Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands

Last updated

Current series dutch license plate.jpg
Current Dutch vehicle registration plate
CountryNetherlands
Country codeNL
Current series
Size520 mm × 110 mm
20.5 in × 4.3 in
Serial formatA-001-AA, AA-001-A, 00-AAA-1, 0-AAA-01, AAA-01-A, A-01-AAA & 0-AA-001
Colour (front)Black on yellow
Colour (rear)Black on yellow
Introduced2021
History
First issued1898

Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands are vehicle registration plates issued by the RDW (Dutch Vehicle Authority). [1]

Contents

RDW vehicle registration plates are assigned bearing the same "number" which is a sequence of characters composed of letters and digits as that is shown on the vehicle's registration document. The numbering scheme used bears no relation to the place of a vehicle's registration or ownership, and numbers – which are issued in strict time order – identify the vehicle, not its owner. Thus, if a vehicle changes ownership, the registration number remains unchanged.

If the car is registered before 1 January 1978, it may have a dark-blue number plate also called 'historical plates'. [2] Taxis will have a light-blue number plate because they pay a different amount of tax to let people into the car legally. If a taxi does not have a blue number plate on it, it is an illegal taxi and the driver will charge a lesser fare to the person in the car.

A green plate is a 'trade plate', i.e. a temporary number plate used by motor traders or vehicle testers to save them the cost and time to register and tax every vehicle temporarily in their possession.

Earlier schemes

The Netherlands introduced a system of vehicle registration plates on 26 April 1898 – the third country in the world to do so, after France in 1893 and Germany in 1896. [3] A plate bearing the number 1 was issued to one J. van Dam, who purchased the first Dutch-built motorcar, which was manufactured at his own Groninger Motor-Rijtuigen Fabriek. [4] Plate numbers stayed with the owner, unlike the present system. From 1906, a new system used the format xx-ddddd, where xx was a province code and ddddd a serial number. This system lasted until 1951 when the current system was introduced.

Province codes

L-39272 County licenseplate Utrecht 02.JPG

Numbering schemes

The current Dutch license plate system uses black letters on a light-reflecting yellow background, although white reflecting letters on a dark-blue background are allowed for vehicles built before 1977. Since 2000, the blue band with the European flag and NL has been mandatory for all vehicles except vehicles built before 1977.

Dutch license plates can be formatted as follows:

YearFormatFormat (Sidecode)CommentFirst license plate (private cars)
1951–1965 Dutch plate blue old code 1.png 1This series is currently in use for imported oldtimers (pre-1985), using leftover serial letters not originally issued. The series DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR, DZ, PM and RM (RM from 16 July 2025) are now used. ZM, ZF, and NM for motorcycles, and BE (and from June 2021 BH) for oldtimer commercial vehicles. No xx-00-00.ND-00-01
1965–1973 Dutch plate blue old code 2.png 2This series is currently in use for special permit vehicles (ZZ). No 00-00-xx.00-01-AD
1973–1978 Dutch plate blue old code 3.png 3Yellow plates were first introduced in 1975. These were initially optional but became mandatory from 1 January 1978, a few months before this series ended. This series is currently in use for imported 'youngtimers' between 10 and 40 years old from now, starting with Y (YA, YB, YD and YE are currently issued) No 00-xx-00.00-AD-01
1978–1991 Dutch plate yellow old code4.png 4The letters K and Y were used as serial letters in this series.

This series is currently issued to semi-trailers (O). No double zero allowed.

DB-01-BB
1991–1999 Dutch plate yellow old code5.png 5The letter K was not used as a serial letter in this series. No double zero.DB-BB-01
1999–2008 Dutch plate yellow NL code 6.png 6In 2000, the Controlled Issuance and Intake of Licence Plates (GAIK; Gecontroleerde Afgave en Inname van Kentekenplaten) license style started with the F series in this series. All license plates except some oldtimer registrations were mandated to change to GAIK plates.

This series is currently in use for motorcycles (M). No double zero allowed.

