How old is my car?

You may rarely have paid attention to the combination of letters and numbers on your car’s registration plate but regular UK plates provide information about the year your car was registered and where. UK number plates are quite unusual in a way; few other countries put the year of registration on their registration plates, but it means you can instantly see how old a car is.

While that can lead to number plate snobbery and buyers waiting for the latest registration plate, it also clearly shows when the car was first registered. This might not seem like a particularly important thing but it comes in handy on occasion; if you’re buying a used car, for example. As many cars are serviced annually, it can also give you an idea of roughly how many services it should have had.

Buying a car: top tips

None of this information is available on personalised number plates. In the UK, you can pay to have a different number plate to the one your car originally came with, and many people choose to do this to personalise their cars.

UK car number plates explained

Since 2001, all new cars registered in the UK get a seven-digit number plate made up of two letters, two numbers, a space and then three more letters (i.e. AB69 CDE). The first two letters are known as ‘regional identifiers’, showing where the car was registered; any car with B and another letter afterwards was registered in the Birmingham area; any number plate starting with S was registered in Scotland, and so on. The two numbers show the age of the car, and the three final letters are used to make sure all registrations are unique.

Between 1983 and 2001, UK number plates used the format of one letter, three numbers, a space and three further letters (i.e. A123 BCD). The last two letters showed the district where the car was registered but this doesn’t correspond to the first two letters used under the current system. The first letter shows the car’s age. Before this, cars registered from February 1963 came with a letter at the end of the number plate, which also showed the age of the car.

We’ve put the age of cars from 1983 to the present day below, where you can also see the new car registrations for 2020 and beyond:

What year is my car reg?

2001 - present day (continuing until at least 2049)

1983 - 2001

Finding the date of first registration through a vehicle check

The date a car was first registered is easily accessible, so you don’t have to be a number plate guru to find out how old a car is. For your own car, the registration date will be printed in the V5C or logbook. A DVLA vehicle check or an HPI check will also tell you when a car was first registered.

Read about the safest cars on sale or check out our Buying Advice section for more useful guides.