Free tool
UK number plate year checker
Type any UK registration. We'll identify the format, decode the age identifier and tell you the earliest vehicle year it can legally be displayed on.
How the UK age identifier works
The DVLA introduces a new age identifier twice a year — on 1 March and 1 September. On a current-style plate like AB24 CDE, the two digits sit between the area code and the random letters. Numbers 02–49 represent March to August (so 24 means 2024). Numbers 51–99 represent September to February, calculated as the year plus 50 (so 74 means September 2024 to February 2025).
Prefix plates (1983–2001) put the year letter first, and suffix plates (1963–1983) put it last. Dateless and Northern Irish plates have no age identifier at all — which is why they can be displayed on any vehicle regardless of when it was registered.
You can put an older plate on a newer car, but never the other way round: a plate must never make a vehicle look younger than it actually is.