01-DB-BB
2006–present Dutch plate yellow NL code 7.png 7At mopeds (D/F); no double zero allowed. This series is currently issued for heavy goods vehicles (B) and trailers above 750 kg (W). No single zero allowed.01-GBB-1
Dutch plate yellow NL code 8.png 8In this series, the first letters B, D, F, G, H, J, M, N, P, and R are not used, not to clash with export license plates. Therefore, the first letters in car plates can be only K, S, T, X, and Z. V is used for light commercial vehicles. W will probably be used for trailers in the future. No single zero.1-KBB-00
Dutch plate yellow NL code 9.png 9The letter L is reserved for agricultural vehicles. No SD-001-B to SD-999-Z and no SS-001-B to SS-999-Z. Incl. 18-2-2025 also for trucks with license plate B. No triple zero.GB-001-B
2011–present Dutch plate yellow NL code 10.png 10This series is currently issued for private vehicles, starting at G-001-BB. No x-001-SD to x-999-SD and no x-001-SS to x-999-SS. Also no S-001-DB to S-999-DZ. No triple zero.G-001-BB
2015–present Dutch plate yellow NL code 11.png 11This series is currently issued to mopeds (D/F) and light commercial vehicles (V), no VVD [5] No VVD-01-B till VVD-99-Z, [6] And since 1 January 2021 also for agricultural vehicles (L) and tractors (T) and from 4 June 2024 for passenger cars too, starting with GBB-01-B followed by H and J. No double zero.

[7]

GBB-01-B
2021–present Dutch plate yellow NL code 12.png 12Since 31 December 2021 in use by tractors from T-01-BBB and since 8 January 2024 also in use by light commercial vehicles from V-01-BBB. And since 1 July 2025 also by electric scooters from E-01-BBD. In all this three series no double zero. BBB will now no longer used because BBB is a political party.-
2016–present Dutch plate yellow NL code 13.png 13This series is currently issued for fast motorboats (Y) and was used for tractors (0-GV-001 to 9-GV-999) between 2016 and 2020. From 2021 side code 11 and 12 are issued for tractors. 0-GV-000 to 9-GV-000 are not used.-
2016–2020 Dutch plate yellow NL code 14.png 14This series was used for tractors to 456-GV-4 and 000-GV-0 to 000-GV-4 is not used. From 2021 side code 11 and 12 are issued for tractors.-

Nowadays the letters used do not include vowels, to avoid profane or obscene language. To avoid confusion with a zero, the letters C and Q are also omitted and letters M and W are not used because they are too wide. Letters and numbers are issued in strict alphabetical/numeric order. Thus a Dutch license plate indicates the date of registration of a car, but no information about where in the country the car comes from, or to whom it belongs.

Other formats

With the introduction of the GAIK series, several other formats have been introduced as well. All background colors used are retroreflective.

FormatComment
XX-XX-99
Taxi plates are mandatory since December 2000 for vehicles used to transport people, but which are not part of the public transportation system.
XX-99-99
Trader plates, used by automotive companies to register current stock under their insurance, these plates are to be used if the car is used for a test drive and has no insurance on its license plate. It is forbidden to park a car on the public road with trader plates fitted.
XX-XX-99
Z-99-99
Used for trailers with a maximum weight of less than 750 kg, registration matches the vehicle pulling the trailer. Also used for export, temporary and provisional (single coded, H for 1 month and Z for 1 week) vehicles.

Recent changes

Dutch license plate with duplicate code 1 Dutch license plate with duplicate code 1.JPG
Dutch license plate with duplicate code 1

License plates subtly changed shape in 2002 when a new font was introduced, amongst other changes.

Current series

Motor cars

..S-01-D to ..S-99-D and ..S-01-S to ..S-99-S will not be used, and also .SD-01-B to .SD-99-Z and .SS-01-B to .SS-99-Z will not be used to avoid SD and SS combinations.

Motorcycles

Mopeds

D/FBS-01-D to D/FBS-99-D and D/FBS-01-S to D/FBS-99-S is not used, to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also, D/FxS-01-D to D/FxS-99-D and D/FxS-01-S to D/FxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used; and this also for D/FSD-01-B till D/FSD-99-Z and D/FSS-01-B till D/FSS-99-Z for the same reason.

Trucks/Lorries (payload 3.5 tons or more)

Trucks/Lorries (payload less than 3.5 tons)

VBS-01-D to VBS-99-D and VBS-01-S to VBS-99-S is not used, to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also VxS-01-D to VxS-99-D and VxS-01-S to VxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used for the same reason. Also VSD-01-B to VSD-99-Z and VSS-01-B to VSS-99-Z is not be used for the same reason. No VVD-01-B to VVD-99-Z because VVD is a political party. [9]

On 8 January 2024 after V-42-BBB follows immediately V-01-DBB because BBB is a political party. [10] To avoid SD and SS combinations V-01-xSD till V-99-xSD and V-01-xSS till V-99-xSS is/will not used, x is D t/m Z. KGB, KKK, KVT and LPF are not used.

