# Most common and frequently spotted foreign license plates in your countries



## Corvinus

In this thread, let's collect information concerning the most commonly seen foreign vehicle registrations in our respective countries. Feel free to add pictures or give reasons why plates of this or that country are on top of the list. It would be also interesting to know whether there are large differences between different vehicle categories (e.g. passenger car / truck).

To start:
In both *Hungary *and *Switzerland*, presumably the most common foreign plates (at least regarding passenger cars) are the ubiquitous German ones. Though in Hungary these could already be outnumbered by Romanian, Italian and Spanish plates, chiefly belonging to Romanian guest workers (thru traffic).

For trucks, it is difficult to say ... in Hungary, certainly not Western ones. Romanian plates could lead here as well.

In *Germany*? Presumably Polish plates (car & truck) - or Dutch for cars in the holiday season :lol:


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## DanielFigFoz

In the UK: Belgium, Lithuania and Poland

In Portugal: Luxembourg, France and Andorra


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## CNGL

In my province: French cars, of course. We have France at the other side of the mountains . Though I haven't seen any French car for a while now.


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## ChrisZwolle

The Netherlands: German and Polish license plates. Belgian and French plates are also common, Luxembourg plates are not. Other plates depend somewhat on the region you're in, in the east you'll see many Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian plates, in the north Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian plates are quite common, and in the south Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian plates dominate.


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## x-type

if i make average during the whole year, then in HR the most numerous are BIH, I, SLO, D plates. after them are CH, A, H, SRB and i should count TR trucks on A3. in summer season beside mentioned there is a plenty of NL, B, F, DK, S, RO, CZ, SK and PL plates.


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## g.spinoza

In Italy: well it depends. In Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Eastern Lombardy German ones outnumber by far any other nationality. In Emilia-Romagna San Marino ones are quite common, while in Marche lots of Dutch cars and Greek trucks (due to Ancona port).

In Germany: I cannot make a comprehensive statement, but in Munich area many nationalities are represented. The most numerous ones are Austrian, Polish and Czech, but Italians also are many.


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## Stainless

In the UK I would say Irish are probably the most common, although Polish might be just as common. After that LT and LV are surprisingly common for their size. France is quite rare for a neighbour and like everywhere else their seems to be more from Luxembourg than Belgium.


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## Penn's Woods

My answer to this is buried somewhere in the other license plate thread. 

EDIT: Found it -

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=57298387&postcount=626


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## makaveli6

In Latvia: Mostly Estonian, Lithuanian, alot of Russian plates in summer, and Polish, German and English plates are also common.


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## iMiros

As logical is, that in the border region of the country will be spotted tables of neighboring states, however, what would be interesting is to sort the tables by the presence of foreign ones that are most commonly encountered by those who have seen only one example. At the same time I think about whole country and not parts of the country. Such data have cross-border service and we can only speculate. In Bosnia like exemple, HR and SRB are dominated neighboring tables, and which one is more spotted difficult to say. Order is continue I think D A SLO I CH S F NL DK B and in the summer season we can see often PL H SK CZE


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## DanielFigFoz

Stainless said:


> In the UK I would say Irish are probably the most common, although Polish might be just as common. After that LT and LV are surprisingly common for their size. France is quite rare for a neighbour and like everywhere else their seems to be more from Luxembourg than Belgium.


Where abouts in the UK do you live? In London I rarely see Irish plates


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## tbh444

In South Wales I'd say Ireland and France are easily the most common, followed by Germany/Poland, then probably Netherlands/Spain, anything else is only occasional.


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## Alqaszar

Of course, many Dutch plates since I live pretty close to the border, but closely followed by Polish plates. Many British plates around here, too, resting remains of the huge presence of British troops and personnel in this area. Belgium, strangely, not so far away from here, is not so frequent, but also seen a lot.

Btw: You know what happens when you fail the driving test three times in a row in the Netherlands? Well, you're finally allowed to drive, but you have to use yellow coloured number plates.


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## Fargo Wolf

I live in the Canadian province of British Columbia, so I see the following plates:

The Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. I've also seen plates from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick the Yukon and North West Territories. I have seen, once on each occasion, plates from Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador.

From the United States I see the following most often: Washington State, Alaska and California. Less common are Oregon, New York (State), Texas, Georgia (US State) and Louisiana.

From elsewhere in North America (I was living in Northern Alberta at the time): Chihuahua State in Mexico.

From Overseas: Germany and Switzerland. Less often seen: The Netherlands, Denmark and France.


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## Stainless

DanielFigFoz said:


> Where abouts in the UK do you live? In London I rarely see Irish plates


Bristol. Irish plates are mainly seen on the M4 heading towards Wales. I think also that touristy areas have quite a few Dutch and German plates.


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## KiwiGuy

British plates are the most I have seen here in NZ. Second most common would be the US as I have seen Michigan, Texas, California and Minnesota plates.


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## miami305

In South Florida (Miami Metropolitan Area) I see a lot of Canadian plates, Quebec, Toronto, followed by Mexico City, and some European plates as well.


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## ChrisZwolle

Alqaszar said:


> Btw: You know what happens when you fail the driving test three times in a row in the Netherlands? Well, you're finally allowed to drive, but you have to use yellow coloured number plates.


You're confusing the Netherlands with France, F means failed for driving test.


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## JohnnyFive

In Scotland number plates from the Netherlands (and to a lesser extent Belgium) are very common especially in the West Highlands perhaps due to the ferry link between Rosyth and Zeebrugge.

:cheers2:


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## Bad_Hafen

*In Bosnia

Croatian










Serbian










Austrian










Slovenian










German










Switzerland










Sweden










Italy








*

in summer lot of *CZ, PL, SK and H*


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## NordikNerd

Alqaszar said:


> The fact that it was midst-holiday-season, many cars from far away weren't suprising me, but so many Italians travelling in the cold and rainy northwestern parts of the continen were surprising.


I also thought about that. If you live along the italian riviera, why drive to the rainy and cold north? doesn't make sense.


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## Kevin_01

1 : CH (Genève and Vaud)
2 : I
3 : D


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## Road_UK

Kevin_01 said:


> 1 : CH (Genève and Vaud)
> 2 : I
> 3 : D


4: GB

I drive past Bourg-en-Bresse all the time. It's a major hub for the Brits to the ski-resorts and Italy.


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## Penn's Woods

NordikNerd said:


> I also thought about that. If you live along the italian riviera, why drive to the rainy and cold north? doesn't make sense.


Because you want to see something different?


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## Satyricon84

Penn's Woods said:


> Because you want to see something different?


:applause:

I don't like the summer here, I don't bear so hot climate... I prefere spend my summer in Northern Europe than along the italian riviera. I have more fun to visit the cities of the north, drink good cold beer, meet nice girls then to stay on a crowded italian beach to roast under the sun (especially after I already visited my country)... it's also cheaper...last year for a week in Prague I spent for for the journey and hotel with breakfast only 180 € (could have been less if I would have reserved earlier) in the middle of August. Here in the same period, you get nothing. However, de gustibus non disputandum est....(one must not dispute about tastes)


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## g.spinoza

NordikNerd said:


> I also thought about that. If you live along the italian riviera, why drive to the rainy and cold north? doesn't make sense.


I am Italian and I hate Italian weather, especially in the summer. It's too freakingly hot to be bearable, and I'm really glad I'm spending my summer here in Germany.


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## Satyricon84

g.spinoza said:


> I am Italian and I hate Italian weather, especially in the summer. It's too freakingly hot to be bearable, and I'm really glad I'm spending my summer here in Germany.


You're lucky, I had to leave Germany not for my choice and go back to Italy, but I hope to go there again as soon as possible. At least I won't have to bear this weather anymore and I can restart to enjoy german autobahn


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## g.spinoza

Satyricon84 said:


> You're lucky, I had to leave Germany not for my choice and go back to Italy, but I hope to go there again as soon as possible. At least I won't have to bear this weather anymore and I can restart to enjoy german autobahn


Unfortunately I will go back to Italy soon, at the end of september


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## Road_UK

I can't believe what I'm reading! Sad faces because people have to exchange Germany for Italy! What is this world coming to!


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## Satyricon84

Italy maybe could be nice with the eyes of the tourist, but living here it's another thing (as long as you don't have much money, also this is a horse of a very different colour). Unfortunately, the life is not made only of sun, beaches, old towns to visit....


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## Road_UK

Yes, I know. I never went to Italy as a tourist. I know it can be hard. But folks, we're talking about Germany here...


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## Satyricon84

What's wrong with Germany? Salaries are higher than italy, rents are lower then italy (I got in Gießen a 80 meter square flat in the first floor of a single house for 420 € warm - in italy for such house in a town of the north with at least 80.000 inhabitants is 550/600 € kalt), you don't pay autobahn (if you have to take it for to go to work, is saved money - here, for to go to Milan from my town which is 25 km far away from it, you have to take the tangenziale payng toll 1,50 € for go and 1,50 € for go back. At least 60 euro for month. In alternative, you can take the normal streets, but in the rush hour this means 1 hour and more for to arrive). The insurance of the car is one of the most expansive in Europe, I pay for my car, a 2006 Fiat Stilo 1.9 120 HP 1100 € for year, just for the basic cover (and I never had accidents, I'm in the top class) plus 220 € yearly for the car tax. For to enter in the umweltzone in Germany i payed 5 € for the umweltplakette. For the whole Germany. In Italy, for to enter in Milan you have to pay 5 € everytime you go. If you go to Florence, you have to pay there too. And so on... Fuel, is little bit higher than in Germany, but the "funny" thing is that we still pay on it excise tax for the Ethiopia war in 1935, Suez Crisis in 1956 and many others (for the total of around 0.6 €/liter for green fuel and 0.4/liter for diesel). Maybe one day we will win that war...:bash: Fines: I got a fine near Siegen, I was driving 67 Km/h on 50 Km/h outside the town. 25 € (I was so much surprised that I said "only???":lol. In Italy, the same fine would have been around 100/150€ (the cheapest fine here is for parking prohibited, around 38 €) And this is just the point of the iceberg, I don't want to go further off-topic, but as I said, IMHO life in Germany is much better


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## DanielFigFoz

^^ God those rents are cheap!


