Confused over new reg plates

27/02/2006 - PostOffice Car Insurance

Only 24% of people understand ‘new’ car registration plates four and a half years since launch

Research* from Post Office® Car Insurance shows that only 24% of UK adults understand car registration plates. Meaning 33 million people remain confused about the ‘new’ format, with many admitting they have no idea what they mean.

The next new car registration plates, a combination of letters and numbers that identify where each vehicle is registered and when, will be introduced on 1st March 2006. The numbers zero and six will indicate the newly registered cars.

A quarter of people questioned believed that the two letters at the beginning of the number plate referred to the area in which the driver lived. A few people actually thought that they were the driver’s own initials or the make of the vehicle!

More men than women understood what the car registration plates meant with eight out of ten (81%) women confused by the new format.

Commenting on the research, Phil Ashkuri Head of Post Office® Car Insurance, said: "It’s been four and a half years since the current number plate format was introduced and still only a quarter of people actually understand what the letters and numbers on ....cont/

registration plates mean. With so many of us confused, those driving round in new cars this week might not turn as many heads as they’d like!

"Fortunately Post Office® Car Insurance is straightforward and easy to understand so drivers won’t be mistaken by the value it offers."

* Research carried out by Insight Research, interviewing a random sample of 563 adults aged 18+ by telephone between 1st August and 21st August 2005. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all UK adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

Understanding car registration plates.

The current format is made up of three elements:

- A two letter local identifier, intended to act as a memory tag and show where a vehicle was first registered;

- A two-figure age-identifier;

- Three random letters.

The idea is that as people become familiar with the new format they will quickly recognise where a vehicle was first registered through the memory tag. In the example "A" represents - Anglia and "X" the office of first registration - Ipswich.

The age identifier will continue to change every six months, in September ....cont/

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and March;

• 51 represents September 2001

• 02 represents March 2002

• 52 represents September 2002

• 03 represents March 2003

• 53 represents September 2003

• 04 represents March 2004

• 54 represents September 2004

• 05 represents March 2005

• 55 will represent September 2005

• 06 will represent March 2006

This will clearly show the period when the vehicle was first registered.

The new format has been designed to make it easy for witnesses to recall details of the number plate and will help the police when investigating crimes involving the use of motor vehicles.

More about Post Office® Car Insurance

• No cherry-picking of customers - will quote for 99% of motorists.

• Classes of cover available include third party only, third party, fire and theft and comprehensive. Each of these classes is available UK wide (including NI), for drivers aged 17-85 and includes up to 60 days cover when driving in EU countries.

About the Post Office®

With around 14,500 branches across the country, the Post Office® is the largest retail...cont/

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and financial services chain in the UK. Its network is larger than all of the UK’s banks and building societies put together. Around 94 per cent of the UK population lives within a mile of a Post Office® branch and 28 million customers visit every week.

The Post Office® offers over 170 products and services including travel and financial services (including personal loans, car, home and travel insurance and a new "two in one" credit card), banking services, bill payments, HomePhone (its home telephone service), gift vouchers and cards, lottery products, licence applications, phonecards and mobile phone top-ups, and postal services. It is the largest supplier of foreign currency in the UK and is a leading provider of travel insurance.

The Post Office® is also the biggest cash handler in the country with more than £92 billion passing through its hands each year. 17p in every £1 in circulation goes through a Post Office® branch and around 400 million household bills are paid at Post Office® branches each year.

In the year ending March 2005, the Post Office®’s total turnover was £1,287 million. Post Office Ltd is a separate limited company within the Royal Mail Group.