[KarthikK]

I didn't find information anywhere else on team-bhp so I posted this thread purely out of curiosity. Quite a few times, I have wondered about what exactly governs the nomenclature of car / bike registration numbers. (I am referring to the modern numbers, I am aware that there is already a thread on old registration numbers in this forum)

I tried to decipher the naming pattern / allotment pattern of registration number for cars and bikes. Taking an example of the vehicles in Bangalore (and specifically any RTO, say Jayanagar area) the registration number is usually something like this, as most of you will have observed

K A - 0 5 X Y - Z Z Z Z

Now the first 4 characters obviously refer to the state and the RTO, which brings me to the main part - X and Y represent the series, while Z represents digits. Sometimes 2nd, 3rd or 4th digits may not be there at all (in case of fancy numbers)


X Y - Z Z Z Z will usually be something like MB 9 9 9 9 (or something similar); Over to the questions :

1. Why does the X character always have to be M in most RTOs for cars? Or will it change to "K A - 0 5 N A ZZZZ" after the M series completely gets allotted?

2. Normally when one series of numbers, say "M J ZZZZ" is over, the next sequence becomes "M K ZZZZ". I thought the character in Y's place can never be a vowel because I never see numbers with "M I - ZZZZ" or "M O ZZZZ". However I see some cars with "M A - Z Z Z Z". Those other vowels are skipped. Why is it that way? There must be some fixed guidelines which the RTOs follow when reserving alphabets for the series names. What are they?

3. Some RTOs, for eg. K A - 51 X Y - Z Z Z Z have no Y character at all. I have seen cars like K A 51 P ZZZZ. Why this inconsistency in nomenclature? Or is it a rule to finish single letter sequences P, Q, R...etc and then proceed to the "K A - 51 X Y - ZZZZ" pattern?


Now for the second part of my query - Fancy numbers :

Every series will have its share of fancy numbers and we all know they cost a bomb. What I want to know (out of curiosity) is how the numbering system works for fancy numbers. I have penned down the following doubts :

1. How exactly is a fancy number defined? If I just want a certain number, say randomly 6123, does it become a fancy number? does it cost the same as going for a "99" or "999" or are the latter "fancy" numbers reserved for VIPs / people with influence?

2. Does the RTO reserve numbers such as 11, 22, 33, ... 99 and in the 3 and 4 digit series like 111, 222, 3333, .... 9999 beforehand and sell them? If so, what happens when the series runs out, like if "M J ZZZZ" gets exhausted, becomes "M K ZZZZ" and the number "M J 99" is still not allocated to anyone? Does the RTO then allocate "MK 99" when someone requests for it?


I know most of the gurus here might be aware of these issues/guidelines. Please give your thoughts on this and educate me on how these things work

[sabinesnubbing]

karthikk,
Let me try to tell what I know of the various states registration systems. I do not travel in India and I may have some of this wrong. I hope someone can let me know if so.

When the 'new' system was introduced in 1989, all registration were in the form AB01 0001. This was followed by AB01A0001 to AB01Z9999 in all (I think) the states.
Some states reserved certain of these letters for different classes of vehicle whilst others just issued in serial letter/number order.
In the states where the letters WERE reserved, AB01A9999 was followed by AB01AA0001 to AB01AZ9999. The same idea for each letter/vehicle class.
At some point in time later, the states that did NOT reserve letters for vehicle classes moved from AB01Z9999 to AB01AA0001 and upwards serially.
Now, just to confuse everyone, some states like Delhi introduced a third letter (immediately after the district numerals) at some time I am not sure of, like DL01C AB0001, where C is a vehicle class letter.
Rajasthan obviously wanted to be different and introduced at some time, unknown to me, registrations like RJ27 4M0001 where the 4 is a serial number and M is the vehicle class letter.