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## Satyricon84

If you think that in the whole house there where three flats, one for each floor, with a private garden which you could use as you want...yes it was. The "bad" thing was that there were no furnitures inside, just the kitchen. But I was living with my girlfriend so we got them from her house... i just bought the sofa.


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## DanielFigFoz

And in Portugal you couldn't have been fined in that situation, only at 70km/h, in the UK I don't know what the fine would have been


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## Satyricon84

that was weird, cause it was outside the town (in Germany outside the town the speed limit is 100 km/h) and it was near a crossroad (so in this case the speed is reduced to 70 Km/h) but in that part it was still 50 Km/h. So at 67 Km/h I thought I was right...instead I didn't have notice of the road signal... well nevermind, just for 25 €... fortunately it wasn't in Italy, otherwise besides the fine, I would have also lost points on my drive license


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## Tincap

Ontario Canada:

Besides the myriad of Canadian and US plates, it's a toss up between the Dutch and Germans. They have dropped over the years, as many Europeans now take advantage of companies renting out campers (CanaDream, Cruise America, etc). 
Having said that...just saw a Fiat Ducato Camper, with German plates, along the 401 yesterday... 

~BG


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## g.spinoza

Satyricon84 said:


> What's wrong with Germany? Salaries are higher than italy, rents are lower then italy (I got in Gießen a 80 meter square flat in the first floor of a single house for 420 € warm - in italy for such house in a town of the north with at least 80.000 inhabitants is 550/600 € kalt), you don't pay autobahn (if you have to take it for to go to work, is saved money - here, for to go to Milan from my town which is 25 km far away from it, you have to take the tangenziale payng toll 1,50 € for go and 1,50 € for go back.


Funny, I have the opposite impression. Salaries are higher, but rents in Munich are freakingly high (I pay 690 for a 30 square meter flat, and I'm not even in the city centre. In Italy I payed the same amount for an apartment which was 2 times larger, and when I go back to Italy in 2 months I will pay 450 for a 70 square meter apartment). Autobahn is free but the bus/metro ticket prices are simply absurd (2.5euro for 1 trip is ridiculous).
Tickets for speeding are too low here: who's going to worry if he has to pay 25euro for speeding when he makes 3000 a month?


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## Satyricon84

g.spinoza said:


> Funny, I have the opposite impression. Salaries are higher, but rents in Munich are freakingly high


Maybe depends from the Land... in Gießen, Hessen comparating to rents in Milan, Monza and other towns here in the centre of Lombardy were really lower. Ok that Gießen isn't München, but I've seen also in Offenbach were not so much high for to be a city next to Frankfurt (Here where I live, 25 Km far away from Milan, you find nothing less of 500 € kalt in horrible apartment houses). Maybe in München and Bavaria in general is different, I don't know. In Italy were are you going to pay that amount, which city? 450 € Kalt i guess, in Italy extras like water, gas, light you have to pay on your own so in the end you are going to much in my opinion. For me such things were included in rent contract, I have never seen a bill in one year (I just had to pay little bit more for the electricity because I have the vice to never switch off the pc, so I overtaken the electricity's amount). 
For the tickets, we have also to say that germans respect the speed limit more then we italians. In the town they go 50 Km/h, when there's speed limit 120 Km/h in autobahn, they go 120 Km/h. At least the major part of them. In Italy we "interpret" speed limit signals (even because we have so absurd limits sometimes). In my opinion, isn't Germany which has too low tickets, but in Italy has too much higher! 150€ euro of fine with salaries around 1200 € it's not fair. Yes, when I went to München I had notice metro is more expansive than in Milan (and some trains look very old). About public transport I can't say much, I don't use them often, I prefere to use the car. But one thing which impressed me has been that I saw in the rural areas of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria (Ansbach, Taubertal...) a shuttle service in the night for the people which go and come back from discos. It costs 1 € if I remember well, and passes through the main villages. A clever thing if you don't want people drive after drunk. In Italy I have never seen it. 

However, this is the pic of the my flat which I had in Gießen, first floor was mine. Here in Lombardy you can find such flats in single house maybe only in the mountains (but i'm not even sure). So for me was great.


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## italystf

Only in Italy they cut off some point on your driving licence for speeding or other violations?


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## BND

^^ between Moscow and Nizhniy Novgorod:
http://g.co/maps/8utcs


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## Verso

^ You mean Vlagyimir.


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## NordikNerd

most common foreign licenseplates (except summertime)

PL, EST, LV

all these are easilly spotted except the french licenseplate which is rather non frequent.


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## Spookvlieger

No pics but license plates you can see in the region of Belgium I live.

The obvious: Germany, The Netherlands, France

Poland : A lot of polish people work in plantations in my region. They come work here for a few months and then return, made good money when compaired to what they earn in Poland. But no-one here wants those jobs because overhere those kind of wages are worth nothing.

Bulgaria: I have no Idea

Lithuania: Last two years I saw many plates of Lithuania, they might be replacing the Poles who are getting richer and don't need those low income jobs here either...


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## NordikNerd

joshsam said:


> ,
> Lithuania: Last two years I saw many plates of Lithuania, they might be replacing the Poles who are getting richer and don't need those low income jobs here either...


True ! in the 90's many polish seasonal workers came to Sweden to pick blueberries and raspberries in the woods.

Now they come as skilled craftsmen, mostly carpenters and masons.

The berries in the woods still need to be picked but this grim job is now done by thai people. They often get scammed to !


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## licenseplateman

This month's cars in Sweden from most common to least common

1 DK
2 PL
3 D
4 LT
5 NL
6 EST
7 FIN
8 N
9 BG
10 CZ
11 LV
12 MK
13 RO
14 SK
15 GB
16 A
17 BY
18 F
19 H
20 E
21 HR
22 TR
23 B
24 L
25 SLO
26 SRB
27 UA
28 BIH
29 CH
30 RUS

In the summer it was different and here's July

1 D
2 DK
3 PL
4 NL
5 N
6 CH
7 FIN
8 B
9 A
10 LT
11 F
12 GB
13 EST
14 E
15 I
16 RO
17 CZ
18 BG
19 LV
20 IRL
21 H
22 MK
23 GR
24 HR
25 FL
26 L
27 RUS
28 SK


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## Penn's Woods

^^BG?


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## Satyricon84

Bulgaria


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## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> This month's cars in Sweden from most common to least common


interesting you are serious about this. 

I live in Norrköping a bit further north and here DK-cars are not very common wintertime.

My verison of this autumn:

1 PL
2 EST
3 LV
4 D
5 LT
6 DK
7 FIN
8 N
9 NL
10 H
11 F
11 CZ
12 RUS
13 RO
14 GB
15 CH
16 BY
17 B
18 UA
19 E
20 SLO
21 GR
22 P


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## Norsko

Drammen non-summer:
1: Poland
2: Sweden
3: Lithuania
4: Latvia (quite a resent development)

These has in common to be labour migrants. Then the gap to next one on the list is large.


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## Paginadetodos

The most common in Asturias are from: France, Portugal and some from Italy. hno:
But in summer there are more from France, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom, some from Switzerland, some from Poland, some from Romania and no more.


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## licenseplateman

NordikNerd said:


> interesting you are serious about this.
> 
> I live in Norrköping a bit further north and here DK-cars are not very common wintertime.
> 
> My verison of this autumn:
> 
> 1 PL
> 2 EST
> 3 LV
> 4 D
> 5 LT
> 6 DK
> 7 FIN
> 8 N
> 9 NL
> 10 H
> 11 F
> 11 CZ
> 12 RUS
> 13 RO
> 14 GB
> 15 CH
> 16 BY
> 17 B
> 18 UA
> 19 E
> 20 SLO
> 21 GR
> 22 P


The reason that there are so many DK cars on my list is because my trip to Malmö 3rd november. I saw almost 100 DK cars.


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## Helvetics

In Crans-Montana, you have many tourists. The most common are:

Italy
France
Germany
Portugal (but they aren't tourists, they live here)
Belgium
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Luxembourg
Spain
Poland
Russian (they would be numerous, you find many Russian translations into the shops, the website has even been translated in Russian! But I don't see very often Russian plates...)

In winter, it changes with the resort:
In Crans-Montana, allways Italians
In Verbier, many British
In Veysonnaz, many Dutsh
In Vercorin, many Belgians
In Morgins, many French (because Morgins ist very close to the French border)
In Leukerbad, Saas-Fee, many Germans (because they speak German too; in the others, they speak French)


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## Chilio

bogdymol said:


> In Romania most common foreign licence plates are from:
> ...
> Trucks:
> 
> Bulgaria
> Turkey


I suppose also there are a lot of Ukrainian and Polish trucks too, because they pass through Bulgaria and north, they can not bypass Romania


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## bogdymol

Chilio said:


> I suppose also there are a lot of Ukrainian and Polish trucks too, because they pass through Bulgaria and north, they can not bypass Romania


Indeed, there are trucks from UA and PL around here...


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## GROBIN

In the Île-de-France region, most common license plates:
1) *P - Portugal*
2) *PL - Poland* (if you see plates from the Podkarpackie voivodship, 90% live here. But if you see plates - for instance - from Warsaw or Kraków - those are tourists)
3) *RO - Romania* (lots of "MM" - what city is that ?)
4) BG - Bulgaria
5) GB - The United Kingdom
6) B - Belgium
7) NL - The Netherlands
8) I -Italy
9 ) D - Germany (especially S-class Mercedes-Benz on the Champs-Élysées on Friday evenings, with "HH" license plates ... Hamburg ?)
10) TR - Turkey (especially trucks)
11) LT - Lithuania (especially trucks)
12) SRB - Serbia (especially vans)
13) CZ - Czech Republic
14) SK - Slovakia (especially trucks)
15) E - Spain
16) CH - Switzerland (especially in Paris, less in the outskirts)

Near my hometown in the outskirts of Paris, I often spot Iranian license-plates (only on trucks).


