19 registration series, sourced from Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) — Reglamento General de Vehículos, RD 2822/1998, Anexo XVIII.
Spain wiped geography off its plates in 2000: the modern national series (1234 BCD) counts up through consonant-only suffixes, deliberately avoiding vowels so no word — and no province — can be read into a registration. Before 2000, the leading letters named the province, and those older plates still roll.
Type any Spain registration — valid plates render below, on their real designs.
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Everything on this page — formats, validity, colours, the renders themselves — is one request away.
GET /v1/plates/es/match?plate=…
GET /v1/plates/es/match?plate=6376%20WVV
{ "plate": "6376 WVV",
"valid": true, "exact": true,
"matches": [{ "id": "es-national-2000",
"render_url": "…svg?serial=6376%20WVV" }] }
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Anexo XVIII, verbatim: "tres letras, empezando por las letras BBB y terminando por las letras ZZZ, suprimiéndose las cinco vocales, y las letras Ñ y Q" — with the reasons given in the text itself: the vowels "se evitan palabras malsonantes o acrósticos especialmente significados"; Ñ and Q "por ser fácil su confusión con la letra N y el número 0, respectivamente"; and CH and LL "por incompatibilidad con el diseño de la placa de matrícula que no admitiría la consignación de cuatro caracteres en el último grupo". That leaves exactly 20 letters. Note the sequence starts at BBB, NOT AAA.
The post-2000 letter block uses consonants only (and skips Ñ and Q), so Spanish plates can never spell a word. The counter simply increments; there is nothing to decode.
Until 2000 a Madrid car said M and a Barcelona car said B. The national series ended provincial identity on purpose — a privacy and market-freedom decision that still divides enthusiasts.
the default series issued to private road vehicles
The letters name the issuing province (M for Madrid, B for Barcelona); the digits simply count registrations in that province, from 1 upwards.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
The leading letters name the issuing province — M is Madrid, B is Barcelona, SE is Seville — and the trailing letters are just the series counter that kept the numbers from running out.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
The letters mean nothing — on purpose. The three-letter block is a consonant-only counter (vowels, Ñ and Q are excluded) so no word, initials or province can ever be read into a Spanish plate.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
reduced-size series for motorcycles where format/design differs
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit.
insurance/registration plates for mopeds (NL/DE small plates)
The leading C stands for Ciclomotor — mopeds carry their own yellow plate with their own letter.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
farm vehicles/equipment where separately serialized
The leading E stands for vehículo Especial — self-propelled farm and works machinery gets its own letter and a white-on-red scheme.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
trailers and semi-trailers where separately serialized
The leading R stands for Remolque — trailers and semi-trailers carry a red-background plate of their own on top of the towing vehicle's.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
vintage/oldtimer regimes (German H, ES historico)
The leading H stands for vehículo Histórico — a registered historic vehicle. Otherwise the plate reads exactly like the ordinary series.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
trade/garage plates bound to a business, not a vehicle
The leading S marks a company's temporary permit for a vehicle that has never been registered — the red plate a factory or dealer uses to move brand-new stock.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
The leading V marks a company's temporary permit for a vehicle that already holds a registration — same red plate, different paperwork behind it.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
short-validity plates (transit, awaiting registration)
The leading T stands for matrícula Turística — a tax-privileged temporary registration; the red strip at the left prints the month and year it expires.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
The leading P marks a temporary circulation permit issued to a private individual (particular) — green ground, and valid only until the real plate arrives.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
In the sample, L stands for any letter and 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
civil government fleets with distinct series
PME stands for Parque Móvil del Estado — the state's central vehicle pool. Sister codes name ministries (MF, Fomento; MMA, Medio Ambiente) — ministries since reorganised away, though their plates still roll.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
police fleets where distinct from government
CNP stands for Cuerpo Nacional de Policía; Guardia Civil vehicles wear PGC — Parque de la Guardia Civil — instead.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
armed-forces registration systems
The letters name the branch: ET is Ejército de Tierra (army), FN Fuerza Naval (navy), EA Ejército del Aire (air force). One numbering rule covers all three.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
FAE stands for Fuerzas Aliadas en España — Allied Forces in Spain. NATO's international military headquarters register their own vehicles, and the final letter names the headquarters.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
diplomatic corps (embassy) issuance, usually its own decode
CD stands for Cuerpo Diplomático. The first digit group encodes the mission: countries are numbered in the alphabetical order of the Foreign Ministry's diplomatic list, so the number IS the embassy.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
OI stands for Organización Internacional — staff of international organisations based in Spain, one step from the diplomatic CD series and numbered right after it.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
TA stands for personal Técnico-Administrativo — the embassy's technical and administrative staff, who get yellow plates where the diplomats' are red.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.
consular corps where distinct from diplomatic
CC stands for Cuerpo Consular. A trap for spotters — CC is also the provincial code for Cáceres, so a consular plate is told apart by its digit grouping (CC-123-456), not by its letters.
In the sample, 9 for any digit; the other characters are fixed.