Irish Registration Number Format

MontgomeryClift

I was wondering if anybody could tell me why Irish registrations must display the car's year or age so prominently? Would it not make more sense to have registration twice a year instead of once, as in the UK, to prevent such a rush for new cars and to prevent depreciation and the pressue it puts on people to have a car with a year that corresponds to the current year. The 'year' portion of the registration number being the first thing that strikes you seems so tasteless to me.

It would also reduce the length of the final piece of the registration as fewer cars would be registered in a six month period than in a year.

Why not also have two 'D' (Dublin) codes instead of just one with so many cars registered there?

Would it not make sense to use a different numbering system, firstly to remove any suggestion of 'year' from the car's age and secondly to increase the numbers that can be stored with 2 digits to be greater than 100? Like hexadecimal?

blastman

Could you please keep your common sense suggestions to yourself? This is Ireland after all.

maidhc

blastman wrote:

Could you please keep your common sense suggestions to yourself? This is Ireland after all.

The Irish system is probably the most straightforward system in existance. It is quick to read and tells a lot about the car, and doesn't give away any personal information (unlike the Belgian one for instance).

If it puts pressure on people to change their car that is more an issue with them than the registration system.

colm_mcm

It's fine the way it is. get back in your box!

**Timbuk2**

I saw a car only a few days ago that was

02-D-2002

Nice reg

Blitzkrieger

If it made sense Tipp wouldn't have two codes. You'd swear there was a great divide in the middle of the county.

I like the current system though. If you're overly sensitive to the year, no system will hide that.

Anybody see a millenium bug type thing coming with the english system? What comes after 59? 00?

colm_mcm

County Tipperary was divided in the 19th century into two ridings, Tipperary North Riding and Tipperary South Riding — the divisions remain but these have since been renamed simply 'North Tipperary' and 'South Tipperary'.
Hence the TN and TS registration marks

DMC

MontgomeryClift wrote:

Why not also have two 'D' (Dublin) codes instead of just one with so many cars registered there?

Would it not make sense to use a different numbering system, firstly to remove any suggestion of 'year' from the car's age and secondly to increase the numbers that can be stored with 2 digits to be greater than 100? Like hexadecimal?

Numbers can get too long for Dublin reg plates, sure. People can remember 05-D ... but the rest could be yadayadayada, even their own number plates dont come to mind.
There is provision in the system to have each county/city council to have their own areas in Dublin......

D - Dublin City Council
FL - Fingal CC
SD - South Dublin CC
DR - Dunlaoghaire/Rathdown CC

but for whatever reason, they have not used them. (those new CC are in existance since 1994, I suppose)

Interestingly, Waterford and Limerick have used W and WD, L and LK in the past, but Cork (CK) and Galway (GY) have not been used.

DMC

Blitzkrieger wrote:

Anybody see a millenium bug type thing coming with the english system? What comes after 59? 00?

60, in 2010

but this system will last until 2049, and, like the old A-Y system, it was used twice, with the year identifying letter at then start of the plate, after it was at the end for the previous cycle.

It is possible that they could just start over again then.

MontgomeryClift

maidhc wrote:

The Irish system is probably the most straightforward system in existance. It is quick to read and tells a lot about the car,

The changes I suggested would tell you no less about the car. In fact it would tell you more. You'd still have the region and a unique identifier for each car in that region, plus a more specific time denominator within a sixmonth instead of a year.

By freeing the time from the year obtaining at the time of registration we could use letters and numbers to fit over 500 possible combinations into 2 digits.

One more thing: Does anybody else like the UK's yellow rear plate? It's so much nicer than the white.

colm_mcm

I think you're just looking for change for the sake of it!

We have one of the most straightforward systems around, there's no point in complicating it.

That said, there's only so long before duplication of years happens. cars imported older than 1987 can already get prefixs like 27-D-1 if they wish, so it's about to get complicated in that respect

maidhc

colm_mcm wrote:

That said, there's only so long before duplication of years happens. cars imported older than 1987 can already get prefixs like 27-D-1 if they wish, so it's about to get complicated in that respect

Cant wait for a model T owner to get a speeding fine on a motorway.

I thought cars over 30 years got ZV plates. They might force cars to switch to ZV if it becomes a problem?

I prefer the white to UK yellow, but the old red ones were the coolest!