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## Satyricon84

GROBIN;86567461
3) [B said:


> RO - Romania[/B] (lots of "MM" - what city is that ?)


Maramureș district, Baia Mare is the main town



> 9 ) D - Germany (especially S-class Mercedes-Benz on the Champs-Élysées on Friday evenings, with "HH" license plates ... Hamburg ?)


Yes, HH is Hamburg, but probabily they are rental cars


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## bogdymol

GROBIN said:


> 3) *RO - Romania* (lots of "MM" - what city is that ?)


On the other hand, when I was during the summer in Maramures county I noticed that maybe 10% of the cars there were registered in Spain. So we're even


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## GROBIN

I see a lot of Spaniards each time I go to Warsaw & Kraków (Poland). I even notice at least once every half-a-week Portuguese license plates (only in summer) in Poland. But I already told about it a couple of time ago in the "Strangest & most distant plates ... in your area" ...

Most Polish license plates I see here in the Paris region (not counting trucks) are: RMI (Mielec), RKO (Kolbuszowa), RSA (Sanok), RZ (Rzeszów), RZE (the outskirts of Rzeszów) and RJS (Jasło).

But lately, I've seen (in Paris, not in the outskirts), some plates I usually see only during summertime. & the same day!
- an old (end of 90s) Opel Corsa 1.2 with SC (Częstochowa)
- a brand new Mercedes-Benz GL500 (carrying a family) with WB (Bemowo district in Warsaw)
- a Mercedes-Benz C-class (about 5 year-old) with WI (Śródmieście/Central district of Warsaw)
- a 2003-2004 Opel Zafira OPC like mine with WU (Ochota district in Warsaw)

Romanian cars I see are mostly ... Dacia Logan & Dacia Sandero. But there are also others.

Portuguese cars I see are mostly small city cars with small engines like Opel Corsas, but also 4x4 pickups like Mitsubishi L200. Mostly in the outskirts of Paris, just as Bulgarian plates, whereas Romanians & Poles are mostly seen in inner Paris...


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## Dahlis

Here in Stockholm it varies depending on season. In the summer its mostly Germans and any other time of the year its Polish or Estonian.


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## MajKeR_

In whole Silesian voivodeship street view is quite boring - German plates are everywhere - always (but their owners are not only Polish Germans), you can often see also Dutch, Belgian, British or Irish ones. If you want to spot some cars from Czech Republic or Slovakia - go to every shopping centre, especially at weekend. In my region less frequent are Italian and French plates, but e.g. in Kraków - otherwise. Most Italians are possible to spot on our southern motorways - A1 and A4.

My own summary:

1. D - king of all
2. NL
3. B
4. CZ
5. GB
6. IRL
7. F
8. I
9. SK
10. A
11. UA (especially trucks)
12. LT (the same as UA)
13. H
14. LV
15. DK
16. S
17. HR
18. E
19. SLO
20. other Balkan (especially SRB and BIH).

And quite sad reflection - if I once go to NL or B for sightseeing, by big propability I would be taken as season worker. Its possibility grows up, if I finally buy my first own car - not new, for example Alfa Romeo 156; then they may predict me alcohol problems and undeserved driving license. Maybe in some step bad opinion of Poles in Benelux are deserved, but I think generic habitants of these countries released it from their hands - now there are a lot of bad venom and fear.

Quite reflective is also that I haven't such problems if I go to Italy, southern France and possibly to Spain or Portugal.

I'm sorry if I still make some mistakes.


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## Road_UK

For northern Poland I like to add plates from Finland. Seen loads in the north-east, as a lot of them use the ferry Helsinki-Tallinn, and then head south.


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## adi.ro

GROBIN said:


> In the Île-de-France region, most common license plates:
> 3) *RO - Romania* (lots of "MM" - what city is that ?)


Don't worry because most common foreign license plate here is from France.  
After that: Spain, The United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria.


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## Corvinus

South African plate in Lesotho - posted here. 
Without ever having been there, I would guess it is the most frequent foreign registration ...










Another South African one in Lesotho - posted here 










For Swaziland, the most frequent ones are also likely to be the South African plates - with one of them posted here:


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## HigerBigger

Corvinus said:


> South African plate in Lesotho - posted here.
> Without ever having been there, I would guess it is the most frequent foreign registration ...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Another South African one in Lesotho - posted here
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> For Swaziland, the most frequent ones are also likely to be the South African plates - with one of them posted here:


Perhaps it is about 99.9% of the foreign vehicles in Lesotho that came from South Africa and in Swaziland it may be more than 90% with the rest from Mozambique.


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## Chilio

Thread name is about plates you've seen in "... in your countries". If you've never been there, it's not very likely Lesotho and Swaziland are your countries


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## GROBIN

MajKeR_ said:


> In whole Silesian voivodeship street view is quite boring - *German plates are everywhere *- always (but their owners are not only Polish Germans), you can often see also Dutch, Belgian, British or Irish ones. If you want to spot some cars from Czech Republic or Slovakia - go to every shopping centre, especially at weekend. In my region less frequent are Italian and French plates, but e.g. in Kraków - otherwise. Most Italians are possible to spot on our southern motorways - A1 and A4.
> 
> My own summary:
> 
> 1. D - king of all
> 2. NL
> 3. B
> 4. CZ
> 5. GB
> 6. IRL
> 7. F
> 8. I
> 9. SK
> 10. A
> 11. UA (especially trucks)
> 12. LT (the same as UA)
> 13. H
> 14. LV
> 15. DK
> 16. S
> 17. HR
> 18. E
> 19. SLO
> 20. other Balkan (especially SRB and BIH).
> 
> And quite sad reflection - if I once go to NL or B for sightseeing, by big propability I would be taken as season worker. Its possibility grows up, if I finally buy my first own car - not new, for example Alfa Romeo 156; then they may predict me alcohol problems and undeserved driving license. Maybe in some step bad opinion of Poles in Benelux are deserved, but I think generic habitants of these countries released it from their hands - now there are a lot of bad venom and fear.
> 
> Quite reflective is also that I haven't such problems if I go to Italy, *southern France* and possibly to Spain or Portugal.
> 
> I'm sorry if I still make some mistakes.


You'd be surprised with what I'm going to tell you: I've got 2 cars (one with French license plates, the other one with Polish license plates). With the second one, no problems in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic & the UK (maybe because it's a Warsaw license plate ? Who knows?). I can even tell Hungarian _rendörszég_, Flemish _politie_ and French police (especially here, in the Île-de-France region, but also in Northern France, where a lot of people of Polish descendance live) have been very cool to me seeing my Polish license plates! It avoided me to get fines or my car towed a couple of times !

But in Slovakia ... Gosh ! Each time I was driving near a _policie_ patrol, they were like "why the hell didn't this Polie drive too fast ???" :lol:

With my French license plates: no problem in Spain, Andorra, the UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany (it avoided me once to get stopped for speeding in Frankfurt/Oder), the Baltic countries, Poland & Czech Republic. 

But in the Netherlands ... I got a ticket (60 EUR !) a couple of years ago for not paying car-park on the street (in Maastricht). How was I supposed to know in such a relatively small city I have to pay for it on Saturdays when even in inner Paris you don't have to ??? & no discussion with the policeman !
I got also once stopped in Ukraine, but no ticket or anything.

In France, most foreign-licensed plates I saw being stopped by the police were Dutch. But about a month ago, getting out of work, I saw the police stopping ONLY cars with foreign license plates (quite rare): two from Bulgaria, one from the UK, one from Poland, one from Portugal, one from the Netherlands and one from Germany ... but I work in a zone where the whole European sub-continent comes to buy cheap things imported from China ...

*Back to the topic:* I've been for a year with a Silesian girl (so I was very often in Katowice, Chorzów and Siemianowice Śląskie). At the time, it's true most cars I saw with foreign license plates in "Oberschlesien" were German. The second ones were Dutch.

@*Road_UK*: True ! Each time I was in the TriCity (Trójmiasto: Gdańsk / Sopot / Gdynia), I saw a lot of Finnish & Swedish license plates. The third ones were ... Spanish !

In Kraków, most of the foreign license plates I saw last summer were French, German, Slovakian, Czech, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Spanish. I saw also 2 Portuguese ones.

I also spent some time in Brussels this summer. Most foreign license plates seen there were: French (especially from the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region and from the Paris region), Dutch, German, Polish (mostly from the Podlaskie voivodship, the plates of which begin with "B"), Hungarian and Spanish.




adi.ro said:


> Don't worry because most common foreign license plate here is from *France*.
> After that: Spain, *The United Kingdom*, *Italy*, Hungary, Bulgaria.


:lol: Why am I not suprised ! :lol: I've been in London at the end of September this year, & most foreign-license plated cars I saw in London were Irish, Polish, Lithuanian, Romanian, Bulgarian or Belgian. On M20, it was: French, Greek (all of them lorries), Polish, Belgian, Dutch, German.


----------



## Corvinus

Chilio said:


> Thread name is about plates you've seen in "... in your countries". If you've never been there, it's not very likely Lesotho and Swaziland are your countries


The thread name was even given by myself - just, we don't have crowds of forumers from Lesotho or Swaziland here, but it might be interesting to hear about these countries too.

Here is a closer one: Liechtensteinian plates are fairly common in Central Switzerland.


----------



## GROBIN

The last black plates remaining in Europe ...


----------



## Satyricon84

GROBIN said:


> The last black plates remaining in Europe ...


Not true, Guernsey Island still issues black plates too!


----------



## Corvinus

Another speciality about the Liechtensteinian ones is that they contain redundant information ("FL" is part of every issued plate number in the country) as part of the license number. I know of only one other country with a similar practice (Namibia with the "N" prefix on each number).


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## Alex_ZR

Well, that's probably because Liechtenstein is quite small country...