So, that explains that easily

If anyone can help for their own state with dates of changes from one serial letter to two, in DL and RJ, the system change date, or provide a list of reserved vehicle class letters for those states that do it, I would be very, very grateful.
An idea of what to look for are letters for private cars, 2wheelers, 3wheelers, commercial vehicles, buses, company owned cars, police vehicles, ambulances, state owned vehicles, rental cars, lease cars, taxis, state transport companies and I am sure there are some more. Not all are used in every state!

There is no such think as a simple registration system in India and there has not been since 1902!
Cheers
Cedric

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by binaiks

For some strange reason, most RTOs in Karnataka register cars/private four wheelers in "KA-XX-My-NNNN" series. "My" means MA..MB..MC.. etc..

This happens after A-Z are exhausted.

Originally Posted by sriturl

Coming to KA,
all Govt vehicles including Police vehicles have the series G reserved.(All zones)
RTC buses (both BMTC and KSRTC) have F series.
Yellow plates from A - D
2W - Series E
Cars from M - ?

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I didn't find information anywhere else on team-bhp so I posted this thread purely out of curiosity. Quite a few times, I have wondered about what exactly governs the nomenclature of car / bike registration numbers. (I am referring to the modern numbers, I am aware that there is already a thread on old registration numbers in this forum)

I tried to decipher the naming pattern / allotment pattern of registration number for cars and bikes. Taking an example of the vehicles in Bangalore (and specifically any RTO, say Jayanagar area) the registration number is usually something like this, as most of you will have observed

K A - 0 5 X Y - Z Z Z Z

Now the first 4 characters obviously refer to the state and the RTO, which brings me to the main part - X and Y represent the series, while Z represents digits. Sometimes 2nd, 3rd or 4th digits may not be there at all (in case of fancy numbers)


X Y - Z Z Z Z will usually be something like MB 9 9 9 9 (or something similar); Over to the questions :

1. Why does the X character always have to be M in most RTOs for cars? Or will it change to "K A - 0 5 N A ZZZZ" after the M series completely gets allotted?

2. Normally when one series of numbers, say "M J ZZZZ" is over, the next sequence becomes "M K ZZZZ". I thought the character in Y's place can never be a vowel because I never see numbers with "M I - ZZZZ" or "M O ZZZZ". However I see some cars with "M A - Z Z Z Z". Those other vowels are skipped. Why is it that way? There must be some fixed guidelines which the RTOs follow when reserving alphabets for the series names. What are they?

3. Some RTOs, for eg. K A - 51 X Y - Z Z Z Z have no Y character at all. I have seen cars like K A 51 P ZZZZ. Why this inconsistency in nomenclature? Or is it a rule to finish single letter sequences P, Q, R...etc and then proceed to the "K A - 51 X Y - ZZZZ" pattern?


Now for the second part of my query - Fancy numbers :

Every series will have its share of fancy numbers and we all know they cost a bomb. What I want to know (out of curiosity) is how the numbering system works for fancy numbers. I have penned down the following doubts :

1. How exactly is a fancy number defined? If I just want a certain number, say randomly 6123, does it become a fancy number? does it cost the same as going for a "99" or "999" or are the latter "fancy" numbers reserved for VIPs / people with influence?

2. Does the RTO reserve numbers such as 11, 22, 33, ... 99 and in the 3 and 4 digit series like 111, 222, 3333, .... 9999 beforehand and sell them? If so, what happens when the series runs out, like if "M J ZZZZ" gets exhausted, becomes "M K ZZZZ" and the number "M J 99" is still not allocated to anyone? Does the RTO then allocate "MK 99" when someone requests for it?


I know most of the gurus here might be aware of these issues/guidelines. Please give your thoughts on this and educate me on how these things work

Below is the list of alphabets for specific type of vehicles which is folloowed byt RTOs in Karnataka.


