Vehicle Registration Plates of Austria - Lettering System

Lettering System

The alphanumeric format for registration plates is "XX-(provincial emblem)-number-letter(s)" or "XX-(provincial emblem)-personalised lettering-number";

• XX - one or two identification letters denoting the administrative district or statutory city where the registered keeper resides. State capitals have one letter, all other districts have two letters.
• state - heraldic emblem of the federal state the district belongs to; diplomatic vehicles have a dash instead (–) or the Federal Eagle.
• the numbers/letters are issued in ascending order

there are several lettering schemes:

• The plates must contain at least 3 characters. At least one must be a digit and one must be a letter. In countryside districts, the maximum is 5 characters. Usual plates start with a digit and end with a letter. Personalized plates, which can be obtained paying extra fee, are ordered vice versa. (exceptions: see below)
• Cars in state capitals can spot up to 6 characters (at least one digit and at least one letter with a minimum of 4 characters) (e.g. W 12345 A).
• Until the year 2000 the plates were issued by the district administrations, who used a variety of lettering schemes, e.g. one digit and three letters (e.g. FK 1 ABC in the Feldkirch district), two digits and two letters (e.g. WL 12 AB in the Wels district).
• Since 2000 the vehicle registration have been carried out by car insurance companies on behalf of the government. The branch offices of these companies issue the plates, which show three digits and two letters (e.g. XX 123 AB) in each district.

• There are standardized abbreviations for special types of cars. But most of them are in use in Vienna only:
  • BB - Bundesbahnen (Federal Railways), only with Index "W", e.g. "W-xxx BB"
  • BE - Bestattung (funeral services)
  • EW - E-Werk (electric power company)
  • FF - Freiwillige Feuerwehr (volunteer firemen)
  • FW - Feuerwehr (firemen)
  • GW - Gaswerk (gas power company)
  • GT - Gütertransport (vehicles transporting goods)
  • KT - Kleintransport (private vehicles transporting parcels)
  • LO - Linienomnibus (public service buses)
  • LR - Landesregierung (Local government of Niederösterreich)
  • MA - Magistrat Wien (Community service in Vienna)
  • MW - Mietwagen (rental car or bus service )
  • RD - Rettungsdienst (ambulance vehicles)
  • RK - Rotes Kreuz (Red Cross)
  • TX - Taxi (taxis)
• Army, diplomats, police etc. just have a number (starting with 1, incrementing)