In the UK, what does b-registration mean?

[sixto]

I've seen everything through K-registration. Are these weight or usage classes?

Thanks,
Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

[kerry]

Sixto;
For reasons that only make sense to the British, they do not designate their cars by the year they were sold but by the letter in the license plate (which stays with the vehicle throughout its life). Nobody seemed to have noticed that the alphabet only has 26 letter. So a car with an 'a' registration (or 'a' reg (as in reggie) as they put it) could be one year old or 27 years old. In order to understand the system you have to know in what year they began doing this odd thing. I believe the 1984 307d I have over there is a 'a' reg. which means the system must have begun sometime in the late 1950's.
It turns into somewhat of a prestige matter since people can tell what year car you drive by the license plate.
I'm British and I'm really glad it was the Romans who gave us dates and not the British because I'd be 'p' years old if they had.

[Mick J]

A suffix is 1963 - not used in all counties
B suffix is 1964 - not used in all counties
C suffix is 1965
D suffix is 1966
E suffix is 1967 Jan - July
F suffix is Aug 67 - July 68 so that new letters coincide with the time next years models are introduced
G suffix is Aug 68- July 69
etc, no I, O, Q or Z so
Y suffix is Aug 82 - July 83
A prefix is Aug 83 - July 84
B prefix is Aug 84 - July 85
etc, again no I, O, or Q until
R prefix is Aug 97 - July 98
then they decided to change every six months to stop the August sales rush
S prefix is Aug98 - Jan 99
T prefix is Feb 99 - July 99
until
Y prefix started Feb 01
Then they changed the whole lot so we have two letters designating the area where the car was first registered, folloed by two numbers starting
51 Sept 01 to Feb 02
02 Feb 02 to Aug 02
52 Sept 02 to Feb 03


So, your B registered car is a late 84 or early 85.

Sometimes the Q prefix has been used for cars imported (or first registered e.g. ex military vehicles) as used and the date of manufacture cannot be determined.


Confused? We all are! I need a drink after that lot

[kerry]

Mick:
It's even more confusing that I thought it was! I've asked my relatives who still over there why people don't just describe their vehicles using the year of manufacture. I haven't heard an answers that made much sense. What's wrong with saying, 'I drive a 1984' as opposed to 'I drive a B reg'?

[jjrodger]

Each year's new registrations used to come out on 1st August and it was a matter of great prestige to be the first person on your street with a new car with the new registration mark. In fact about 25% of all new cars sold in one year were sold on 1st August.

I remember when my dad's friend bought an A-reg Saab 900 Turbo on 1st August 1983. It was the first time anybody I knew had bought a bran new car. This man arranged to collect it from the Saab dealer at 12 midnight on 1st August 1983. He then drove it round and round the town where we lived until morning. That is how mad people used to be about the new regs coming out.

So what is important is what letter your car has at the start of its number plate. But the change in registration letter comes half way through the year. Therefore a 1984 might be an A-reg or a B-reg; back in 1984, you wanted a B-reg more than an A-reg, because it was newer. So you wouldn't ask for a 1984, you'd ask for a B-reg.

They have now replaced this system with an even more complicated one.

My first car had the registration plate A224 BFT. It was first registered on 1st August 1983. I got it in July 1997, though. My second car had the reg S916 ACN. That was first registered on 17 August 1998. I bought it in January 2001.

My present car has what in the US is called a vanity plate. In the UK these are called private plates or cherished numbers. In short you can transfer a number plate from another vehicle to your own. There are several reasons you might want to do this. You may want a registration plate with your initials on or some interesting combination of letters; you may want to disguise the age of your car; or you may just enjoy the prestige.

The most desireable plates are those that were issued before 1963. These are dateless plates like A1, or JJR 26; the less letters and figures the better. Such plates are worth a lot of money (the owner of the car is entitled to sell the registration number). For instance W1 was recently advertised at GBP100,000. I have seen 5LK (SLK) advertised for GBP15k. Something like A1 would be worth an incredible amount, certainly more than GBP250k.

My own car has the number S5 JJR. I paid only GBP250 for this. Bizarrely the value of private plates is on the increase, even though the Government is selling off all its stock of interesting numbers. My own plate might be worth about GBP500 now.