@Karthikk

Its not Vowels but only "I" and "O" are not used since it may be confused for "1" and "0"

Now that there are two alphabets in most of the RTOs, its only the first charectar that represents the class of the vehicle.
EG: B is for taxis but MB is for private cars since M is identified as passenger cars

In your example, you have shown KA51PXXXX ...Thats because KA51 is electronic city which is a fairly new RTO and hence the single letter series have not been exhausted yet. Yes, it is a rule that the single letter series have to be exhausted before going to double letter series.

Fancy number query:
Yes, any number you request, will be considered as a fancy number.
And RTO do reserve numbers and sell it later...

So, a new vehicle can have a old-series fancy number.
But since in our many people are superstitious with numbers, there are very few numbers which remain unallocated.
In fact there is so much demand that the next-to-current series will be allocated.

Karnataka RTO recently has revised for prices for fancy numbers depending on whether the number is in the current series or the next series.
Although the prices were defined earlier, its now costlier.
Earlier it was 1000/- for 2-wheelers and 5000 for 4-wheelers...which is now 5000/- for 2-wheelers and 20000/- for 4-wheelers.
But even with the guidelines, 99 or 9999 can be obtained by influence (which is unfortunately true for any govt. system in our country)
Infact I feel that they increased this so that more people are discouraged from opting for one and only influencial persons can get it for free.

[sabinesnubbing]

Gentlemen,
Your assistance please. My friend was in India recently and took several photos of vehicles/plates for me. One of them surprised me as I have not seen anything like it before. I think he took it in Delhi and I am sure it is some sort of (new?) military number or Ministry of Defence number or.......
Anyone got any ideas?
Cheers
Cedric

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by sabinesnubbing

Gentlemen,
Your assistance please. My friend was in India recently and took several photos of vehicles/plates for me. One of them surprised me as I have not seen anything like it before. I think he took it in Delhi and I am sure it is some sort of (new?) military number or Ministry of Defence number or.......
Anyone got any ideas?
Cheers
Cedric

Its a flag staff car (a two star general).I guess Ex-Service men or other members from the services will be able to guide you better.
See here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...tml#post563742

[sabinesnubbing]

AlphaKilo,
Many thanks for the reply and link. Unfortunately, this (I guess) new type of plate has a totally different numbering system from normal military plates. Although the 11 at the front will be 2011 I am sure, that is where the similarity ends.
The standard system is (eg) 11B106583L where 11 is 2011, B is the vehicle class (B = cars and small 4x4s) 106583 is the serial number and L is a computer check digit.
This one is something else completely!
Cheers
Cedric

[anjan_c2007]

Nagpur is getting a new series for the new RTO office that is supposed to be opened in East Nagpur.
The present registrations are:

MH 31 Nagpur City (Urban)

MH 40 Nagpur (Rural)

The new series is going to be :

MH 49 Nagpur City (East)

The Orange City gets ready to welcome the MH 49 motor vehicles!

[addyhemmige]

Never knew there was a thread on registration numbers. Just stumbled upon it now

Originally Posted by sriturl

RTC buses (both BMTC and KSRTC) have F series.

Cars from M - ?

When the KA 01 F series was exhausted, the BMTC started registering their buses from Yelahanka (KA 50 F series). They stopped it after sometime and then started using the KA 01 FA series. However KSRTC buses from Bangalore were registered in RTOs around Bangalore (Ramnagar, Chikballapur etc)

Now a new RTO (KA 57) has been created specifically for BMTC and KSRTC. We can see all the newer buses sporting KA 57 registration.

Private car series start from M as you can see in the picture that Hemanth has posted in the post quoted below. M, N, P and Z are the series allotted to private cars, but I have also seen certain cars with A/B or C series and have a white board. I'm not sure why that is? My guess is that it could registered as 'Public Carriers' at the time of purchase and then probably sold off for private use.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Below is the list of alphabets for specific type of vehicles which is folloowed byt RTOs in Karnataka.


In your example, you have shown KA51PXXXX ...Thats because KA51 is electronic city which is a fairly new RTO and hence the single letter series have not been exhausted yet. Yes, it is a rule that the single letter series have to be exhausted before going to double letter series.

