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Comments (12)

BAW 2025-07-13 12:03:08 | #1

What is this format  :ups:
Salzburg has been using this for regular series since 1990, as the only district where regular series never changed. However, specialty series only collectively used this format until 1999, and until then it never reached ZZ, it didn't even reach it now. So this remains a mystery for me  :scratch:

+3

Luwicarspotting 2025-07-13 14:39:18 | #2

BAW (2025-07-13 12:03:08)

interesting

+2

abcdefghij 2025-07-13 23:03:23 | #3

BAW (2025-07-13 12:03:08)

BAW
What is this format


I think Salzburg uses the format S123ZZ for dealer plates before it started with the S1ABC serie: [/url]

I think Salzburg is the only district with ZZ-serie for dealer plates, but other districts use other ends, for example Vienna has the format W123UH
[url=https://platesmania.com/at/gallery.php?gal=at&nomer=W+%2A%2A%2A+UH&aregions%5B0%5D=]


BAW
Salzburg has been using this for regular series since 1990, as the only district where regular series never changed.


I think Eisenstadt didn't change the serie too.

+2

BAW 2025-07-14 12:34:50 | #4

abcdefghij (2025-07-13 23:03:23)

abcdefghij
I think Salzburg uses the format S123ZZ for dealer plates before it started with the S1ABC serie:
I think Salzburg is the only district with ZZ-serie for dealer plates, but other districts use other ends, for example Vienna has the format W123UH
I think Eisenstadt didn't change the serie too.


That's really interesting, you seem to have a large knowledge of Austrian plates!
You seem to be right with Eisenstadt, I never noticed before that it always kept the same series.
I think Vienna did not only use UH, but also other suffixes, maybe the entire U* range, in the past for specialty series, as the W620US plate is uploaded here.
Interesting is also the spot of the S859TS export plate, which is seemingly also far ahead of it's series.
There is also always the question if the entire specialty series uses the same format of plates or varies between Dealer, Export, Provisional, Motorcycle, Moped... This seems to be different across the districts.

+2

abcdefghij 2025-07-14 23:04:38 | #5

BAW (2025-07-14 12:34:50)

BAW
I think Vienna did not only use UH, but also other suffixes, maybe the entire U* range, in the past for specialty series, as the W620US plate is uploaded here.


I tried the search with W *** UA, than W *** UB and so on until W *** UZ. With W *** UH there are 6 results, all dealer plates. The other searches had 0 results, even W *** US had 0 results:

[/url]

BAW
Interesting is also the spot of the S859TS export plate, which is seemingly also far ahead of it's series.


The oldest S *** T* spot is from 2016, the oldest S *** U* spot is from 2018, so the T-series in Salzburg was between 2016 and 2018.

If TS is a special dealer serie, there should be only dealer plates with the serie S***TS serie, but i could find regular plates in this serie as well:

[url=/https://platesmania.com/at/gallery.php?gal=at&nomer=S+%2A%2A%2A+TS]


The S***TR serie also has dealer and regular plates:

[/url]

I think Salzburg gives a few weeks during the TR and TS serie dealer plates with regular format. It's not the only muncipal, I could also find an example from Spital an der Drau between normal SP *** AK plates:

[url=https://platesmania.com/at/gallery.php?gal=at&nomer=SP+%2A%2A%2A+AK]


BAW
There is also always the question if the entire specialty series uses the same format of plates or varies between Dealer, Export, Provisional, Motorcycle, Moped... This seems to be different across the districts.


In Vienna dealer and export plates have the format W12ABC, Temporary plates have W1ABC,W12AB or W123A. Motorcycle and moped plates have W1ABC or W12ABC.

The format W123UH and S123ZZ seems to be only for dealer plates.

+1

BAW 2025-07-15 11:14:28 | #6

abcdefghij (2025-07-14 23:04:38)

abcdefghij
I tried the search with W *** UA, than W *** UB and so on until W *** UZ. With W *** UH there are 6 results, all dealer plates. The other searches had 0 results, even W *** US had 0 results:
The oldest S *** T* spot is from 2016, the oldest S *** U* spot is from 2018, so the T-series in Salzburg was between 2016 and 2018.

