With the new 2020 "20" registration number plate coming out, we thought it might be a good idea to clear up any confusion about how number plates work in the UK.
In this Car Registration Plate Guide, we look at the updates to the modern system. With this you can work out the age of any new vehicle!
The Modern Registration Plate System
Twice a year since 2001, number plates are updated with a new code to signify the year and the month of registration, either March or September.
Using this system, you can identify the time of registration, and generally the age, of most vehicles.
To match this timeline, car manufactures often release new updates to their lease cars around this time.
In the above example you can see three sections to a UK Number plate. These are the DVLA memory tag, age identifier and random spacer letters.
The most important of these is the Age ID
The two numbers in a registration plate correspond to the age of the vehicle, where the first number indicates the month of registration and the second indicates the year.
Below is a handy list of the years.
2001
March = ×/Y
September = 51
2002
March = 02
September = 52
2003
March = 03
September = 53
2004
March = 04
September = 54
2005
March = 05
September = 55
2006
March = 06
September = 56
2007
March = 07
September = 57
2008
March = 08
September = 58
2009
March = 09
September = 59
2010
March = 10
September = 60
2011
March = 11
September = 61
2012
March = 12
September = 62
2013
March = 13
September = 63
2014
March = 14
September = 64
2015
March = 15
September = 65
2016
March = 16
September = 66
2017
March = 17
September = 67
2018
March = 18
September = 68
2019
March = 19
September = 69
2020
March = 20
September = 70
2021
March = 21
September = 71