Vehicle Registration Plates of Sweden - Ordinary Plates

Ordinary Plates

The plate has a black text on a white background. It consists of three letters, a space followed by three digits. This space was formerly used for a taxation sticker. Above it the vehicle identification number is printed and above the last digit the date of plate manufacture. All vehicles must legally carry both a front and a rear plate except motorcycles, trailers (rear only), tractors and other off-road machinery (front only). The registration number is tied to the vehicle (VIN) and remains unchanged, even after change of ownership, until the vehicle is scrapped or exported. So it is possible to decommission a registered vehicle for any length of period. A decommissioned registered vehicle does not require road taxes or a valid insurance. The registration plate remains on the vehicle while decommissioned. Registration numbers of scrapped, exported and de-registered vehicles are put in quarantine before they are re-used with new registered vehicles.

The only possible coding to be seen by looking at the plate alone is when the vehicle must undergo inspection. The last digit of the plate denote this. Note that the months May and June are missing. This is to reduce the number of inspections for the summer months. A vehicle that doesn't undergo inspection within its period gets an automated failure and may not be driven on public roads.

Last digit coding
Last digit Inspection month Inspection period
1 January November–March
2 February December–April
3 March January–May
4 April February–June
5 July May–September
6 August June–October
7 September July–November
8 October August–December
9 November September–January
0 December October–February

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