British Columbia License Plates

British Columbia High Plates	Print

Letters I, O, Q, U, Y, Z are not used.
Since alpha-numeric plates were introduced in 1970, the province developed series based on a 10-character progression for no other reason than the archaic license-office rotary stamps of the day were still keyed to all-numeric plates that were the B.C. style up to that year. Hence the 10-letter "roll-over" in series progression as shown below. For the next 15 years, new bases started alternately with either L or A leading the prefixes. The 1970 base started with AAA, 1973 with LAA, 1978 with AAA, and the current (1985) base with LAA-000.

1st series (alpha-numeric): LAA - LKK, MAA - MKK, NAA - NKK, etc., through XAA - XKK.
2nd series: LLA - LXK, MLA - MXK, NLA - NXK, etc., through XLA - XXK.
3rd series: LLL - LXX, MLL - MXX, NLL - NXX , etc., through XXL - XXX.
4th series: LAL - LKX, MAL - MKX, NAL - NKX, etc., through XAL - XKX.
5th series: AAA - AKK, BAA - BKK, CAA - CKK, etc., through KAA - KKJ.
6th series: AAL - AKX, BAL - BKX, CAL - CKX, etc., through KAL - KKX.
7th series: ALL - AXX, BLL - BXX, CLL - CXX, etc., through KLL - KXX.
8th series: ALA - AXK, BLA - BXK, CLA - CXK, etc., through KLA - KXK.
9th series (numero-alpha): AAA - AKK, BAA - BKK, CAA - CKK, etc., through KAA - KKJ.
10th series: AAL - AKX, BAL - BKX, CAL - CKX, etc., through KAL - KKX.
11th series: ALA - AXK, BLA - BXK, CLA - CXK, etc., through KLA - KXK.
12th series: ALL - AXX, BLL - BXX, CLL - CXX, etc., through KLL - KXX.
13th series (current): LAA - LKK, NAA - NKK, PAA - PKK, etc., through XAA - XKK.
(Note: The M-prefixed numero-alpha plates are reserved for the Olympics issue, at least through MKX. It seems likely that with the out-of-sequence appearance of plates in the LAL - LKX grouping, they should be leading the 14th series, even though if it followed the pattern established in the earlier alpha-numeric issues it would be pushed to the final, or 16th, series on the list. In B.C. one never knows for sure.)