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## Stainless

Corvinus said:


> Another speciality about the Liechtensteinian ones is that they contain redundant information ("FL" is part of every issued plate number in the country) as part of the license number. I know of only one other country with a similar practice (Namibia with the "N" prefix on each number).


Jersey plates always start with a J, but could be considered part of the UK system as IIRC no similar plates were issued in the UK when they could have been.

Also Soverign Military Order of Malta plates always start SMOM, but that is not really a country.


----------



## MajKeR_

Satyricon84 said:


> Not true, Guernsey Island still issues black plates too!


Because black plates are cool - and our big, boring countries aren't enough cool to issue them 

My family has Fiat 126p from 1997 with such ones - KAM 472V (registered in Bytom, past katowickie voivodeship). I can't wait until I'll have it! 

And, GROBIN, something about your observations where in Poland live people, who visit Paris with their area and Belgium:

I have family in podkarpackie voivodeship (this with "R" as first letter on number plates). They know a lot of people, who works in France - in their village you can see a lot of French plates, most people built their new houses by money from French works. My family lives in Kolbuszowa county - it hasn't "RKO", but "RKL" 

My family has their friendly family in podlaskie voivodeship (where plates begins with "B"). I remember one time their daughter told us that her colleague moves to Belgium soon.

I'm telling you about it, because comparison of my knowledge and your posts were very intriguing for me


----------



## GROBIN

^^

You're right ! :lol: I noticed it this week it's RKL & not RKO. Moreover, I forgot to tell about the frequent Stalowa Wola (RST) plates here :lol: Those two counties/powiats are very, very frequent here.

P.S.: It's true each time I go to Brussels I see lots of "B" Polish plates. Last time, I saw a lot of "BAU" (Augustów) ones ...


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## Satyricon84

MajKeR_ said:


> Because black plates are cool - and our big, boring countries aren't enough cool to issue them


I miss black italian plates! They were cool, nowadays they became rare to spot....


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## Thermo

"B" Polish plates have something to do with Belgium?


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## NordikNerd

GROBIN said:


> ,@*Road_UK*: True ! Each time I was in the TriCity (Trójmiasto: Gdańsk / Sopot / Gdynia), I saw a lot of Finnish & Swedish license plates. The third ones were ... Spanish !


Gdynia/Gdansk has ferryconnection with Karlskrona, 10,5h (stena line) & Nynäshamn, 19h (polferries)








There also is a connection Helsinki-Gdynia 16h (finnlines), which may be the explanation for high numbers of finnish vehicles.










I have travelled the route Karlskrona-Gdynia in october and it was a shaky experience.


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## MajKeR_

Thermo said:


> "B" Polish plates have something to do with Belgium?


"B" from Białystok, capital of podlaskie voivodeship - just the coincidence with Belgian code 

Don't fear 



NordikNerd said:


> I have travelled the route Karlskrona-Gdynia in october and it was a shaky experience.


Shaky?


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## NordikNerd

MajKeR_ said:


> "B" from Białystok, capital of podlaskie voivodeship - just the coincidence with Belgian code
> 
> Don't fear
> 
> 
> 
> Shaky?


well let me put it this way. The sea was high and I was thinking about this incident:

_In the early hours of 14 January 1993, while sailing with 64 passengers and crew from Świnoujście to Ystad , the Jan Heweliusz capsized and sank in 27 metres of water off Cape Arcona on the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. The accident claimed the lives of 20 crewmen and 35 passengers. 9 people were rescued. 10 bodies were never found. To date the sinking of Jan Heweliusz is the most deadly peacetime maritime disaster involving a Polish ship._


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## tbh444

Stainless said:


> Jersey plates always start with a J, but could be considered part of the UK system as IIRC no similar plates were issued in the UK when they could have been.
> 
> Also Soverign Military Order of Malta plates always start SMOM, but that is not really a country.


Similarly I noticed plates from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania always start with the first letter of the respective country - however this could in future allow a unified system for the whole East African Union area... in particular, Kenya Uganda and Rwanda all use LLLNNNL (which means the plates vaguely resemble old British ones from pre-1983)


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## MajKeR_

NordikNerd said:


> well let me put it this way. The sea was high and I was thinking about this incident:
> 
> _In the early hours of 14 January 1993, while sailing with 64 passengers and crew from Świnoujście to Ystad , the Jan Heweliusz capsized and sank in 27 metres of water off Cape Arcona on the coast of Rügen in the Baltic Sea. The accident claimed the lives of 20 crewmen and 35 passengers. 9 people were rescued. 10 bodies were never found. To date the sinking of Jan Heweliusz is the most deadly peacetime maritime disaster involving a Polish ship._


A few years ago I was very interested in this accident (and in "Estonia" disaster - I've even read whole list of victims, to search some Poles). Then I've felt quite great fear to travelling by ferry - so I'm not reccomending such interest 

In "Jan Heweliusz" disaster there were many extra facts, like hundreds tons of concrete under a car deck (!) and careless speed (there were the 6-meters high waves on the sea). But remember - in early 90's shipowners had communistic, wild standards - they didn't take care of such much as today.

And Stena Line, which operates the Gdynia - Karlskrona line, is Swedish company, if it makes any sense for today.


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## GROBIN

OMG *NordicNerd* ! :lol: Look at the positive aspect of that: 18 years have passed since then  & no accident (I've touched good wood just after having written this  )


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## NordikNerd

*Polish-spotting*


























^^The polish people and polish registered vehicles are a common sight here. 

Usually in the vehicle: two men 25-35 years old with a bit rugged thuglike look.

The vehicle is mostly a 90's BMW or VW Passat.









^^German registered cars in the wintertime are not uncommon, but such an old car is not usually seen. The car is a bit too old for international travels.


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## licenseplateman

The 20 most common plates in Sweden that I've seen so far in December

1. DK - Denmark








2. PL - Poland (the truck is from Grodzisk Mazowiecki)








3. D - Germany (the car is from Bremen)








4. LT - Lithuania








5. NL - Netherlands








6. LV - Latvia








7. N - Norway (the car is from Oslo)








8. FIN - Finland








9. EST - Estonia








10. CZ - Czech Republic (the truck is from Olomouc)








11. TR - Turkey (the truck is from Istanbul)








12. BG - Bulgaria (the truck is from Blagoevgrad)








12. H - Hungary

I have no photos of Hungarian vehicles taken this month.

12. P - Portugal








12. RO - Romania

No photos of Romanian cars or trucks this month

12. GB - United Kingdom








17. B - Belgium








17. I - Italy








17. MK - Macedonia (the truck is from Ohrid)








17. SRB - Serbia

No photos

17. E - Spain

No photos

All those with number 12 and 17 were just as common


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## Satyricon84

The most common plates spotted in Milan and surrounds this month:

1. Romania









2. Bulgaria









3. France









4. Germany









5. England









6. Poland









7. Spain









8. Switzerland









9. Moldavia









10. Ukraine


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## Nordic20T

licenseplateman said:


> The 20 most common plates in Sweden that I've seen so far in December
> 
> 3. D - Germany (the car is from Bremen)


Is this Bremen or Bremerhaven? Nice car btw!


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## NordikNerd

Nordic20T said:


> Is this Bremen or Bremerhaven? Nice car btw!


I don't think you can see that. Both Hansestadt Bremen & Bremerhaven=HB


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## licenseplateman

Nordic20T said:


> Is this Bremen or Bremerhaven? Nice car btw!


This car is from Bremen (HB = Hansestadt Bremen?) and I agree that the old style Volvo V70 is a quite nice car


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## Nordic20T

NordikNerd said:


> I don't think you can see that. Both Hansestadt Bremen & Bremerhaven=HB


It's written on the seal and the combination is different.

Edit: 
Stadtgemeinde Bremen









Stadt Bremerhaven









Pics are from here


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## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> The 20 most common plates in Sweden that I've seen so far in December


I have seen all those license plates in Sweden this year (even MK) except SRB, TR & BG

I saw a BG while on vacation in Mannheim, Germany though

Portugal is ultrarare, never seen any of them in my life until this year I saw two of them. Turkish plates are also rare, dont remember when I last saw one even in continental Europe.

Danish plates are common in the very south of sweden, in other parts they're less seen. I see more PL & EST plates than DK-ones. 

And how do you know the car is from Oslo ? can you see that depending on the letters on the license plate?


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## GROBIN

^^

I've seen a Saab 9-5 estate from Sweden. Pity these cars aren't common, & that this brand stopped existing as I am a big fan of it


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## licenseplateman

NordikNerd said:


> I have seen all those license plates in Sweden this year (even MK) except SRB, TR & BG
> 
> I saw a BG while on vacation in Mannheim, Germany though
> 
> Portugal is ultrarare, never seen any of them in my life until this year I saw two of them. Turkish plates are also rare, dont remember when I last saw one even in continental Europe.
> 
> Danish plates are common in the very south of sweden, in other parts they're less seen. I see more PL & EST plates than DK-ones.
> 
> And how do you know the car is from Oslo ? can you see that depending on the letters on the license plate?


I really wonder why there's so many Macedonian, Serbian, Turkish and Bulgarian vehicles here in Växjö. Portugal is very rare but this month I have seen 3 of them which is strange because I've never seen them before. Turkish plates are rare but not that unusual. I see between 1-5 Turkish trucks a month. I've never seen a Turkish car. Not in Sweden and not in continental Europe.

Now about the Norwegian car. According to Wikipedia DN is one of the many codes that Oslo have.


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## Alex_ZR

licenseplateman said:


> I really wonder why there's so many Macedonian, Serbian, Turkish and Bulgarian vehicles here in Växjö.


Maybe because there are many immigrants from those countries in Sweden, so their relatives come to visit them?


----------



## NordikNerd

GROBIN said:


> ^^
> 
> I've seen a Saab 9-5 estate from Sweden. Pity these cars aren't common, & that this brand stopped existing as I am a big fan of it


But Mr Victor Muller says that SAAB will rise again ! 



licenseplateman said:


> I really wonder why there's so many Macedonian, Serbian, Turkish and Bulgarian vehicles here in Växjö. Portugal is very rare but this month I have seen 3 of them which is strange because I've never seen them before. Turkish plates are rare but not that unusual. I see between 1-5 Turkish trucks a month. I've never seen a Turkish car. Not in Sweden and not in continental Europe.
> 
> Now about the Norwegian car. According to Wikipedia DN is one of the many codes that Oslo have.