If TS is a special dealer serie, there should be only dealer plates with the serie S***TS serie, but i could find regular plates in this serie as well:
I think Salzburg gives a few weeks during the TR and TS serie dealer plates with regular format. It's not the only muncipal, I could also find an example from Spital an der Drau between normal SP *** AK plates:
In Vienna dealer and export plates have the format W12ABC, Temporary plates have W1ABC,W12AB or W123A. Motorcycle and moped plates have W1ABC or W12ABC.
The format W123UH and S123ZZ seems to be only for dealer plates.


W *** US is uploaded but you sadly can't see it because it was uploaded as hidden, here is a screenshot:


Interesting that Salzburg gave out specialty and regular series plates during TR and TS. Theoretically these examples could have been initially given out as regular series to a person who owns a dealership or to the dealership itself, and then at request reissued as a dealer plate. I know this is possible with vanity plates, you can see it by the example of the plate SP ROC 1, which first existed as dealer and was then reissued as a regular series plate. However, this wouldn't explain the export plates which were spotted in that series too, so this is really weird.
The SP 500 AK has the following, long and complicated explanation:
In Carinthian districts, the first format, which was XX 10 AA - XX 99 ZZ in all districts except Klagenfurt, was given out from 1990 until approximately 1999 and was the same for all plate types, meaning regular as well as all specialties like dealer, moped, export and the others. Around 1999, the second series released, which was XX 100 AA, and it was still the same for regular as well as specialty series, but only for a short time. I know this because there have been several spots of dealership and motorcycle plates with that series, but only early combinations, like the SP 500 AK plate. Probably from the mid-2000s, specialty plates recieved their own formats in Carinthia.

The formats in Vienna are really complicated. The ones you listed are only the current ones, right? For exmaple, with Export, there is also the W 5497 D plate uploaded. Vienna is also the only district which has a special format for two-row plates on cars, which is W 10 AAA since 1999 and W 1000 A from 1990-1999.

+2

abcdefghij 2025-07-15 15:15:48 | #7

BAW
W *** US is uploaded but you sadly can't see it because it was uploaded as hidden, here is a screenshot:


It would be unprobably if all W *** U* plates are hidden, but with W *** UH there are 6 plates unhiden. Maybe W *** US is for export plates and W *** UH is for dealer plates. The other W *** U* plates seem to be unused, because I had 4 results for W *** TY and 2 results for W *** VA but nothing regular in between.

BAW
The SP 500 AK has the following, long and complicated explanation:
In Carinthian districts, the first format, which was XX 10 AA - XX 99 ZZ in all districts except Klagenfurt, was given out from 1990 until approximately 1999 and was the same for all plate types, meaning regular as well as all specialties like dealer, moped, export and the others. Around 1999, the second series released, which was XX 100 AA, and it was still the same for regular as well as specialty series, but only for a short time. I know this because there have been several spots of dealership and motorcycle plates with that series, but only early combinations, like the SP 500 AK plate. Probably from the mid-2000s, specialty plates recieved their own formats in Carinthia.


Interesting, I always thought that there could be only 6 digits on temporary plates because the year number also needs a digit. The same with export plates because of the export sign. Due to Wikipedia the vanity plates also have to be shorter:

Wikipedia
Wunschkennzeichen sind auch bei Kennzeichentafeln für besondere Zwecke möglich (§ 26 Abs. 6 Z. 3), die maximale Länge der Vormerkzeichen ist dabei
bei Überstellungskennzeichen um ein Zeichen kürzer als bei weißen Wunschkennzeichen
bei Kennzeichen für vorübergehend zugelassene Fahrzeuge vier Zeichen

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfz-Kennzeichen_(%C3%96sterreich)#Ausgabe_der_Kennzeichen

Maybe the SP123AB series was for motorcycle, dealer and regular series but temporary and export started with the new series earlier.

BAW
The formats in Vienna are really complicated. The ones you listed are only the current ones, right? For exmaple, with Export, there is also the W 5497 D plate uploaded.