Trailers

Semi-Trailers

Agricultural Vehicles

LBS-01-D to LBS-99-D and LBS-01-S to LBS-99-S is not used to avoid SD and SS combinations. Also in the future, LxS-01-D to LxS-99-D and LxS-01-S to LxS-99-S (x is the second letter, D till Z) will not be used for the same reason. LPF is not used.

Tractors

No T-..-xSD and no T-..-xSS, x is the second letter B to Z, to avoid SD and SS combinations. There exists T-01-FVD till T-99-FVD despite FVD is a political party!

Electric scooters

And see now also The monthly update of the most latest license plates by the RDW on 31 August 2025.

Special-use license plates

LettersDescription
B, E, S
Caribbean Netherlands license plate (Saba).png
Used in the Caribbean Netherlands. License plates are North American standard size and do not carry an EU flag. License plates start with one letter: B for Bonaire, E for St. Eustatius, and S for Saba, followed by three or four digits. The color of the plate differs per island. Some plates start with different letters, sometimes similar to that of the European Netherlands: V for commercial vehicles, TX for the taxi, D for governmental vehicles, AB for buses.
AA
Royal Dutch License plate AA-86.jpg
Used for vehicles registered to the Dutch royal family. (AA-??) or (AA-???).
B, VThe B in the first letter position is used to refer to a "Bedrijfswagen" (commercial vehicle): special status for cars that are exclusively used for commercial purposes. Commercial license registrations have a separate taxation class, though some 10% of the cars are registered as commercial. A commercial license is often called "grijs kenteken" (grey registration), referring to the previous color of the car's registration papers, which is now, like commercial vehicles, green.
BE, BHClassic commercial vehicles. Sidecode 1. BE until June 2021, BH after it. Current high BH-11-27 (16 July 2025).
DE, DH, DL, DM, DR, AE, AH, AL, AM, AR, DZ, PM, and from 16 July 2025 RM
Oldtimer kenteken.jpg
Imported classic cars 40 years or older. Sidecode 1. PM since August 2020. Current high RM-00-05 (16 July 2025).
ZM, ZF, NMSecondhands motorbikes. Sidecode 1. NM since November 2017. Current high NM-48-46 (16 July 2025).
YA, YB, YD and YEImported classic cars older than 10 years but younger than 40 years. Sidecode 3. YD since July 2014. Current high 30-YE-72 (16 July 2025).
KL to KZ & LM, LO, LU, DM
Dutch Military Police license plate.JPG
Military Vehicles: (KL, KN to KZ: Royal Army, KM: Koninklijke Marine's (Royal Navy), LM: Luchtmacht (Air Force), KP: Regular car from the Koninklijke landmacht (Royal Army), KV: Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Constabulary). Example: (KL-??-??) and (??-KL-??) which are used by Royal Army. Also, DM but only in the sidecodes 7, 9, and 10. The third letter is B to Z but not an A, C, E, I, M, O, Q, U, W, or Y.
CD
Netherlands diplomatic license plate CD-79-31.jpg
"Corps Diplomatique" and is used for diplomats (CD-??-??) or (??-CD-??).
CDJ
Netherlands diplomatic license plate CDJ-253.jpg
Lawyers or Diplomats working for the International Court of Justice (CDJ-???).
BFG
Werknemers VN in Nederland.JPG
Used for private vehicles of Dutch and German military servants working for British Forces Germany/NATO. They are issued by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Military Police in Driebergen. They carry a different font, similar to that of the German license plates, to allow them to be produced in Germany if necessary. [11]
RC
Rckenteken.JPG
NATO vehicles. RC stands for "Région Centrale", dating from when NATO headquarters were located in France. Currently in use by Joint Force Command Brunssum. Newer license plates are yellow, look like the regular ones, and have dashes between the letters and numbers and in the middle of the numbers (similar to sidecode 1, but yellow plates).
M
Netherlands licenseplate motorcycle.JPG
Motorcycles. Several letters in sidecode 1. After that (MX-??-XX) to (??-MX-XX). M is only used as the first letter!
BN or GN
BN plate of the Netherlands (special plate).JPG
For vehicles whose owner is not liable to taxation such as staff from embassies without diplomatic status, consulates or international organisations such as ESA, ICC, UN-ICJ or OPCW (BN or GN-??-??), (??-??-BN or GN), (??-BN or GN-??).
GV
Dutch special license plate (Grens Verkeer) 01.jpg
For agricultural vehicles that within the Netherlands, do not need a license plate but may cross national borders with countries where they do (i.e. Belgium) (grensverkeer/border traffic) (GV-??-??).
HA, HF, HH, FH
Dutch dealer license plate (new green).JPG
For car merchants, e.g. for test-drives with unregistered cars (green plate) (HA or HF or HH or FH-??-??). For mopeds HC in sidecode, 1 is used.
HH
Old Dutch moped plate.jpg
Dutch mopeds abroad (has been abolished with the introduction of registration plates for mopeds in 2005) (HH-??-??).
ZZ
Nederlands kenteken Qbuzz 4203 Utrecht.jpg
For vehicles with a special exemption to enter public roads, such as cranes. Vehicles with these license plates do not need a periodic check-up. The extra-long, double articulated buses in Utrecht also carry ZZ license plates (ZZ-??-??) and (??-??-ZZ). Sidecode 1 until December 2016, sidecode 2 thereafter. Sidecode 2 is divided into three subseries: "open" series from 00-01-ZZ to 03-73-ZZ (not issued after 5 July 2018), test vehicles from 10-00-ZZ to 10-06-ZZ, and normal ZZ-vehicles from 20-00-ZZ to 34-10-ZZ (30 June 2025).
O
Dutch trailer plate 02.jpg
Heavy trailers ('O'pleggers). (OX-??-?? or OX-??-XX) OV-99-VH (30 June 2025). O is only used as the first letter
W
WX-12-NZ.jpg
Medium-light trailers and caravans having own registration. Currently in sidecode 7 73-WPX-3 (30 June 2025). W is used only as the first letter.
AFUsed by Allied Forces Northern Europe vehicles. (AF-XX-??)
MM-BS and LBT in sidecode 8Used for cars which have a limited speed 25 or 40 km/h [12]
EElectric steps. Read the text under Kenteken voor elektrische step on https://nos.nl/artikel/2572921-dit-verandert-op-1-juli-kenteken-voor-elektrische-step-en-streep-door-designerdrugs and read also https://www.rdw.nl/nieuws/2025/eerste-e-step-met-goedkeuring-en-kenteken and see now also https://www.instagram.com/p/DLkuabehD9c/ and read also https://www.rdw.nl/paginas/kenteken-aanvragen-voor-uw-bijzondere-bromfiets

