Spain license plate (E) in 2026 ✅

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What are the car license plates currently used in Spain like?

Discover what Spanish car license plates are like, their registration dates, and the special types. In Spain there are more than 22 different types of license plates, covering standard cars, motorcycles, as well as official and special vehicles, all using different colors and formats. In addition, there are several curiosities that make the Spanish vehicle registration system one of the most complex and best-designed in the world. Discover it below .

Main sections about Spanish license plates

Types of Spanish car license plates over the last 120 years

Since the beginning of Spanish car license plates in 1900, several plate designs have been used, which we show you below.

Standard car license plate of the current system

Since Monday, September 18, 2000, every Spanish license plate uses a format without regional codes, made up of four numbers from 0000 to 9999 and three letters from BBB to ZZZ. A space appears between both blocks, and vowels, Ñ and Q are omitted to avoid confusion and undesirable combinations. On the left side of the plate, there is a blue band, called the euroband, showing the flag of the European Union and the international identification code of Spain, E.

Official dimensions used on Spanish license plates

The size of vehicle registration plates on cars and most motor vehicles is 520 x 110 millimeters (mm). Vehicles with limited mounting space use reduced-format plates, known as ordinary tall or ordinary long front plates when fitted to the front of the vehicle. Motorcycles use three different official sizes.

Special license plates currently in use in Spain

Spain uses a wide range of special license plates, which you can explore below. By clicking on the image or the text, you can discover much more information about each special license plate system.

What are Spain’s 0000 license plates like?

Spain is one of the countries in the world where the number 0000 is actually used on license plates. The 0000 car license plate is always the first plate of the series since 1971. Spanish car license plates run from 0000 to 9999, meaning there are 10,000 plates per series. The 0000 plate is followed by 0001. The first car license plate of Spain was 0000BBB. The number 0000 is also used on Spanish historic, motorcycle, moped, special, police and Allied Forces plates. Additionally, the number 0000 is considered an even number as it is a multiple of 2. 0000 license plates are NOT personalized plates and are issued after reaching 9999 in the previous series. One of the most curious license plates in the world is O0000O, made up of the letter O (from Asturias), the number 0000 and the series letter O. View 0000 license plate. Below we show an example image of what Spanish 0000 license plates look like.

First license plates of the current Spanish system

The first license plates of the current Spanish system were issued in September 2000. During the first months, the earliest plates of the new system were issued in blocks. The first block attempted to follow alphabetical order, issuing 0000BBB in the province of Álava, as it came before Albacete or Alicante, for example.

Spanish provincial license plates until 2000

From 1900 to 2000, Spain used a provincial license plate system made up of a two- or three-letter code identifying the province or autonomous city. These car license plates always used black characters on a white background. The first registration plate was issued in 1900 in the Balearic Islands, and the last one in September 2000. You can check all the information about the history of Spanish provincial license plates here.

Provincial codes on old Spanish license plates

From 1900 to 2000, Spain used a vehicle registration system based on provincial codes. This code was always shown in the first position on standard car license plates, but could appear in second position on tourist plates or even in the last position on special military registration plates. You can check the license plate codes of the Spanish territories in Africa in this section by clicking here.

