Vehicle registration plates of Spain

There are two main forms of Spanish car number plates, as the system changed recently.

The old system was of the form XX-NNNN-YY (black digits on white plate), where XX is a one- or two-letter code denoting the province the car was registered in, NNNN is a four digit number to make the plate unique (zeros on the left are shown), and YY is a one- or two-letter code which is incremented by one place after the four digit number reaches 9999 — for example A-9999-Z is followed by A-0000-AB (should be AA, but some letter combinations were not in use). Older cars may use six digits instead of four and two letters, for example A-741923 (it finished on October 1971 when Madrid near reached the 999 999).

The province codes used are normally the first one or two letters of the province name or the name of the provincial capital, after 1926 regulation.Often the province is named after its capital.The provincial system was susceptible to problems with regional rivalries, that caused trouble for motorists travelling out of their provinces or trying to sell second-hand their vehicles.Also the changes of placenames following the co-officialization of the major languages of Spain introduced a mismatch between the name and the code.

The new system (September 2000) is the same nationwide, and consists of four digits followed by three consonant letters for example 0681 VBH. The letter code is sequential (from BBB to DZZ, FBB to HZZ, JBB to NZZ, PBB to PZZ, RBB to TZZ, and VBB to ZZZ - and the numbers go from 0000 to 9999 within the same three-letter combination. In this system there is no way of knowing where the car was registered.The letter code gives a rough idea about when the vehicle was registered and made.

The number plates themselves are white with black lettering, front and back. The left-side European blue bar with the letter E for "España" within the twelve stars is optional on the old system, but compulsory on the new system.

The plates are usually rectangular and wide.There are less common plates with an almost square shape for motorcycles and some cars with a narrow plate inset (such as the back of the SEAT 600).

Old provincial codes

tate codes

These keep the old system of letter code plus numbers.
*CME - Cos de Mossos D'esquadra (Corp of Mossos d'Esquadra). The autonomous police force of Catalonia
*DGP - Dirección General de la Policía ("Spanish Police")
*CNP - Cuerpo Nacional de Policía (since 2008)("Spanish Police")
*E - Ertzaintza. (autonomous police force of the Basque Country)). The "E" has a special "wiggly" form.
*EA - Ejército del Aire ("Spanish Air Force")
*ET - Ejército de Tierra ("Spanish Army")
*FN - Fuerzas Navales / Armada ("Spanish Navy")
*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 Carabinieri")
*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.

pecial 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.

Color plates

There are other plates with different background colors for trailers and the so-called "touristic plates", provisory plates that allow foreigners to use a vehicle bought in Spain before registering it in their country.

City plates

Mopeds and microcars 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.