How do i determine the year of a northern reg car?

jezzer

Can anyone tell me how do I know that the year of a northern car is from the number plate?

surpy

i dont think you can. i think they just keep counting up the numbers to 9999 and then change the letter sequence.
could be years before they run out depending on the licensing authority

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom,_Crown_dependencies_and_overseas_territories#Northern_Ireland

jezzer

interesting, i'm sure this adds to the value of cars compared to down here?

corktina

except NI is small and the guys up there know what plate refers to what year

intellectual dosser

Interesting that it has both Derry and Londonderry.

<<Grabs coat and runs>>

Zcott

Run one of the free car check tools online.

dobsdave

intellectual dosser wrote: »

Interesting that it has both Derry and Londonderry.

<<Grabs coat and runs>>

County and City, no need to run ;-)

Qwikpix

Google a UK car valuation service like Parkers and input car registration number into its search box.

JoeySully

Go onto Donedeal and create a for sale add for a car. Enter the registration and it will auto fill all the details including the year of registration.

jezzer

thanks guys

xabi

the beauty of it is that it mostly eliminates reg plate snobbery

jezzer

yes, i think its a great idea and it should be in here in the south, people take a good/nice car for what it is as opposed to looking at the reg plate first, how many times have you heard people go, thats a nice car but, oh, its an '03 or something like that...

coylemj

jezzer wrote: »

yes, i think its a great idea and it should be in here in the south, people take a good/nice car for what it is as opposed to looking at the reg plate first, how many times have you heard people go, thats a nice car but, oh, its an '03 or something like that...

But the motor trade (or the motor 'industry' as they like to call themselves) here didn't like the old system because reg plate snobbery and the pressure to have a recent registration number suits them down to the ground. They've since even gone one better and split the year in two as in the UK.

What also didn't suit them was that if you imported a car, you got a brand new registration number and in a lot of cases if you brought in a model in good shape, you could pass it off to the neighbours as brand new so they've fixed that with the xx D 120xxx registration number which identifies it as an import.

Del2005

xabi wrote: »

the beauty of it is that it mostly eliminates reg plate snobbery

Personally I like reg plate snobbery. Makes good cars more affordable for people who buy a car not the bit of plastic/steel that you stick to each end.

Zcott

xabi wrote: »

the beauty of it is that it mostly eliminates reg plate snobbery

On the downside, people pay stupid amounts for a personalised plate and you have no easy way of knowing how old a car is. I actually think the southern system is better, and this is coming from a northerner.

Richard

surpy wrote: »

i dont think you can. i think they just keep counting up the numbers to 9999 and then change the letter sequence.
could be years before they run out depending on the licensing authority

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom,_Crown_dependencies_and_overseas_territories#Northern_Ireland

If you scroll town from that link you can get an approximate idea of the year by looking at the last two letters. (If that does't make sense, post the letters here and I can give you an idea of it).

Sheldons Brain

Be aware that the car could have been re-registered.

Richard

Sheldons Brain wrote: »

Be aware that the car could have been re-registered.

Although you can't (as far as I know), put a new plate on an old car.

Zcott

Richard wrote: »

Although you can't (as far as I know), put a new plate on an old car.

You can if the previous plate was an English plate AFAIK.

colm_mcm

Stick the reg into Carsireland.ie as if you're selling the car. Tells you number of owners too.

jezzer

"Personally I like reg plate snobbery. Makes good cars more affordable for people who buy a car not the bit of plastic/steel that you stick to each end."
You mean an older car which is still in great nick is now more affordable? yes good point

jezzer

"If you scroll town from that link you can get an approximate idea of the year by looking at the last two letters. (If that does't make sense, post the letters here and I can give you an idea of it)."

TZT are the last 3 letters on the end of the plate

Zcott

jezzer wrote: »

"If you scroll town from that link you can get an approximate idea of the year by looking at the last two letters. (If that does't make sense, post the letters here and I can give you an idea of it)."

TZT are the last 3 letters on the end of the plate

I think that's an English reg, not northern.

Sheldons Brain

Zcott wrote: »

I think that's an English reg, not northern.

It is, in which case the last three numbers are more or less random and the key info is in the first part of the number.

sebastianlieken

My (nordy) car was registered in 2007 according to my V5c and tax etc.

HOWEVER, when I put my numberplate into online parts stores it comes up as a 2008.

I checked the chassis number and it is actually a 2008 chassis number.

So it's a pre-reg. They registered the incoming car (which technically hadn't been manufactured yet) at the end of 2007 to balance (fudge) the garages sales end of calander year quota.

soooo.... when I go to sell the car... advertise as 07 or 08 ?

jezzer

i think it sound slike you could legally advertise it as 08, very interesting, do people in the uk look at a car reg and automatically know the year?

sebastianlieken

jezzer wrote: »

i think it sound slike you could legally advertise it as 08, very interesting, do people in the uk look at a car reg and automatically know the year?

In the UK, yes.
In NI, no.