I'm not really sure with the system in Vienna, I only write down what I find. I think the W1ABC format is not current, because the plate W9XYR was spotted in 2022. On the other hand the W9999GT plate was spotted in 2015 and there are still GT-plates, so Vienna seems to have not always a logical numeration.

+1

BAW 2025-07-18 10:20:15 | #8

abcdefghij (2025-07-15 15:15:48)

abcdefghij
It would be unprobably if all W *** U* plates are hidden, but with W *** UH there are 6 plates unhiden. Maybe W *** US is for export plates and W *** UH is for dealer plates. The other W *** U* plates seem to be unused, because I had 4 results for W *** TY and 2 results for W *** VA but nothing regular in between.

Interesting, I always thought that there could be only 6 digits on temporary plates because the year number also needs a digit. The same with export plates because of the export sign. Due to Wikipedia the vanity plates also have to be shorter:

Wikipedia
Wunschkennzeichen sind auch bei Kennzeichentafeln für besondere Zwecke möglich (§ 26 Abs. 6 Z. 3), die maximale Länge der Vormerkzeichen ist dabei
bei Überstellungskennzeichen um ein Zeichen kürzer als bei weißen Wunschkennzeichen
bei Kennzeichen für vorübergehend zugelassene Fahrzeuge vier Zeichen

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kfz-Kennzeichen_(%C3%96sterreich)#Ausgabe_der_Kennzeichen

Maybe the SP123AB series was for motorcycle, dealer and regular series but temporary and export started with the new series earlier.

I'm not really sure with the system in Vienna, I only write down what I find. I think the W1ABC format is not current, because the plate W9XYR was spotted in 2022. On the other hand the W9999GT plate was spotted in 2015 and there are still GT-plates, so Vienna seems to have not always a logical numeration.


Interesting that the entire W *** U* series was not used for regular, but a few were used for some specialties. I really wonder what happened to the other U* suffixes then.

You're right about the Carinthian Export and Temporary plates of the early 2000s. they probably did not use this format. But I think I found the answer to it: In Hermagor (HE), they still give out pre-1999 format export and temporary plates because they have used so few of them that they probably still have some left. For example. the HE 56 KY plate is a 26-dated temporary plate. In Feldkirchen, they also only have very few registrations, and there is a spot of the 24-dated FE400W as well as FE600W as well as 22-dated FE408U as well as 21-dated FE256T temporary plate, so this might be from that format they used in the early 2000s for temporary and export plates instead of the XX100AA format which doesn't fit those types.
However, this format was also used for dealer plates in other Carinthian districts, there are several spots of them. So I don't know what's up with that at the moment.

With the GT-Plates in Vienna, maybe they get re-issued? Meaning that if a GT Plate gets deregistered, it is given out later again to another person. Because there is basically 100% proof that this is also happening with W10000A regular series plates. These have been given out fully, but still are given out, so they are most likely re-issued. I think the same might also be happening in Innsbruck, where they have been using the I1000AA format until I9999AZ but not farther for a long time now, so they probably also re-issue them within this block, however this is just pure speculation. My spot of the I50AAA plate is still unexplained though.

+1

abcdefghij 2025-07-18 20:43:15 | #9

BAW (2025-07-18 10:20:15)

BAW

Interesting that the entire W *** U* series was not used for regular, but a few were used for some specialties. I really wonder what happened to the other U* suffixes then.


This is in many muncipals:
Mistelbach jumps from G to N
Schwechat jumps from E to S
Melk jumps from G to M
Steyr Einzugsgebiet jumps from E to S
Lienz jumps from D to R
Kufstein jumps from H to U
Schwarz jumps from F to S and from T to Y
Innsbruck jumps from I999AZ to I1000AA

Maybe it's a reserve if new plates are neccessary.

BAW
With the GT-Plates in Vienna, maybe they get re-issued? Meaning that if a GT Plate gets deregistered, it is given out later again to another person. Because there is basically 100% proof that this is also happening with W10000A regular series plates. These have been given out fully, but still are given out, so they are most likely re-issued.