Thanks Hemanth. Your post is quite exhaustive.

Just want to add that series A, B, C and D are also used for private buses and trucks.

I have one more doubt. Do RTO's move to the next series only if the current series is completed (apart from fancy numbers)? The reason I'm asking is because one of the vehicles we owned about 5 years back carried the Z series number and a car which was registered 2 years back was allotted the M series, in fact 2 cars (both purchased in 2010) from my family were issued numbers in the M series.

Do RTOs re-issue numbers from discarded vehicles or vehicles transferred to other states or scrapped vehicles etc to newly registered cars?

[audioholic]

^^ Are the M and the Z from the same RTO? In bangalore, it is 05 and 03 that are surging ahead in registrations. Currently, in Jayanagar RTO, the running series is ML and now I think it is shortly going to MM or MN. However, in Indiranagar/03(not sure) it is already in MS or MT. All other RTOs are a bit behind. Koramangala RTO had 'Z' running a couple of years back, whereas in the same month, Jayanagar was in MD or ME. So it happens like that.

So if you have both cars from the same RTO, it is highly unlikely to get an old series for a new car. Our Omni had 05-MA, another Omni in the family had 05-MB. My SX4 has 05-MG and so on. However, our waggy was registered in Jnanabharati(KA 41) and I got 'P' series.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by audioholic

^^ Are the M and the Z from the same RTO? In bangalore, it is 05 and 03 that are surging ahead in registrations. Currently, in Jayanagar RTO, the running series is ML and now I think it is shortly going to MM or MN. However, in Indiranagar/03(not sure) it is already in MS or MT. All other RTOs are a bit behind. Koramangala RTO had 'Z' running a couple of years back, whereas in the same month, Jayanagar was in MD or ME. So it happens like that.

So if you have both cars from the same RTO, it is highly unlikely to get an old series for a new car. Our Omni had 05-MA, another Omni in the family had 05-MB. My SX4 has 05-MG and so on. However, our waggy was registered in Jnanabharati(KA 41) and I got 'P' series.

Yes, they are from the same RTO (KA 13). In fact in our family we've had cars in all the series (M, N, P & Z) from the same RTO. The latest additions (an Innova and a Linea both purchased in 2010 and a few months apart) were allotted numbers starting with 8xxx in the M series. I have also seen quite a few other vehicles (new ones) having the M series (from the same RTO)

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Nagpur is getting a new series for the new RTO office that is supposed to be opened in East Nagpur.
The present registrations are:

MH 31 Nagpur City (Urban)

MH 40 Nagpur (Rural)

The new series is going to be :

MH 49 Nagpur City (East)

The Orange City gets ready to welcome the MH 49 motor vehicles!

It was notified that the new East Nagpur RTO office will operate from the present premises at Civil Lines. This will be so till the new building is readied (yet to start digging soil)for the new office.

[nityaya]

I searched but could not find the correct post where to write this, anyway a couple of days ago a biker hit the back of my wife's car and ran away. She took down the number that she saw fleetingly but i am unsure of it. VMD 1184, AMD 1184 or TMD 1184. Any of you guys can help me out regarding this. Has any one come across these series, if so which state or city do they belong to?. Thanks in advance.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by nityaya

She took down the number that she saw fleetingly but i am unsure of it. VMD 1184, AMD 1184 or TMD 1184.

AMD and VMD didn't yield any results on Google. But TMD is belonging to Tamil Nadu - Chennai North Zone - Ayanavaram

Old Series - TMD
Current series - TN-01.



Hope this helps.

Anurag.

[Latheesh]

I saw a Santro in Bangalore - Reg number read OD ** * XXXX, which state it is?

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

I saw a Santro in Bangalore - Reg number read OD ** * XXXX, which state it is?

That should be Odisha after their name change from Orissa to Odisha.