I wonder if it would be more correct to advertise as an 07 in my case and use the "its actually an '08" as a selling point....

jca

jezzer wrote: »

"If you scroll town from that link you can get an approximate idea of the year by looking at the last two letters. (If that does't make sense, post the letters here and I can give you an idea of it)."

TZT are the last 3 letters on the end of the plate

On the numbers/letters system that's a Cork registration.

Del2005

sebastianlieken wrote: »

My (nordy) car was registered in 2007 according to my V5c and tax etc.

HOWEVER, when I put my numberplate into online parts stores it comes up as a 2008.

I checked the chassis number and it is actually a 2008 chassis number.

So it's a pre-reg. They registered the incoming car (which technically hadn't been manufactured yet) at the end of 2007 to balance (fudge) the garages sales end of calander year quota.

soooo.... when I go to sell the car... advertise as 07 or 08 ?

What plates are on it? If it's NI don't they run across years so it could be an 7 or 8. But someone looking at the V5 and seeing it was registered in 7 with you saying 8 might raise suspicions.

sebastianlieken

Del2005 wrote: »

What plates are on it? If it's NI don't they run across years so it could be an 7 or 8. But someone looking at the V5 and seeing it was registered in 7 with you saying 8 might raise suspicions.

northern irish reg.

and no, there is no way to tell the year of a northern irish reg unless you go an memorise all the codes for different areas for different years. there's no run over from 7's or 8s or anything. That's a mainland UK reg

my numberplate for instance is UKZ3480; nothing in there to hint as to the year of the car. you actually have to look it up in the alpha-numberic code system.

surpy

i'd suggest you tread carefully:

http://www.consumerline.org/search/?cat=Buying+Goods+%26+Services&item=Private+Sales

For example, if the seller tells you that the car he is selling is two years old and it turns out to be four years old, then you are entitled to your money back because the car has been misdescribed.

Iwannahurl

dobsdave wrote: »

County and City, no need to run ;-)

Not strictly true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derry/Londonderry_name_dispute

All I know is that UI is Derry.

See here for discussion on age of NI-reg vehicles: http://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-199604,00.html

Gazzmonkey

The year is on the plate, it's the first three letters... it's a code for the year it was made e.g OUI, PUI etc

PUI for example is 2006 if I remember correctly.

dgt

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

The year is on the plate, it's the first three letters... it's a code for the year it was made e.g OUI, PUI etc

PUI for example is 2006 if I remember correctly.

SBZ is 1997
VBZ is 1999
EEZ is 2005
SEZ is 2008

etc etc tec....

pow wow

NLZ is 2004
IEZ is 2006

Never encountered any rhyme or reason to it, just know that from owning cars in NI.

dgt

Jaypers just remembered a few more
KCZ & MUI are 2001
WAZ is 1998
DIL is 1986
PJI is 1992
PIB is 1993

We may have had a few NI vehicles here

Richard

jca wrote: »

On the numbers/letters system that's a Cork registration.

That could have been transferred to NI at one point (decades ago, it can't happen now) and then changed to a newer vehicle. One way to be sure is the format of the plate as a whole. If it's NNNN TZT (the number of numbers might be fewer than 4) then it's Cork.

If it's LL NN TZT then it's from Great Britain originally.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Richard wrote: »

That could have been transferred to NI at one point (decades ago, it can't happen now) and then changed to a newer vehicle. One way to be sure is the format of the plate as a whole. If it's LLL NNNN or NNNN LLLL (the number of numbers might be fewer than 4) then it's Cork.

If it's LL NN LLL then it's from Great Britain.

Cork?

jca

Richard wrote: »

That could have been transferred to NI at one point (decades ago, it can't happen now) and then changed to a newer vehicle. One way to be sure is the format of the plate as a whole. If it's NNNN TZT (the number of numbers might be fewer than 4) then it's Cork.

If it's LL NN TZT then it's from Great Britain originally.

If it's in the LL NN TZT format why would the op be looking for the year of registration? The NN part gives the year.

Richard

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

Cork?

ZT was assigned by the UK government to County Cork in the original system.

jezzer

how did it originally come from Cork?

jca

jezzer wrote: »

how did it originally come from Cork?

Because the letters ZT were allocated to Cork. Do you understand how the old pre 87 registration system worked? It looks complicated but once it's explained it's quite logical.

OldMrBrennan83

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jca

Patww79 wrote: »

The old system here and the current northy system are very similar.

They're both identical except in NI they use 9999 per letter instead of 999 per letter as we used here and subsequently ran out of letter/number combinations. Had we in the south used our brains and just added an extra numerical digit to the plate in the 1930's we could still be using that system.

OldMrBrennan83

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jca

Patww79 wrote: »

The new ones are much better though. Well, until they ruined them in 2013 .

I liked the old system but as you say the 87 on system is certainly more logical. The old system was for anoraks like me!!

OldMrBrennan83

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jezzer

does the fact that cars in the uk do not display the year make them worth more?

Andrew_Doran

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Same system.. Motor Car Act 1903

jca

jezzer wrote: »

does the fact that cars in the uk do not display the year make them worth more?

Cars in the UK have displayed the year since 1962-63.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.