Vehicle registration plates of Denmark

Vehicle registration plates in Denmark normally have two letters and five digits and are issued by authorities. Plates can be obtained at authorized car dealers, vehicle inspection stations or official registration centers (Skat Motor center) The combination is simply a serial and has no connection with a geographic location, but the digits have number series based on vehicle type.[1][2]

Danish license plates do not follow the owner or the vehicle, when a car is sold the plates are turned in and the new owner must apply for new plates. Exception is from this rule when a car is sold privately from one person to another person, the new owner can use the current plates that are on the car.

Numbering before 2012

[3] [4]

On the number combination one can see the type of a vehicle:

Vehicle type	Serial range	Highest assigned serial letters (without EU stripe)[5]	Highest assigned serial letters (with EU stripe)[5]
Large mopeds (max 45 km/h)	001 - 699	RV
Tractors	700 - 999	VU	DF
Trailers	10 00 - 29 99	YM	EF
Trailers and semi-trailers	55 00 - 99 99	PZ	HF
Small mopeds	5 500 - 9 999	XY
Motorcycles	10 000 - 18 999	HT	AW
Tractors	19 000 - 19 499	ML	EG
Common vehicles (rectangular format)	20 000 - 59 999	FC	JF
Common vehicles (square format)	60 000 - 75 999	DT	AF
Diplomatenfahrzeuge	76 000 - 76 999	AX	AF
Diplomatic vehicles	77 000 - 77 999	AN	AF
Trucks, buses, vans (rectangular format)	78 000 - 87 999	DH, privat: GA	AF, privat: FA
Trucks, buses, vans (square format)	88 000 - 97 999	XS, privat: GE	DG, privat: FK
Taxis (rectangular format)	98 000 - 99 699	JH	BF
Taxis (square format)	99 700 - 99 999	BN	AW

Types

Type	Appearance	Additional explanation
Private use		The grey stripe in the lower image represents the security hologram fitted to all new plates. Registration tax: Up to 150% of car value.
Commercial use		Registration tax: normal VAT rate only. Rear seats not allowed.
"Parrot-plate" "Papegøje-plade"		Commercial vehicles that can also be used privately (this to make sure that nobody uses tax relieved vans (yellow plates) for personal use). Registration tax: around 50% of car value. Rear seats not allowed.
Diplomatic use		Blue plates with white text. The same format as the (old) format for private vehicles. EU strip and hologram now on all new plates.
Historical		Black background, white text	Style used before 1976. For historical/antique vehicles, available upon special request. Plates representing 1950-1958 use only one prefix letter, with the letter corresponding to a Danish city or county (amt).
Armed forces		(top-down): Army, Navy, Air Force, and the newer symbol common to all three branches.
Royal		The Queen's personal car used for official occasions only features a royal crown on a white background.
DEMA		-
"Fixed" temporary plate		For the special use of vehicle manufacturers, importers, distributors or car repairers[6]
Temporary export plate		Composed of a red field showing the year of validity and five digits
Vanity plates		These plates cost 6200 DKK per set as of 2006. 26 Roman letters, numbers and the Danish letters Æ, Ø and Å can be used in combination. The EU strip can be chosen optionally.
Ambulances and fire trucks		These plates employ the insignia of the local fire brigade between the serials; this insignia often features a version the local coat of arms

Hearses are registered as yellow-plate cars (commercial use). The actual plates are, however, white (personal use), reflecting the view that the deceased is a passenger rather than commercial freight.

EU plates

Faroese plate issued before 1996.

Faroese plate issued since 1996.

Greenland license plate

A new design with an EU stripe was expected in 2008, but was thereafter delayed to 12 October 2009.[7] This makes Denmark potentially the last EU country to adopt euro plates (Vehicle registration plates of Europe). The EU stripe is, however, currently optional.[7] In preparation for the new design, the plate font was slightly condensed on some new plates issued after mid-2008. Since July 2009, buyers of a car could pick a license plate with or without an EU strip.[8]

If a Danish registered vehicle does not have the plate with the EU stripe then it must be equipped with an approved oval DK-sign when driving abroad. If one drives both with a car and a caravan/trailer, both must bear the label. The sign shall be elliptical (oval) 175×115 mm, white background with black lettering. The letters must be 80 mm in height, the distance between them shall be 10 mm, and there shall be no advertising.[9]

Faroe Islands

Cars registered in the Faroe Islands before 1996 have plates with white background, black text in Danish style, but with only one letter, F.

Cars registered after 1996 have white background, blue text in their own style, two letters and three digits. There is a blue stripe to the left with the Faroese flag and the code "FO". The Faroe Islands are outside the EU.

Greenland

Plates have a white background, and black text in Danish style with the serial letters "GR" reserved for Greenland. The EU stripe is not applicable since Greenland is a non-EU member.

References

1. skat.dk
2. "skat.dk". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
3. New system on: google.com --> "SKAT: Bestilling af nummerplader" --> "Billeder af nummerplader" (click link) Or use link http://www.skat.dk/getFiles.aspx?Id=e6c2c7e8-e7a7-4b5e-b15e-4b67e27d3f66&name=planche_nummerplader_2012.pdf
4. Continuously updated highest assigned serial letters and numbers on: nrpl.dk --> "Nye serier fra 2012" Or use link http://nrpl.dk/high-2012.php (after 2012)
5. nrpl.dk
6. "PLADER PÅ PRØVE" (in Danish). Retrieved 12 October 2012.
7. Page from the Danish EU Information Centre (in Danish)
8. The Copenhagen post - 2 July 2009
9. "fdm.dk". Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-07-21.

External links

• Media related to License plates of Denmark at Wikimedia Commons
• nrpl.dk - Comprehensive information about Danish license plates since their introduction