Vehicle registration plates of Iceland

Vehicle registration plates in Iceland are issued by the Icelandic Transport Authority and are made in the state penitentiary. The plates are made of aluminum with reflective base and embossed characters.

The current registration system uses three letters and two digits or two letters and three digits in Helvetica Neue. The plates are issued randomly, they are not issued sequentially and they do not have any geographic coding. There are no special letters or number series for special vehicle types (this may vary depending on type of plates, see chart below.)

The registration system was introduced on 1 January 1989. All vehicles changed to it (an exception was made for antique cars that keep the district system) and keep the same registration number for life. If a vehicle is, e.g., changed to commercial vehicle it gets commercial plates but they have the same registration number. All plates, in the new system, have validation sticker, in the middle, that indicates the year the vehicle is due for safety inspection.

Vanity plates are allowed that do not conflict with the new system. Some use it for their old district plate number but must use the new design, except for antique vehicles.

The plates are available in 4 sizes:

Cars have 3 sizes: European standard 520 mm × 110 mm (20.5 in × 4.3 in), US standard 305 mm × 155 mm (12.0 in × 6.1 in) and European square 280 mm × 200 mm (11.0 in × 7.9 in).

Motorcycle plates are 240 mm × 130 mm (9.4 in × 5.1 in).

History

An older decentralized district plate system was used 1938 until 31 December 1988 (see below).

From 1989 to 2007 the system consisted of two letters and three digits. In 2007 the system ran out of combinations and the first digit was changed to a letter on newer vehicles.

Early 2004 a country identifier (IS) and the Icelandic flag was added on the left side of all standard plates. The country identifier is mandatory and all plates issued between 1989 and 2004 are required to get a national identifier sticker so they look like the new plates,[1] although this law is not widely enforced.

Safety inspection

All vehicles registered in Iceland are required to have safety inspection. The law requires owners to keep their motor vehicle in safe operating condition. Safety inspections alert any items that need to be addressed; if a vehicle fails a safety inspection, the owner gets about 30 days to have the problem repaired and present the vehicle to any inspection station for a retest.

The frequency of inspection depends on the age of the car. A new car is due for its first safety inspection after 4 years, then again after 2 years.. (4-2-2-1). When it gets 8 years old it has to go every year. A sticker to indicate the year goes, usually in the middle after the two letters. Antique cars (over 25 years old) go every second year.

The last digit on the plate indicates the month for inspection (e.g., 1 for January through 0 for October). This is a rather inaccurate system because the plates are issued randomly causing some cars go for their first inspection after 4 years and 10 months and other cars to go after 3 years and 1 month. It is also causing no cars to be requested for inspection in November and December.

Type of plates

The colour of the license plate varies depending on the purpose of the vehicle (see chart below.)

Image Type Serial format Design Notes
Standard AB 123 or AB C12 Reflective white background, blue frame, and blue characters. Current system since 1 January 1989 (with minor changes as described above)
Commercial AB 123 or AB C12 Reflective white background, red frame, and red characters. Vehicles with commercial plates cannot be used for private purposes, denoted by a parallelogram in front of number.
Diplomatic CD A12 Reflective green background, white frame, and white characters. Diplomatic vehicles, owned by embassies. The first two letters are always "CD" the third book letter indicates the nationality of the embassy.
Government Number 1 is the president's vehicle.
“Oil” AB 123 or AB C12 Reflective dark yellow background, black frame, and black characters. Vehicles with "oil" plates are allowed to use tax free Diesel oil. Those plates are issued to vehicles that burn fuel in a stationary position (e.g., fire trucks, rescue teams, construction vehicles.
Temporary RN 123 Reflective red background, black frame, and black characters. Mainly used by dealers. This type of plates always starts with RN, the sticker indicates the validation year of the plate.
Former version, issued before 1 January 1989. A12345 Black background, silver frame and silver characters. Those plates had district codes and were issued sequentially, e.g., R stands for Reykjavík, and this is plate number 29040 issued in that district. The plates followed the owner, and he could re-use them, e.g., when he bought a new or used vehicle. If he moved to another district, the plates had to be replaced. From 1 January 1989, all further use of those plates was forbidden (except for vehicles that already had them on).
Vanity 314KA Reflective white background, blue frame, and blue characters. The sticker for vehicle inspection is on the left instead of a country identifier.

Old district plates

This system was used from 1938 until 31 December 1988 and consisted of a black plate with silver letters. The 1st letter denominated the district (except for military related) where the plate was issued as follows:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.reglugerd.is/interpro/dkm/WebGuard.nsf/lookByNumer/7512003?OpenDocument
  2. ↑
  3. ↑

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