I think it's strange but things have really changed the last couple of years. I saw 2 cars from Greece this year and this was the first time in all my life (I'm 40)

The world is really getting smaller. When I grew up I was so amazed by seeing german and dutch cars, and a polish one was a small sensation. But now I really don't care, allthough I have take a picture, because I'm getting so addicted to this.


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## licenseplateman

Alex_ZR said:


> Maybe because there are many immigrants from those countries in Sweden, so their relatives come to visit them?


Most of the plates from Balkan countries here are trucks but of course some cars probably comes to visit relatives.


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## MajKeR_

Satyricon84 said:


> 6. Poland


Oh, shame - eight-charactered plate 

But German stenosed letters before 1999 looked much, much worse.


----------



## fataldelomio

North of Spain: France by far, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Italy, UK

Lastly because of inmigration Bulgaria, Rumania and Morroco


----------



## Satyricon84

I've spotted in Italy other three polish plates with 8 character






























> But German stenosed letters before 1999 looked much, much worse.


You mean like this? German plates without euroband are my favourite european plates :cheers:


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## MajKeR_

Yes, I meant these German plates - I don't like this mess: stenosed letters may be mixed with wide ones (look at VW Golf - ESA-AD 424). 

This LSW plate looks quite well, because interspaces between letters and digits are the same - but it's manufacturing error; "legal" eight-charactered Polish plate looks like this ZKA (between digits there is 10 mm interspace, but between letters - only 8). This RJA is different, because J is more narrow than others (usual width of stenosed letter is 48 mm), so it has to be pressed with "vicarial rectangle", because of compulsory arrangement.

But it isn't only thing, which makes polish eight-charactered plates ugly: interspaces on the beginning (between euroband and first letter) and end (between last sign and edge) of plate aren't equal, stenosed letters are 9-mm thick, while wide ones and digits - 10-mm.


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## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> 6. FIN (cars/trucks)




Old Mazda 626 from Finland. I think Finland is one of few "western" countries with higher numbers of older cars compared to Sweden.


----------



## KiwiGuy

How old is the average car in Finland? Here, the average car is 13 years old. It's like you've stepped back into the 90's sometimes.


----------



## DanielFigFoz

^^ Interesting idea for a thread!


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## NordikNerd

KiwiGuy said:


> How old is the average car in Finland? Here, the average car is 13 years old. It's like you've stepped back into the 90's sometimes.


I didn't find reliable statistics but some source claim that for Sweden the average car is 9 years and in Finland 10 years.

Another source state that the average car gets scrapped after 19 years.


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## ChrisZwolle

European taxation on new vehicles is so high many people can't afford new(er) cars. About 35% of the new car price in the Netherlands is tax (42% car tax + 19% VAT). 

This is weird policy, on one hand the government is insisting to write off less cleaner commercial vehicles much earlier than their economical lifecycle (German enviroment sticker for instance) but on the other hand high taxation forbids many people to be able to buy a young car.


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## licenseplateman

February 2012 - Sweden

1. DK (cars/trucks)
2. PL (cars/trucks)
3. D (cars/trucks)
4. NL (cars/trucks)
5. LT (cars/trucks)
6. BG (trucks)
7. N (cars/trucks)
8. FIN (cars/trucks)
9. LV (cars/trucks)
10. EST (cars/trucks)
11. CZ (cars/trucks)
12. RO (cars/trucks)
13. GB (cars)
14. H (cars/trucks)
15. HR (trucks)
16. SK (cars), TR (trucks)
17. A (trucks), F (cars), MK (trucks), UA (trucks)
18. BIH (one truck), L (one truck), P (one truck), RUS (one truck), SLO (one car)


----------



## Maxi_Moscow

del


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## licenseplateman

My result for Sweden in March 2012 (Mostly around Växjö, Ljungby and Värnamo)

1. DK (cars/trucks)
2. PL (cars/trucks)
3. D (cars/trucks)
4. NL (cars/trucks)
5. FIN (cars/trucks)
6. LT (cars/trucks)
7. BG (trucks)
8. EST (cars/trucks) & N (cars/trucks)
9. LV (cars/trucks)
10. CZ (cars/trucks)
11. RO (cars/trucks)
12. H (cars/trucks)
13. TR (trucks)
14. A (cars/trucks) & F (cars/trucks)
15. MK (trucks) & SK (cars/trucks)
16. GB (cars)
17. E (cars) & SLO (trucks)
18. I (cars/trucks)
19. P (trucks), RUS (cars/trucks) & UA (trucks)
20. B (cars/trucks), BIH (cars/trucks), CH (cars), IRL (trucks) & L (cars/trucks)
21. BY (one car) & HR (one truck)


----------



## Vienna21

In Vienna:

1. D
2. SK
3. PL
4. H
5. CZ
6. RO
7. I
8. HR
9. NL
10. SRB
11. CH
12. B
13. F
14. SLO
15. BG


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## licenseplateman

In order from most common to most uncommon (April 2012 - Sweden)

1. DK (cars/trucks)
2. PL (cars/trucks)
3. D (cars/trucks)
4. N (cars/trucks)
5. NL (cars/trucks)
6. LT (cars/trucks)
7. EST (cars/trucks)
8. BG (cars/trucks)
9. FIN (cars/trucks)
10. LV (cars/trucks)
11. RO (cars/trucks)
12. CZ (cars/trucks)
13. F (cars)
14. B (cars/trucks)
15. GB (cars), H (cars/trucks) & UA (cars/trucks)
16. A (cars/trucks), SK (trucks) & TR (cars/trucks)
17. CH (cars) & MK (trucks)
18. BIH (cars/trucks), BY (cars) & RUS (trucks)
19. I (cars), IRL (cars) & SRB (cars)
20. E (one car), L (one truck), SLO (one truck) & USA (one car)


----------



## PlatesMontenegro

In Montenegro you can spot a lot of plates from: D, S, CH, L, SLO, HR, SRB, MK, BiH, AL, A, I, RUS, BY, GB. In summer a lot of plates from PL, EST, CZ, GR, NL, RO, SK, IRL, LT.
For these two days I've seen like 10 plates from PL and a bus, so many cars and campers from SLO.


----------



## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> My result for Sweden in March 2012 (Mostly around Växjö, Ljungby and Värnamo)


Using your statistics on Linköping, Sweden the number of DK cars are significantly lower:

1. PL (cars/trucks)
2. D (cars/trucks)
3. FIN (cars/trucks)
4. EST (cars/trucks) 
5. LV (cars/trucks)
6. NL (cars/trucks)
7. LT (cars/trucks)
7. RUS (trucks)
8 DK (cars/trucks)
9. N (cars/trucks)
10. CZ (cars/trucks)

Remember that forregin licenseplates in general are not very common at all here in Linköping. I travelled on the E4 and stopped at Lagan, Ljungby and I saw more of forregin cars than I'm used to.


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## Corvinus

NordikNerd said:


> Remember that forregin licenseplates in general are not very common at all here in Linköping.


Linköpings Universitet is popular with exchange students (ERASMUS) from other European countries, e.g. Germany, so at least in that area, there should be some foreign plates - the usual suspects, not exotic ones ...


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## licenseplateman

May 2012 - Sweden

1. DK (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
2. D (cars/trucks)
3. PL (cars/trucks)
4. N (cars/trucks)
5. NL (cars/trucks)
6. LT (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
7. FIN (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
8. CZ (cars/trucks) & EST (cars/trucks)
9. BG (cars/trucks)
10. SK (cars/trucks)
11. CH (cars)
12. LV (cars/trucks)
13. GB (cars)
14. A (cars/trucks/motorcycles) & H (cars/trucks)
15. F (cars/trucks) & RO (cars/trucks)
16. TR (trucks)
17. RUS (cars/trucks)
18. B (cars), BIH (cars/trucks), E (cars/trucks) & MK (trucks)
19. UA (cars/trucks)
20. BY (cars)
21. CY (one truck), GR (one motorcycle), HR (one car), I (one truck), IRL (one truck), L (one car) & P (one truck)


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## gabrielbabb

In Mexico City I have seen plenty of *american* plates, they are mainly Texan, *Canadian* just 2 or 3, 1 *colombian*, about, 2 *guatemlans*, 1 *spaniard*.
I am impressed because of the canadians and te colombian ones, it is a long trip, just to go to Guatemala or to USA from Mexico City by car you need about 12 hours to the nearest points..


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## Road_UK

licenseplateman said:


> May 2012 - Sweden
> 
> 1. DK (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
> 2. D (cars/trucks)
> 3. PL (cars/trucks)
> 4. N (cars/trucks)
> 5. NL (cars/trucks)
> 6. LT (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
> 7. FIN (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
> 8. CZ (cars/trucks) & EST (cars/trucks)
> 9. BG (cars/trucks)
> 10. SK (cars/trucks)
> 11. CH (cars)
> 12. LV (cars/trucks)
> 13. GB (cars)
> 14. A (cars/trucks/motorcycles) & H (cars/trucks)
> 15. F (cars/trucks) & RO (cars/trucks)
> 16. TR (trucks)
> 17. RUS (cars/trucks)
> 18. B (cars), BIH (cars/trucks), E (cars/trucks) & MK (trucks)
> 19. UA (cars/trucks)
> 20. BY (cars)
> 21. CY (one truck), GR (one motorcycle), HR (one car), I (one truck), IRL (one truck), L (one car) & P (one truck)


Do you really register every single foreign vehicle that has the courage to enter Växjö?


----------



## licenseplateman

Road_UK said:


> Do you really register every single foreign vehicle that has the courage to enter Växjö?


I write down all foreign plates I see


----------



## Road_UK

Why


----------



## keokiracer

^^ The guy has a hobby, let him have it. Why do you care why he does that?