I always thought that after W99999Z was W1000AA issued but today I found this: [/url]

Furthermore the highest serie is W****AI and this serie was first spotted in 2017 so I think you're right. The same with the KT-serie where W9950KT was spotted in 2016 and the TX-serie where W9784TX was spotted 2015 and W100ATX was issued in 2024.

BAW
I think the same might also be happening in Innsbruck, where they have been using the I1000AA format until I9999AZ but not farther for a long time now, so they probably also re-issue them within this block, however this is just pure speculation.


The highest Innsbruck serie is I****AX and this was first spotted in 2023, so I think you're wrong with Innsbruck.

BAW
My spot of the I50AAA plate is still unexplained though.


I found this on Wikipedia

Wikipedia
Die Endbuchstaben A, AA und AAA sind in Oberösterreich bis heute Behörden- und Einsatzfahrzeugen vorbehalten.


Maybe it was similiar in Innsbruck before the IBK, IVB, IKB, RD and FW-plates are issued. Or after 999IBK, 999IKB and 999IVB was issued. I found I976IVB on a quite old bus: [url=https://public-transport.net/bus/Austria/Innsbruck/Inn_Photo/Citaro/8338_25.jpg]

+1

BAW 2025-07-19 20:44:28 | #10

abcdefghij (2025-07-18 20:43:15)

abcdefghij
BAW

Interesting that the entire W *** U* series was not used for regular, but a few were used for some specialties. I really wonder what happened to the other U* suffixes then.
This is in many muncipals:
Mistelbach jumps from G to N
Schwechat jumps from E to S
Melk jumps from G to M
Steyr Einzugsgebiet jumps from E to S
Lienz jumps from D to R
Kufstein jumps from H to U
Schwarz jumps from F to S and from T to Y
Innsbruck jumps from I999AZ to I1000AA

Maybe it's a reserve if new plates are neccessary.

BAW
With the GT-Plates in Vienna, maybe they get re-issued? Meaning that if a GT Plate gets deregistered, it is given out later again to another person. Because there is basically 100% proof that this is also happening with W10000A regular series plates. These have been given out fully, but still are given out, so they are most likely re-issued.
I always thought that after W99999Z was W1000AA issued but today I found this: [/url]

Furthermore the highest serie is W****AI and this serie was first spotted in 2017 so I think you're right. The same with the KT-serie where W9950KT was spotted in 2016 and the TX-serie where W9784TX was spotted 2015 and W100ATX was issued in 2024.

BAW
I think the same might also be happening in Innsbruck, where they have been using the I1000AA format until I9999AZ but not farther for a long time now, so they probably also re-issue them within this block, however this is just pure speculation.
The highest Innsbruck serie is I****AX and this was first spotted in 2023, so I think you're wrong with Innsbruck.

BAW
My spot of the I50AAA plate is still unexplained though.
I found this on Wikipedia

Wikipedia
Die Endbuchstaben A, AA und AAA sind in Oberösterreich bis heute Behörden- und Einsatzfahrzeugen vorbehalten.
Maybe it was similiar in Innsbruck before the IBK, IVB, IKB, RD and FW-plates are issued. Or after 999IBK, 999IKB and 999IVB was issued. I found I976IVB on a quite old bus: [url=https://public-transport.net/bus/Austria/Innsbruck/Inn_Photo/Citaro/8338_25.jpg]


That's very interesting. As this comment section is getting really crowded, I have sent you a direct message  :)

0

abcdefghij 2025-07-19 21:09:29 | #11

Sorry, I don't know how I can see direct messages.

0

BAW 2025-07-21 11:30:34 | #12

abcdefghij (2025-07-19 21:09:29)

abcdefghij
Sorry, I don't know how I can see direct messages.


In the top right corner of the page, there is a mailbox icon. If you click on that, you will get to your direct messages   !;)
Here is how it approximately looks like. On your screen, there will be "abcdefghij" instead of "BAW" and there will be no warning triangle with the red circle, but the mailbox will be there.

+1

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