It would be something if the first car with the new license plate were a worn-out Opel Corsa from 1998 with a rolled back odometer. No, to prevent such practices, the RDW always chooses a party that can have the first plates in a new series. This time it was the turn of the Royal Dutch Rescue Society (KNRM).
The RDW calls the new series ‘side code 11’. So the combination is ‘XXX-00-X’. The old combinations are not completely used up yet. After the Volvo EX30 has passed the yellow plates with ‘GBB-01-B‘ received, some old license plates have been added. If you get a new car today, it is exciting to see which numbers and letters you get. There are now more cars with the new license plate combination.
The new license plate has been visible on commercial vehicles for some time
The new series has been on display on light commercial vehicles for some time now – since 2019. These ‘grey license plates’ always start with a V, so you can imagine that these combinations will be used up a little faster: company cars are now already on side code 12 (with the infamous BBB license plate). Mopeds and scooters were even earlier: they already received the new license plates with side code 11 eight years ago.
The series that is now disappearing is affectionately called sidecode 10. The first car with this license plate was a BMW i3 and received its plates in 2019. This carries the license plate G-001-BB. This series ended with a Z. One difference with the old one is that the new license plates for passenger cars no longer start with an ‘L’ or a ‘T’.
When can you choose your own license plate?
For 30 years you have been able to get a personalized license plate in Belgium, or vanity plateorder from the DIV (the Belgian RDW). The Netherlands never offered motorists the opportunity to purchase a personalized license plate, but that may soon change. Infrastructure and Water Management would investigate the possibilities.
Which license plates are not allowed?
To start with, all vowels have been removed from the license plate alphabet. So you won’t find combinations like ‘KAK’ or ‘TOF’ anyway (you have to go to Belgium for that). A plate with the letters GVD in it would be hilarious for some drivers, but it is already prohibited. Political parties are also banned. View the complete list of prohibited license plates in the Netherlands.