----------



## Road_UK

Just wondering, that's all.


----------



## scott125

Here in Scotland we dont get huge numbers of foreign registered vehicles .

Cars

Id say that Polish and Dutch are most popular . In summer you can see German , Dutch , Swiss , French and Belgian . Less common would be Italian , Portuguese and Spanish .

Czech , Slovakia and Lithuania from time to time. Irish plates are present too.

Dont see many from Norway , Sweden or Denmark as you used too , i think this is because the ferries from Newcastle have stopped.

Rare ones ive seen were Russian ones for the State Circus , Ukraine and 2 Queensland /Victoria plates . US plates on Imports occa.

Never seen Faroes nor Iceland when there was a car ferry connection.


Trucks

Id say Polish and Dutch for foreign trucks . Then German , Spanish , Czech Slovakian ,Lithuanian , Turkish and Irish . Scotland is not a Transit point so we dont see as many as England .


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## Corvinus

In the Swiss canton of St. Gallen (the one bordering Liechtenstein), of course Liechtensteinian plates are fairly common.

Note that not all FL plates are black - agricultural and other special vehicles may have plates colored in the same way as Swiss ones for these:


----------



## Road_UK

Not that common. More Germans and Austrians I'd say.


----------



## licenseplateman

August 2012 - Sweden

1. D (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
2. DK (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
3. PL (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
4. NL (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
5. N (cars/trucks)
6. FIN (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
7. BG (cars/trucks)
8. LT (cars/trucks)
9. EST (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
10. F (cars)
11. CZ (cars/trucks)
12. CH (cars)
13. A (cars/trucks)
14. I (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
15. RO (cars/trucks) & TR (trucks)
16. B (cars) & GB (cars/trucks)
17. RUS (cars/trucks)
18. LV (cars/trucks)
19. H (cars/trucks)
20. E (cars/trucks)
21. SK (cars/trucks)
22. L (cars/trucks)
23. UA (cars/trucks)
24. SLO (cars/trucks)
25. BIH (cars/trucks) & MK (trucks)
26. HR (trucks), P (trucks) & SRB (trucks)
27. IRL (one truck), J (one motorcycle), MC (one car), MD (one car) & RKS (one bus)


----------



## Diego N

Here in my state, Santa Catarina, in Brazil, Argentinian and Paraguayans plates are very common, specially in summer when they visit our tropical beaches ;D


----------



## NordikNerd

Diego N said:


> Here in my state, Santa Catarina, in Brazil, Argentinian and Paraguayans plates are very common, specially in summer when they visit our tropical beaches ;D


Is that a moped ? The Paraguay flag looks like the dutch one ??


----------



## licenseplateman

September 2012 - Sweden

1. D (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
2. DK (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
3. PL (cars/trucks)
4. LT (cars/trucks)
5. NL (cars/trucks)
6. EST (cars/trucks) & FIN (cars/trucks)
7. N (cars/trucks)
8. LV (cars/trucks)
9. BG (trucks)
10. CZ (cars/trucks)
11. A (cars/trucks), CH (cars), RO (cars/trucks) & RUS (cars/trucks)
12. SK (cars/trucks)
13. GB (cars) & H (cars/trucks)
14. F (cars) & UA (cars/trucks)
15. B (cars), HR (trucks), I (cars) & IRL (trucks)
16. BIH (cars) & TR (trucks)
17. E (one car), L (one car), MK (one truck), P (one truck), RKS (one car) & SRB (one car)


----------



## keokiracer

NordikNerd said:


> Is that a moped ? The Paraguay flag looks like the dutch one ??


(Late reply)

Looks more like the Luxembourgian flag. That one has a lighter blue flag too. But that is not the full Paruguayan (or however the crap you spell that :nuts flag, this is the full one:










OT:

Most spotted in NL

- Belgium (duh, < 20 kms from border)
- Germany
- Great Britain (a crapload of cars lately)
- Poland (cars + trucks)
- Romania

And on another note: since about 5 weeks ago I see Portuguese plates on a a daily base. Always the same 2, on the same location


----------



## nerdly_dood

In Virginia: Quebec, Ontario, and an occasional German plate.


----------



## Portugal10

these days the only foreign plates here in madeira it's french. they can't be rare anymore.


----------



## Wingard64




----------



## licenseplateman

October 2012 - Sweden

1. DK (cars/trucks)
2. D (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
3. PL (cars/trucks)
4. NL (cars/trucks)
5. N (cars/trucks)
6. LT (cars/trucks)
7. BG (cars/trucks)
8. FIN (cars/trucks)
9. CZ (cars/trucks)
10. EST (cars/trucks)
11. SK (cars/trucks)
12. LV (cars/trucks)
13. RO (cars/trucks)
14. H (cars/trucks)
15. TR (trucks)
16. A (cars/trucks)
17. CH (cars) & GB (cars)
18. UA (cars/trucks)
19. MK (cars/trucks)
20. SLO (trucks)
21. F (cars) & P (trucks)
22. B (cars) & E (cars/trucks)
23. L (cars/trucks), RUS (cars/trucks) & SRB (trucks)
24. GR (one car), HR (one truck), I (one car), IRL (one truck) & MNE (one car)


----------



## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> October 2012 - Sweden
> 
> 1. DK (cars/trucks)
> 2. D (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
> 3. PL (cars/trucks)
> 4. NL (cars/trucks)
> 5. N (cars/trucks)
> 6. LT (cars/trucks)
> 7. BG (cars/trucks)
> 8. FIN (cars/trucks)
> 9. CZ (cars/trucks)
> 10. EST (cars/trucks)
> 11. SK (cars/trucks)
> 12. LV (cars/trucks)
> 13. RO (cars/trucks)
> 14. H (cars/trucks)
> 15. TR (trucks)
> 16. A (cars/trucks)
> 17. CH (cars) & GB (cars)
> 18. UA (cars/trucks)
> 19. MK (cars/trucks)
> 20. SLO (trucks)
> 21. F (cars) & P (trucks)
> 22. B (cars) & E (cars/trucks)
> 23. L (cars/trucks), RUS (cars/trucks) & SRB (trucks)
> 24. GR (one car), HR (one truck), I (one car), IRL (one truck) & MNE (one car)


These days I do not spot many forregin license plates, most of the few I see in town are polish.

Today on the E4 I saw one BG-truck behind a P-truck, quite rare scene, but the camera was not ready so I missed the oppurtunity to take a photo.









TT=Trnava District, Slovakia. SK-cars are sometimes seen, but not often.


----------



## LDN_EUROPE

I'd say Dutch and Polish. Quite a number of Italian, German, Irish and Eastern European too.


----------



## licenseplateman

November 2012 - Sweden

1. PL (cars/trucks)
2. DK (cars/trucks)
3. D (cars/trucks)
4. LT (cars/trucks)
5. N (cars/trucks) & NL (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
6. FIN (cars/trucks)
7. BG (cars/trucks)
8. CZ (cars/trucks)
9. EST (cars/trucks) & LV (cars/trucks)
10. RO (cars/trucks)
11. E (cars/trucks), GB (cars/trucks) & SK (cars/trucks)
12. A (cars/trucks), F (cars) & P (trucks)
13. BIH (cars/trucks), H (cars/trucks), RUS (trucks) & TR (trucks)
14. B (cars), CH (cars/trucks), GR (cars), I (cars), IRL (cars/trucks) & UA (trucks)
15. BY (one car), MD (one car), MK (one truck), SLO (one truck) & SRB (one truck)


----------



## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> November 2012 - Sweden
> 
> 1. PL (cars/trucks)
> 2. DK (cars/trucks)
> 3. D (cars/trucks)
> 4. LT (cars/trucks)
> 5. N (cars/trucks) & NL (cars/trucks/motorcycles)
> 6. FIN (cars/trucks)
> 7. BG (cars/trucks)
> 8. CZ (cars/trucks)
> 9. EST (cars/trucks) & LV (cars/trucks)
> 10. RO (cars/trucks)
> 11. E (cars/trucks), GB (cars/trucks) & SK (cars/trucks)
> 12. A (cars/trucks), F (cars) & P (trucks)
> 13. BIH (cars/trucks), H (cars/trucks), RUS (trucks) & TR (trucks)
> 14. B (cars), CH (cars/trucks), GR (cars), I (cars), IRL (cars/trucks) & UA (trucks)
> 15. BY (one car), MD (one car), MK (one truck), SLO (one truck) & SRB (one truck)


I'd also say that PL cars outnumber all other forreign licenseplates. (Which are few now)





One of 2 romanian long time residents in Linköping. I have seen this car for more than a year now. This type of DACIA Logan was never marketed here, but the pick up version exists.


----------



## Biesiada

Central, North-Eastern Poland 
1) LT (danger)
2) RUS (39, 177) Kaliningrad, Moscow
3) LV (danger)/BY
4) UA (AC, BC)
5 ) D
6) A (Wien W)
6) GB/NL/F/B
7) S (southern and western)/ CZ
8) H/RO/EST/FIN
9) E/ DK/ NO/BG/TR


----------



## Sahelanthropus

Portugal10 said:


> these days the only foreign plates here in madeira it's french. they can't be rare anymore.


Looks like a gold storm trooper.


----------



## mkt

Here in PR, the only common foreign plates (and even that's pushing it) are from the Dominican Republic. Mainland US plates aren't technically foreign, but we see them as well, moreso on the west of the island than in the capital, due to the large US Military presence on the west.

Personally though, here in Puerto Rico, I've seen Luxembourg, Chile, UK (posted it on the other thread), and Russian plates. For a period in the 90's, you'd also see tons of Panamanian plates belonging to US Military personnel who had been previously stationed in the Canal Zone.

The Luxembourg plate was on a Nissan Xtrail, and it belonged to (I spoke to the driver) the Luxembourgian staffer of the Dutch Consulate in the Dominican Republic. The Netherlands represents Luxembourg in the Dominican Republic.

The Chilean plate was on a Range Rover covered with rally stickers.