This list is not exhaustive. The Dutch Wikipedia article Nederlands kenteken contains more exceptions.

Vehicle registration

Vehicle registration card Kentekencard voorzijde 1 december 2013.jpg
Vehicle registration card

Since 1 January 2014, the Netherlands has had an all-plastic vehicle registration in credit card format. This and the driving license (which is the same size) are the only things needed to bring along while driving in the Netherlands. This registration has the same green appearance for every vehicle category, only the information on the card differs. It has a chip with more detailed information about the vehicle. All previously issued vehicle registrations will remain valid until the car changes ownership, or until the owner requests replacement vehicle registration documents. While a so-called overschrijvingsbewijs (a separate document that came with the vehicle registration) was needed previously to sell the vehicle, this has now been replaced with a code. The registration card and the correct code are enough to sell the vehicle, even without the original letter stating the code as issued during the new car registration.

References

  1. ↑ "About RDW". www.rdw.nl. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Blauwe historische kentekenplaten op uw auto". RDW. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  3. ↑ "Geschiedenis van de kentekenplaat". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  4. ↑ "Groninger Motorrijtuigen Fabriek". deAutogids.nl. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  5. ↑ "Start nieuwe kentekencombinatie lichte bedrijfswagens | RDW". 6 March 2021. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  6. ↑ "Kenteken met letters VVD gratis omruilen". 13 January 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Onderwerp: Uit te reiken kentekenseries voor Langzaam rijdende voertuigen" [Subject: License plate series to be issued for slow-moving vehicles](PDF) (in Dutch). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2021.
  8. ↑ "Dutch call back car licence plates with 'Nazi' initials". Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2010.
  9. ↑ Eisma (13 January 2010). "Kenteken met letters VVD gratis omruilen • Bestelauto.nl". Bestelauto.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  10. ↑ Lemkes, Jan (12 January 2024). "'BBB' toch snel geschrapt bij bedrijfswagenkentekens". AutoWeek (in Dutch). Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  11. ↑ "Regeling BFG-registratie 2004" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 24 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "Buiten registratie plaatsen, ombouwen naar motorrijtuig met beperkte snelheid (MMBS) of landbouw- of bosbouwtrekker (LBT)" [Deregister, convert to limited speed motor vehicle (MMBS) or agricultural or forestry tractor (LBT)] (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 6 August 2016.
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