How to find out where your vehicle came from using the registration

Have you ever been walking back to your car and wonder where it started off its life? No? Nor have we but isn’t it nice to know something new!

Here we have broken down how to find out where your vehicle came from using the registration number.

Whenever the DVLA issues a new vehicle registration plate, they actually follow a very simple system as to how they determine what letters to give out.

The first letter of any number plate stands for the local area in which it was initially registered; for example, L stands for London.

The second letter then identifies which DVLA office in that local area the registration took place. Some places use multiple letters but use the same office.

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There are some letters that you won’t ever find at the start of the number plate sequence and they are Z, Q and I.

Here is a list of the first letters of number plates and where they stand for. Where is yours from?

A - Anglia

B - Birmingham

C - Cymru

D - Deeside

E - Essex

F - Forest and Fens

G - Garden of England

H - Hampshire and Dorset

K - No official region

L - London

M - Manchester and Merseyside

N - North

O - Oxford

P - Preston

R - Reading

S - Scotland

V - Severn Valley

W - West of England

X - Denotes personal export

Y - Yorkshire