer (vehicle)
A trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle. Commonly, the term trailer refers to such vehicles used for transport of goods and materials....
and the so-called "touristic plates", provisory plates that allow foreigners to use a vehicle bought in Spain before registering it in their country.
The trailer plates begin with the prefix R signifying remolque, the Spanish word for trailer, caravan or literally "on tow".
The tourist plates begin with the prefix P signifying provisional, usually issued to vehicles for export or until the registration process has been completed. They are sometimes seen on manufacturer's prototypes.
An additional series exists for historic vehicles with the prefix H followed by four numbers and four letters, making a nine digit plate which can be difficult to fit onto some historic vehicles!
City plates
Moped
Mopeds are a type of low-powered motorcycle designed to provide economical and relatively safe transport with minimal licensing requirements.Mopeds were once all equipped with bicycle-like pedals , but moped has been increasingly applied by governments to vehicles without pedals, based on their...
s and microcar
Microcar
A microcar is the smallest automobile classification usually applied to standard small car . Such small cars were generally referred to as cyclecars until the 1940s. More recent models are also called bubblecars due to their egg-shaped appearance.-Definition:The definition of a microcar has varied...
s with cylinders under 50 cc were not required to have a national plate and town and city administration tax them and issued their own yellow plates.