The UK plate was on an old Land Rover near a USCG base.

The Russian plate was on a newer Range Rover that traveled with a luxury yatch that was in the port of San Juan over a year ago. I saw it being loaded with provisions for its next trip.


----------



## Road_UK

Finally an interesting post on this thread. How do the Russians get their vehicles there? Do they live there? And what about Dominicans? I've been there, but I'm not aware of any ferry crossings... 

Thank you for your post...


----------



## mkt

Road_UK said:


> Finally an interesting post on this thread. How do the Russians get their vehicles there? Do they live there? And what about Dominicans? I've been there, but I'm not aware of any ferry crossings...
> 
> Thank you for your post...


There's a daily fairy between PR and the Dominican Republic. The Russian car was transported inside of a megayatch that was moored at the Port of San Juan.


----------



## NordikNerd

Most common plates in december.

1.PL
2.D
3. the other ones N,DK, FIN, LV and even I (saw 2 I-plates recently)

The less common E-plates are getting a bit more frequent. I have seen at least 3 of them this year.

About the licenseplate from Spain: Nowadays trucking has become more like the shipping industry. You have a spanish flag on the truck, but it could be based in another country and the driver is probably from eastern europe. Taxation will decide the nationality of the vehicle and the driver. BTW is that "SP" sign compulsury on trucks from Spain ?


----------



## carlesnuc

SP:Servicio Publico Public Service


----------



## NordikNerd

carlesnuc said:


> SP:Servicio Publico Public Service


Is this truck not belonging to a private trucking company but to the spanish goverment ? Just curious why they drove so far and what's in the load.


----------



## Road_UK

NordikNerd said:


> Is this truck not belonging to a private trucking company but to the spanish goverment ? Just curious why they drove so far and what's in the load.


Oh please! 

Spanish trucks are all over Sweden. It ain't that far. Just take a look on the Scania site at Sodertalje. In my van I've done this a few times: deliver at the Sodertalje plant at 6am Monday, get to Magdeburg,Germany early evening and have a full nights sleep. Load 6am next morning and get to Valencia, Spain late at night for delivery next morning. 

Spanish trucks deliver either parts for the truck production all over Sweden, or oranges like they do in all corners of Europe. I usually do a delivery on turbocharges in my van for Scania and Volvo (Skovde) in Sweden, Iveco in Italy and France, Renault in France, DAF in the Netherlands and MAN in Germany. These products are manufactured in Huddersfield, UK and they ship them with us on vans when they're behind production. And a Spanish truck in Sweden is really no big deal.

And SP is displayed on all goods vehicles in Spain, including freight vans.


----------



## adevahi

NordikNerd said:


> Is this truck not belonging to a private trucking company but to the spanish goverment ? Just curious why they drove so far and what's in the load.


I am spanish and I have always had the same doubt. All the trucks (even the ones that belong to a private company) have the SP plate. So the reason for having that is not "to be public" but it isn't "being a good vehicle" either because taxis and private buses have them too. Anyway, I think that any car that is not familiar car, motorbike or for agronomical works have to carry this plate


----------



## licenseplateman

December 2012 - Sweden

1. DK (cars/trucks)
2. D (cars/trucks)
3. PL (cars/trucks)
4. NL (cars/trucks)
5. N (cars/trucks)
6. LT (cars/trucks)
7. FIN (cars/trucks)
8. BG (cars/trucks)
9. LV (cars/trucks)
10. EST (cars/trucks)
11. RO (cars/trucks)
12. CZ (cars/trucks)
13. GB (cars/trucks)
14. SLO (trucks)
15. F (cars)
16. SK (cars/trucks)
17. H (cars/trucks) & TR (trucks)
18. A (cars/trucks) & RUS (cars)
19. B (cars), CH (cars) & UA (trucks)
20. BY (cars/trucks), E (cars/trucks) & L (cars)
21. HR (cars/trucks), I (cars), IRL (trucks) & P (trucks)
22. BIH (one truck), MNE (one car) & SRB (one car)

And here's the list for the whole year

1. D
2. DK
3. PL
4. NL
5. N
6. LT
7. FIN
8. BG
9. EST
10. CZ
11. LV
12. CH
13. RO
14. A
15. F
16. GB
17. SK
18. H
19. B
20. RUS
21. TR
22. I
23. E
24. UA
25. SLO
26. MK
27. BIH
28. L
29. HR
30. P
31. IRL
32. BY & SRB
33. GR
34. USA
35. CY, MC, MD, MNE & RKS
36. IS & J


----------



## Penn's Woods

^^J = Japan?!


----------



## licenseplateman

Penn's Woods said:


> ^^J = Japan?!


Yes, I spotted one Japanese motorcycle in August 2012


----------



## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> December 2012 - Sweden
> 
> 8. BG
> 9. EST
> 10. CZ
> 11. LV
> 12. CH
> 13. RO
> 14. A
> 15. F
> 16. GB
> 17. SK
> 18. H
> 19. B
> 20. RUS
> 21. TR
> 22. I
> 23. E
> 24. UA
> 25. SLO
> 26. MK
> 27. BIH
> 28. L
> 29. HR
> 30. P
> 31. IRL
> 32. BY & SRB
> 33. GR
> 34. USA
> 35. CY, MC, MD, MNE & RKS
> 36. IS & J


EST & LV are higher up the list where I live and BG trucks are rarer.
I have spotted both MK, GR, E & P-vehicles for the first time in my hometown this year.

I have seen SRB-cars in Germany but never in Sweden. BY-Have spotted them for many years.

BiH, CY, MD, MNE & RKS, IS : Never seen them, not even in Italy.

USA: I have seen US-plates but with swedish plates on the side. I have never seen a real US-registered vehicle.

Sweden is a bit too disconnected from continental Europe to attract the real exotics from the Middle East like you see in the fashionable Riviera. Would be nice to spot one of those here sometimes.


----------



## licenseplateman

NordikNerd said:


> I have seen SRB-cars in Germany but never in Sweden. BY-Have spotted them for many years.
> 
> BiH, CY, MD, MNE & RKS, IS : Never seen them, not even in Italy.
> 
> USA: I have seen US-plates but with swedish plates on the side. I have never seen a real US-registered vehicle.
> 
> Sweden is a bit too disconnected from continental Europe to attract the real exotics from the Middle East like you see in the fashionable Riviera. Would be nice to spot one of those here sometimes.


SRB cars are rare. I usually only see them at the E4 and E6. If I see them inside a town it's almost always somewhere in Scania. I haven't spotted any Serbian plate in Växjö for a year, so the Serbian plates on the lists are from my trips on the E4 and E6.
I saw few BY plates in 2012.

I saw plates from CY, MC, MD, MNE & J for the first time in 2012.

I have seen four valid US plates in Sweden in 2012. Two from Florida, in Alvesta and Ronneby, one from California near Kalmar and one from Oregon in Tingsryd. I've got pictures of the Florida plate in Ronneby and the Oregon plate in Tingsryd.

I have never seen a car from the Middle east in Sweden, except if you count the Turkish car from Aydin I saw in Växjö as middle-eastern.


----------



## NordikNerd

licenseplateman said:


> I have never seen a car from the Middle east in Sweden, except if you count the Turkish car from Aydin I saw in Växjö as middle-eastern.












The only vehicle from the Middle East spotted in Sweden ??

(not my photo)


----------



## Alex_ZR

licenseplateman said:


> December 2012 - Sweden
> 
> 1. DK (cars/trucks)
> 2. D (cars/trucks)
> 3. PL (cars/trucks)
> 4. NL (cars/trucks)
> 5. N (cars/trucks)
> 6. LT (cars/trucks)
> 7. FIN (cars/trucks)
> 8. BG (cars/trucks)
> 9. LV (cars/trucks)
> 10. EST (cars/trucks)
> 11. RO (cars/trucks)
> 12. CZ (cars/trucks)
> 13. GB (cars/trucks)
> 14. SLO (trucks)
> 15. F (cars)
> 16. SK (cars/trucks)
> 17. H (cars/trucks) & TR (trucks)
> 18. A (cars/trucks) & RUS (cars)
> 19. B (cars), CH (cars) & UA (trucks)
> 20. BY (cars/trucks), E (cars/trucks) & L (cars)
> 21. HR (cars/trucks), I (cars), IRL (trucks) & P (trucks)
> 22. BIH (one truck), MNE (one car) & SRB (one car)
> 
> And here's the list for the whole year
> 
> 1. D
> 2. DK
> 3. PL
> 4. NL
> 5. N
> 6. LT
> 7. FIN
> 8. BG
> 9. EST
> 10. CZ
> 11. LV
> 12. CH
> 13. RO
> 14. A
> 15. F
> 16. GB
> 17. SK
> 18. H
> 19. B
> 20. RUS
> 21. TR
> 22. I
> 23. E
> 24. UA
> 25. SLO
> 26. MK
> 27. BIH
> 28. L
> 29. HR
> 30. P
> 31. IRL
> 32. BY & SRB
> 33. GR
> 34. USA
> 35. CY, MC, MD, MNE & RKS
> 36. IS & J


What about Malta (M)?


----------



## licenseplateman

NordikNerd said:


> The only vehicle from the Middle East spotted in Sweden ??
> 
> (not my photo)


I think it is the only photo of a middle eastern vehicle taken in Sweden that I have seen.


----------



## licenseplateman

Alex_ZR said:


> What about Malta (M)?


I have never seen a Maltese plate.


----------



## studdmanster

Bhutan Plates, spotted in abundance in Kolkata, India


images


----------



## Corvinus

^^ Interesting, let's see more extra-European situations in this thread!

What characters are these on the Bhutan plates? Same as those of an official language in India?


----------



## NordikNerd

Corvinus said:


> ^^ Interesting, let's see more extra-European situations in this thread!
> 
> What characters are these on the Bhutan plates? Same as those of an official language in India?


Looks like the hindi alphabet.