Code	Province	Last plate in 2000	Notes
VI	Álava	VI 8538 Y	Until 1926 ALB
AB	Albacete	AB 8538 V
A	Alicante	A 1794 EN
AL	Almería	AL 3434 AK
O	Asturias	O 0610 CK	Province changed its name
AV	Ávila	AV 8209 I
BA	Badajoz	BA 0032 AG
B	Barcelona	B 4819 XG
BU	Burgos	BU 9509 Z
CA	Cádiz	CA 6701 BT
S	Cantabria	S 6756 AS	Province changed its name from Santander to Cantabria
CC	Cáceres	CC 9834 U	Until 1926 CAC
CS	Castellón	CS 6737 AW	Until 1926 CAS
CE	Ceuta	CE 1131 H
CR	Ciudad Real	CR 5805 Z
CO	Córdoba	CO 2155 AY
C	A Coruña	C 1397 CK
CU	Cuenca	CU 7433 K
GC	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	GC 7889 CM	Until 1926 TE
GI	Girona	GI 8826 BT	Until 1992 GE
GR	Granada	GR 1874 AZ
GU	Guadalajara	GU 0333 J
SS	Gipuzkoa	SS 6261 BK
H	Huelva	H 4575 AB
HU	Huesca	HU 9747 P
IB	Balearic Islands	IB 5745 DT	Until 1997 PM Used BA for less than 10 years
J	Jaén	J 4209 AG
LE	León	LE 8797 AJ
L	Lleida	L 4069 AJ
LO	La Rioja	LO 1001 V
LU	Lugo	LU 6360 X
M	Madrid	M 6814 ZX
MA	Málaga	MA 8932 DF
ML	Melilla	ML 1931 F
MU	Murcia	MU 9921 CK
NA	Navarre	NA 7541 BD	Until 1918 PA
OU	Ourense	OU 8069 W	Until 1998 OR
P	Palencia	P 0849 L
PO	Pontevedra	PO 0126 BU
SA	Salamanca	SA 8295 V
SG	Segovia	SG 4434 J	Until 1926 SEG
SE	Seville	SE 7129 DW
SO	Soria	SO 3367 G
T	Tarragona	T 1425 BG
TF	Santa Cruz de Tenerife	TF 1308 CD	Until 1926 TE
TE	Teruel	TE 7164 I	Until 1926 TER
TO	Toledo	TO 6753 AG
V	Valencia	V 1257 HJ
VA	Valladolid	VA 8654 AL
BI	Biscay	BI 9894 CV
ZA	Zamora	ZA 1665 L
Z	Zaragoza	Z 5428 BT

First car with a license plate in Spain

The first car license plate in Spain was PM-1, a Clement quadricycle registered in the Balearic Islands, in Palma de Mallorca, on October 31, 1900. That same year, three other cars were registered across the country: one in Cáceres, another in Salamanca, and one more in Palma de Mallorca (then known as Baleares). However, this first registered car was not the first car to drive on Spanish roads, as records show other vehicles already circulating throughout the country.

Although the registration date was very early, by 1900 several countries such as Germany and France already had fixed vehicle registration systems. Therefore, this first Spanish car was not the first European car with a license plate. One of the first license plates in the world is believed to have been the number "1" on a car registered in 1896 in the state of Baden, Germany.

Old special license plates

You can now consult all the information about old special Spanish license plates in the new dedicated license plate section. Access it from this link to see all designs.

How to know if a Spanish license plate is real?

If you have reached this point to check whether a Spanish license plate is real, or if you are a collector of Spanish car or motorcycle license plates, here is what you are looking for. If you collect Spanish car or motorcycle plates, we also provide useful tools to verify authenticity. Current Spanish car license plates have been used since the year 2000 with the format 0000-BBB, while the provincial system was used with the same design since 1986. Since 2000, it is well known that Spanish license plates do not use vowels, Ñ or Q. All Spanish car license plates have used a background hologram since 1986 featuring the Spanish coat of arms. This logo appears in grey tones and represents a simplified official state emblem, evenly distributed across the entire background of the Spanish registration plate.

PM code and plate stamping

In addition to the background hologram showing the Spanish coat of arms, there is another way to identify whether a Spanish license plate is original. Every current Spanish license plate must display a homologation code, consisting of the letters PM, a serial number starting from 01001, and a regional code indicating where the plate was stamped. The code starting with PM is therefore the homologation identifier of the place where the Spanish license plate was manufactured. This code may appear on the left side of the plate or on the upper edge, embossed vertically on the frame. The special code PM-0816-SA corresponds to the sample plate used as the first stamped reference.

Are you a license plate collector?

If you are a Spanish license plate collector and want to verify authenticity, here are some tips. We recommend visiting our forum to connect with other collectors. To obtain new plates for collecting purposes, you can find them on online marketplaces such as eBay or Todocoleccion.

Matriculasdelmundo. License plates of Spain. Reviewed and updated information. Matriculasdelmundo.com. Retrieved on 06/01/2026 from https://matriculasdelmundo.com/en/spain.html.

License plates from other states and territories that you may be interested in:

Map of the Spain license plates

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Official Sources on License Plates of Spain

All the information about the license plates of cars and motorcycles in Spain and vehicle plates shown here has been extracted from official state archives (such as the BOE and the DGT in Spain), from personal sightings, by contacting automobile clubs from other countries, or through media or files referenced in the text. This information on car and motorcycle plates in Spain has been collected since 2009, so we hope you find the information you're looking for about Spain license plates.

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Please, check matriculasdelmundo.com in Spanish here for all the updated information about license plates of Spain.