Danes

Waterford uses W and WD because, like Tipperary, there are two licencing authorities. W for the city and WD for the county

colm_mcm

maidhc wrote:

I thought cars over 30 years got ZV plates. They might force cars to switch to ZV if it becomes a problem?

you can get the new format if you wish, ZV plates look more authentic

DMC

Danes wrote:

Waterford uses W and WD because, like Tipperary, there are two licencing authorities. W for the city and WD for the county

I didnt fully explain that point, yep Danes, quite correct. But since Waterford did that, (as they have a City Council and a County Council), Cork, Galway and even Drogheda could've had two sets of plates in their counties.

DMC

Some good links....

Oasis.gov.ie on Plates...

Wikipedia on Irish plates
Wikipedia on British plates (inc. NI)
Wikipedia category on Licence plates

Phone.Book

MontgomeryClift wrote:

the pressue it puts on people to have a car with a year that corresponds to the current year.

That's the reason why it won't change, it brings in lots a money!! People must keep up with the jones!

You would have to be a real muppet to think that it is was changed to make buying a car easier. The first thing most people look at when they see a nice car is the reg to check out what year it is. You may deny it but its true. If people had to go around with a label on there jacket stating the year it was sold you’d see a big increase in jacket sales. You’re not going to pull many birds wearing a 2000 reg jacket.

RobAMerc

I think the curent system causes alot of snobbery and tends to devalue cars before there time.
I would much prefer a system that hid the year of the car, so if you bought a nice car that you kept well it would be appreciated not having everybody just look at the plate and scoff 'tis only a 97'.
Why does everyone need to know the year of first reg?
If your buying you can see it on documents, for everyone else tis none of their business !

I presume part of the reason for Ireland employing this format is the turnover of new cars is higher therefore more Vehicle Ripoff Tax.

It also causes the high numbers of Ssanyong Rodius's been bought here

RobAMerc

Hey Phone.Book snap
Damn : If I could type faster you'd look like you copied me

Phone.Book

RobAMerc wrote:

Hey Phone.Book snap
Damn : If I could type faster you'd look like you copied me

LOL! We know what the Gov are up too...

Guy:Incognito

maidhc wrote:

Cant wait for a model T owner to get a speeding fine on a motorway.

I thought cars over 30 years got ZV plates. They might force cars to switch to ZV if it becomes a problem?

I prefer the white to UK yellow, but the old red ones were the coolest!

I'm sure it would be handy enough to distinguish between a one hundred year old car and a brand new focus.

It would'nt be too hard to skip the numbers already in use (all 1 of them)

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

Personally I see no reason for any changes to our current system.

I dislike the yellow plates.

And if you are so worried about the year of your car that you would buy a new one at the start of each year, I can't see how moving to a 6 month system will change that. you would probably get the same people changing every 6 months then, and surly that would be worse.

Victor

DMC wrote:

I didnt fully explain that point, yep Danes, quite correct. But since Waterford did that, (as they have a City Council and a County Council), Cork, Galway and even Drogheda could've had two sets of plates in their counties.

Cork has only one registration authority, hence only one plate.

Drogheda isn't a registration authority (it relies on Louth and sometimes Meath ). Anyway, Drogheda is onlky a borough, not a city.

Anan1

RobAMerc wrote:

I would much prefer a system that hid the year of the car, so if you bought a nice car that you kept well it would be appreciated not having everybody just look at the plate and scoff 'tis only a 97'.
Why does everyone need to know the year of first reg?
If your buying you can see it on documents, for everyone else tis none of their business !

To be quite honest, who cares how old a car is? I don't, and I don't feel particularly sorry for anyone insecure enough that they do.

RobAMerc

Anan1 wrote:

To be quite honest, who cares how old a car is? I don't, and I don't feel particularly sorry for anyone insecure enough that they do.

Neither do I, but I doubt you'd disagree alot of Irish people can only judge/describe a car by its age which in my view detracts from the actual car.

I was recently helping a friend buy a new car had almost convinced him to go for a 97 320sl on uk plates. His wife loved the pics until she asked what year. (hidden by uk plates).
Now he's thinking of buying a new Toyota Avensis!

Phone.Book

Anan1 wrote:

who cares how old a car is?

The majority of car buyers.

Anan1

Phone.Book wrote:

The majority of car buyers.