----------



## Worldplates LP

In Barcelona (Spain) you can see many Andorra, France, Italy, Germany and NL every day, and also GB.
And trucks and trailers in petrol stations the most common and RO H LT D and a lot of PL

__________________________________________________________
http://www.everyoneweb.com/worldplates/


----------



## _BPS_

In Toronto (Canada), most common foreign plate is American from (in order) NY > NJ > other states, but I've also seen a few European plates I think (probably illegal).


----------



## Worldplates LP

Sahelanthropus said:


> 50 miles of Interstate 35 in rural Minnesota i spotted.
> Iowa (10)
> Illinois (6)
> Wisconsin (5)
> Missouri (4)
> Arizona (3)
> Kansas (2)
> Texas (2)
> Alaska
> Tennessee
> Montana
> New Mexico
> Wyoming
> Kentucky
> Mississippi
> Indiana
> New Jersey
> South Dakota


Nice, so many different plates!!


----------



## N.J.

In USA.... We see Canada plates all the time


----------



## NordikNerd

Today I saw plates from all Europe in Linköping. 

Many tourists and swedish expats bring their vehicles to Linköping. Even saw an irish or brittish asphalt scammer with his truck.


1. D
2. EST
3. PL
4. LV
5. NL
6. DK
7. N
8. GB 
9. I
10. B
11. BG (truck)









*L=Stadt Leipzig*








*TBU=Busko-Zdroj,Poland 80km NE of Krakow*


----------



## Worldplates

What are the 15 most common plates in Romania??


----------



## Road_UK

Worldplates said:


> What are the 15 most common plates in Romania??


15 Romanian plates.


----------



## Worldplates

Road_UK said:


> 15 Romanian plates.


xDDD
What are the 15 most common countries in Romania?


----------



## Quall

In Northeastern Ontario - Quebec, NY, Michigan


----------



## Kirov88

In the east of the Netherlands it's mostly Germans and truckdrivers from the Baltic states and Hungaria.

Also quite a few Poles and other Slavic migrant workers.


----------



## Skyline_

All Balkan nations.... AL, BG, SRB, RO, TR, etc. 

Other European plates are more rare. Once I saw a car with Arabic plates and another time one one with American plates.


----------



## Worldplates

Skyline_ said:


> All Balkan nations.... AL, BG, SRB, RO, TR, etc.
> 
> Other European plates are more rare. Once I saw a car with Arabic plates and another time one one with American plates.


Which Arabic plates, from where?


----------



## Skyline_

Worldplates said:


> Which Arabic plates, from where?


UAE


----------



## volodaaaa

Well, the most common licence plates in Bratislava, Slovakia are (ordered by observed frequency)
- Czech Republic (CZ - the top of foreign drivers in SK)
- Poland (PL)
- Hungary (H)
- Austria (A)
- Germany (D)

private cars registered in other countries are quite rare. 
But freight cars are more varied. Besides those mentioned above, it is pretty common to see trucks from
- Bulgaria (BG)
- Romania (RO)
- Turkey (TR)
- Serbia (SRB)
- FYR Macedonia (MK)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)
- Croatia (HR)
- Estonia (EST)
- Lithuania (LT)
- Italy (IT)

In respect to private cars from closer counties, I have never seen Albania, Macedonia, Belarus, Baltic countries, Denmark.


----------



## volodaaaa

Road_UK said:


> Would you drive somewhere to see foreign plates?


If you want to see numerous number of foreign licence plates, visit austrian A4 or hungarian M1 motorway. Almost each overtaken car will have different foreign licence plate


----------



## Penn's Woods

volodaaaa said:


> Well, the most common licence plates in Bratislava, Slovakia are (ordered by observed frequency)
> - Czech Republic (CZ - the top of foreign drivers in SK)
> - Poland (PL)
> - Hungary (H)
> - Austria (A)
> - Germany (D)
> 
> ....


Interesting that the Czech Republic's more common than Austria or Hungary, in Bratislava. Czechs and Slovaks are still somehow "closer" to each other 20 years after Czechoslovakia split up? (And why Poland?)


----------



## NordikNerd

Penn's Woods said:


> Interesting that the Czech Republic's more common than Austria or Hungary, in Bratislava. Czechs and Slovaks are still somehow "closer" to each other 20 years after Czechoslovakia split up? (And why Poland?)


I presume the geographical borders of those countries are not the same as the cultural/linguistical ones. For Hungary I have read that many hungarians live in Slovakia, Austria and other neighbouring countries, in areas that used to be hungarian before 1914.

So it seems natural that the hungarian speaking people in Slovakia & Romania travel to Hungary to visit eachother. 

Also the czech and slovak languages seem to be quite similar, so that is one reason to visit eachother.

It's always interesting to study the travel flow of forreign registered vehicles.

You see travel because of tourism, visit of relatives and work. 

The number of People who travel internationally by car because of work has increased in the last 10 years. Especially BG & RO plates were almost non existant in Scandinavia for 15 years ago, but now they are not an sensation anymore.










Polish company car from Poznan in Linköping. Doing work for 1/3 of the price of a swedish craftsman.


----------



## Penn's Woods

^^That's exactly what's interesting about it! 

I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that Czech and Polish cars were the most commonly-seen foreign plates in Slovakia overall, but specifically in Bratislava, which borders two other countries, I'd expect cars from those countries to be the most common.

There was a photo on the Dutch roads thread a couple of days ago, showing a motorway with traffic coming towards us (so we see the front of the cars), and it's striking - at least to me - that every single plate is yellow. No foreigners on the road. I can't go very far at all in Philadelphia without seeing out-of-state plates so that's unusual to me. I know a European nation-state is not the same thing as a U.S. state, but these travel patterns would suggest that a United States of Europe isn't going to happen tomorrow. Whether that's good or not is none of my business. :cheers:

EDIT: the Dutch photo I'm talking about is the first one in this post. Really jumped out at me, as I say: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=106847821&postcount=9701


----------



## NordikNerd

Penn's Woods said:


> ^^That's exactly what's interesting about it!
> 
> I can't go very far at all in Philadelphia without seeing out-of-state plates so that's unusual to me. I know a European nation-state is not the same thing as a U.S. state, but these travel patterns would suggest that a United States of Europe isn't going to happen tomorrow.


It's never going to happen, although Europe is more integrated today than it was for 30 years ago. I visited the GDR in 1987, even if it only was a 4 hour ferry away it felt like North Korea today. A completely different world politically.

Yes. It's true that common languages and similar culture is the main reason for people to travel between countries. 

I was in the tristate area of Aachen, Germany in 2009. Although both Belgium and Holland are around the corner I didnt notice many NL or B cars in Aachen. Same thing with Flensburg, Germany. Of course once in a while I saw a DK car, but not as often as I expected, even if if prices are slightly lower in Germany.

Why ? No common language, no similar culture also no major difference in prices. So no particular reason to visit Aachen for people from B and NL even if it's close. 

The border area Norway & Sweden at Strömstad is frequently crossed by norwegians coming to Sweden mostly because of cheap shopping.


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## volodaaaa

Penn's Woods said:


> Interesting that the Czech Republic's more common than Austria or Hungary, in Bratislava. Czechs and Slovaks are still somehow "closer" to each other 20 years after Czechoslovakia split up? (And why Poland?)


It don't have to be logical at glance, but it is easily explainable.

- Czecho-Slovakia was one country, peacefully split into two independent countries. Some rivalry, obviously, still exists, but we are more likely to be friends and majority of people have never recognized borders between those countries (it was not like in Yugoslavia, where it was almost impossible to see Croatia registered car in Serbia or vice-versa in late 90's). Due to some cultural diferencies, it was always common for Slovaks to study in Czech republic (especially in Brno and Prague). Lot of Slovaks stay work in Czech republic. Since it is not very far, those emigrants visit their relatives in Slovakia very frequently and regularly (e.g. weekly) like it was still within one country. Lot of Slovaks got residence in Czech republic and therefore drive cars with Czech plates.

- Slovak and Czech companies are more likely to cooperate than others. You can see some brotherhood examples in popular TV series (e.g. we had one season of Slovakia's got talent or Slovak Idol, but we have Czechoslovakia's got talent and Czechoslovak Idol since (even CS doesn't exist anymore). This coopearion mean increased flows of business trips CZ->SK, SK->CZ.

Commuting between SK and H is common due to Hungarian minority, which similarly works and study in Budapest/Gyor and visit each other. E.g. I have some relatives in Hungary with car registered in H too. 

Unlike Hungarians and Czechs, Austrian don't have to visit Slovakia, commuting is rather in opposite direction. I bet there is lot of Slovak cars in Austria. 

Germans are common due to Volkswagen factory, T-com and other german companies that expanded here after the fall of communism.

What I can't explain are Poles. There are loads of them at Slovak motorways as well at sections around Bratislava. Don't know where are they travelling.


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## Road_UK

NordikNerd said:


> It's never going to happen, although Europe is more integrated today than it was for 30 years ago. I visited the GDR in 1987, even if it only was a 4 hour ferry away it felt like North Korea today. A completely different world politically.
> 
> Yes. It's true that common languages and similar culture is the main reason for people to travel between countries.
> 
> I was in the tristate area of Aachen, Germany in 2009. Although both Belgium and Holland are around the corner I didnt notice many NL or B cars in Aachen. Same thing with Flensburg, Germany. Of course once in a while I saw a DK car, but not as often as I expected, even if if prices are slightly lower in Germany.
> 
> Why ? No common language, no similar culture also no major difference in prices. So no particular reason to visit Aachen for people from B and NL even if it's close.


You are wrong. Germans, Belgians and Dutch people hop across all the time. Especially in the Aachen area they have a lot in common, and plates in the länderndreieck from all three countries are normal. In Aachen there are even local Belgian and Dutch busses on regular intervals, as well as a German line going to the Dutch town of Vaals.


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## Penn's Woods

^^The Aachen area came up in the language thread a couple of weeks ago, though. Someone thought that the driver of the Dutch bus he took from Aachen to Vaals didn't even speak German....

I'm not saying either of you is wrong; I obviously have no experience of that area one way or the other. :dunno:


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