Perhaps i should have been clearer. What I meant was who cares how old other people's cars are, not their own.

RobAMerc -
I do see your point but, with the greatest of respect, I think the problem may lie with your friend's wife, rather than with our registration system.

maidhc

RobAMerc wrote:

His wife loved the pics until she asked what year. (hidden by uk plates).
Now he's thinking of buying a new Toyota Avensis!

But is that because of snobbery or because she figures (quite reasonably) that she has a much better chance of being stranded in the middle of nowhere in an old merc than a far newer Toyota?

Lex Luthor

MontgomeryClift wrote:

I was wondering if anybody could tell me why Irish registrations must display the car's year or age so prominently? Would it not make more sense to have registration twice a year instead of once, as in the UK, to prevent such a rush for new cars and to prevent depreciation and the pressue it puts on people to have a car with a year that corresponds to the current year.

It's worse in the UK....there is a rush twice a year over there to have the latest registration. The cars bought earlier in the year depreciate a huge amount when the latter registrations come in.

RobAMerc

maidhc wrote:

But is that because of snobbery or because she figures (quite reasonably) that she has a much better chance of being stranded in the middle of nowhere in an old merc than a far newer Toyota?

I doubt that plays any factor in it at all (and could be a valid point for those of you who value reliability over everything else) this case is pure snobbery, but to be honest I do realize the Merc would be waisted on her, people who could afford to run a car like that but choose to run a newer Euro box generally would not get whats special about one over the other.

fjon

I'm not very keen on the yellow plates used in France or the UK.
What are the rules regarding the EU flag on British plates? Does the car owner have a choice of having it on there or not? Should all plates not have it?
I seem to remember reading that Denmark was the only EU country left which had not added an EU flag to its plates, yet I have seen only a very small number of British plates with it. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen an NI plate with it, but I guess that is because they are not part of GB.Guess they would have to change the flag to say UK instead of GB...

Silvera

A few comments......

- I too would like to see a system in place that did not show the year of registration. One way to do so would be to introduce optional (...what could be called...) 'County Plates' i.e. allow people to buy a reg with their county letters followed (or preceded) by a number of their choice, e.g. if you lived in Kilkenny you might opt for - KK 100, KK 2, KK 45, 100 KK, 22 KK, etc etc etc

- The current system has already been 'duplicated' several times, e.g. the reg 03 WX 1 was issued years ago to a 1903 truck!

- ZV plates are optional on vehicles over 30 yrs old.

- EU flag/stars are optional on UK/N.I plates.

- Yellow rear plates are probably easier to read at night (when your lights shine on them) than white plates, but white plates it is for Ireland (as is the case in Germany, Spain, Belgium......)

MontgomeryClift

Lex Luthor wrote:

It's worse in the UK....there is a rush twice a year over there to have the latest registration. The cars bought earlier in the year depreciate a huge amount when the latter registrations come in.

Can you link to anything that might re-inforce that? I'd have thought that twice-a-year registration would make registration and the passing of the next registration date less important rather than more so. Here it's surely more of a watershed when the next year comes and you own a car with a number plate that's dated last year.

DMC

fjon wrote:

I'm not very keen on the yellow plates used in France or the UK.
What are the rules regarding the EU flag on British plates? Does the car owner have a choice of having it on there or not? Should all plates not have it?
I seem to remember reading that Denmark was the only EU country left which had not added an EU flag to its plates, yet I have seen only a very small number of British plates with it. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen an NI plate with it, but I guess that is because they are not part of GB.Guess they would have to change the flag to say UK instead of GB...

As I understand it, its optional for the UK driver to put the EU flag / GB onto his/her car. You often see, incorrectly, flags of St. Andrew / SCO on cars from Scotland, and the Welsh flag / WAL (or CYM) on cars. They are not right, as SCO is not registered as an international code for car plates and WAL is the vehicle code for Sierra Leone

As for Northern Ireland, its seldom you see GB and the EU flag on plates, as well.... "GB", as initials, is not as inclusive as "UK" is, for many of the north's community. It could also be said, the NI plate system relies on the Republics pre-87 system, which is a relic of pre-1922 in itself, so therefore was not part of the mainland UK system, which was registered as GB in 1910.

And I bow to the superior knowledge of county councils that Victor has