Type	Plate	Notes	Reporter
Passenger - 14th series	237 PHV	LAL - LKX, MAL - MKX, NAL - NKX, etc., through XAL - XKX. Instead of going to the 13th series, British Columbia jumped to the 14th series in the system, which should not have come into use until 2014, however, the 13th series began to appear as a concurrent issue. See notes at the top of the page for sequence of issue. 14th series prefixes seen in the Vancouver area so far include: LAL, LAM, LAN, LAP, LAR, LAS, LAT, LAW, LAX, LBM, LBN, LBP, LBR, LBS, LBT through LBX, LCL, LCS, LCT, LCV, LCW, LDL, LDM, LDN, LDP, LDR, LDV, LDW, LEM, LEN, LEP, LER, LES, LET, LFN, LFP, LFR, LFT, LGM, LGP, LGR, LHT, LHV, LHX. Having reached the end of the L series within the 14th passenger series, it appears that no more 14th series plates are being issued, so it's back to the 13th series again. Update - It appears that as of May 2010 that the 14th series is being issued again, picking up where it left off at 000 LJL. As with the 13th series, the 14th series appears to have skipped from LKX to NAL, with MAL-MKX already mostly used by Olympics plates. Another mystery has come up. While the sequential issue is still in the mid-N series, a block of R series plates has appeared, and they may have been issued backwards from the sightings reported so far. All combinations between REL and REV have been reported. RDX has also been reported. Out of sequence high - 162 REV 2010-07-03 Andy DeCeunynck Out of sequence low - 388 RDW 2010-08-02 E. Morgan	Milan Kenjalo 8/29/10
Passenger - 13th series	777 XKJ	LAA - LKK, NAA - NKK, PAA - PKK, etc., through XAA - XKK. The series progressed from TKK to WAA since the letter U is not used, and the V series is used for Veteran.	E. Morgan 5/17/10
Passenger - 12th series	868 KXX	ALL - AXX, BLL - BXX, CLL - CXX, etc., through KLL - KXX. Upon reaching 999 KXX, the next series should begin at 000 LAA if BC follows the pattern. See the notes at the top of the page for more information regarding the sequence of issue.	E. Morgan 3/26/09
Passenger - 11th series	999 KXK	ALA - AXK, BLA - BXK, CLA - CXK, etc., through KLA - KXK. The current high is the last possible plate in the 11th series.	E. Morgan 8/02/07
Passenger - 10th series	915 KKX	AAL - AKX, BAL - BKX, CAL - CKX, etc., through KAL - KKX. The current high of KKX is the last possible combination in the 10th series.	Plate Finder Number One 5/10/09
Passenger - 9th series	632 KKJ	(numero-alpha): AAA - AKK, BAA - BKK, CAA - CKK, etc., through KAA - KKJ. 007 AAA reported as a low. KKJ is the last possible combination in the 1st series since KKK was not used.	Plate Finder Number One 8/27/09
Passenger - 8th series	KXJ 744	ALA - AXK, BLA - BXK, CLA - CXK, etc., through KLA - KXK.	Adriaan Bergink 5/11/10
Passenger - 7th series	KXX 988	ALL - AXX, BLL - BXX, CLL - CXX, etc., through KLL - KXX.	Adriaan Bergink 4/22/10
Passenger - 6th series	KAN 987	AAL - AKX, BAL - BKX, CAL - CKX, etc., through KAL - KKX.	David Brown 8/04/10
Passenger - 5th series	FAC 401	AAA - AKK, BAA - BKK, CAA - CKK, etc., through KAA - KKJ.	David Brown 7/15/10
Passenger - 4th series	XKV 444	LAL - LKX, MAL - MKX, NAL - NKX, etc., through XAL - XKX.	Milan Kenjalo 8/11/10
Passenger - 3rd series	XXX 605	LLL - LXX, MLL - MXX, NLL - NXX , etc., through XXL - XXX.	E. Morgan 4/29/10
Passenger - 2nd series	XVJ 936	LLA - LXK, MLA - MXK, NLA - NXK, etc., through XLA - XXK.	Adriaan Bergink 4/29/10
Passenger - 1st series	XKK 466	(alpha-numeric): LAA - LKK, MAA - MKK, NAA - NKK, etc., through XAA - XKK. David Allyn Brown spotted the fourth plate issued, LAA-003, in April 2010.	Milan Kenjalo 7/09/10
Non-passenger Plates
Collector Motorcycle	B8 9104	Finally using Waldale dies. It took nearly 5 years to use up the stockpile of Astrographics plates of this type.	E. Morgan 7/24/10
Collector Vehicle	B20 580	Waldale dies The B59 nnn series has just been completed and B10 - B39 (which was skipped) is now being issued. The B60 nnn series is for Collector multi-vehicle plates. High: B6 0503	E. Morgan 8/30/10
Commercial Trailer	7011 8C	Y suffix, then V, W, B, now C Some (all?) commercial trailers are receiving Permanent Non-Expiring decals as of Aug 31/06.	E. Morgan 7/17/10
Dealer	D6 2111		E. Morgan 9/01/10
Dealer - Motorcycle/Trailer	DM 4583	Small 5" x 8" plate, for test-driving motorcycles and trailers.	E. Morgan 4/11/10
Farm	G4 7419	A0-0000 series exhausted, new series G0-0000 now being issued.	E. Morgan 7/11/10
Farm Tractor	F6 7517	Series started in 1985 at F6-6000 and ran to F7-0999 in 1989. F6-6373 reported as a low.	Tom Lindner 8/13/09
Industrial	X5 2827	Used on vehicles for contruction, such as Bobcats, backhoes, and steamrollers.	E. Morgan 4/22/10
Logging	T3 2872	In 1989, the current series (no longer quarterly) commenced at T0-0000 and has been issued sequentially.	Plate Finder Number One 6/19/09
Manufacturer	MA 1127	EXTREMELY rare - the current high is only the 1128th plate of this type issued in BC since 1985.	Plate Finder Number One 6/17/09
Motorcycle	S3 9708	Recently progressed from E to K to L prefix, now issuing S. With the C, E, H, J, K, M, and N series used up and the L series nearly gone, this leaves only W, and possibly Y.	E. Morgan 8/26/10
Passenger Carrier	810 081	Small plate for buses, taxis etc, replaced former Motor Carrier permit in 2005	E. Morgan 7/14/08
Prorate	0078 5P	After P9 9999, changed to 0000 0P.	E. Morgan 8/18/10
Repairer	R2 0223	Used to road test unlicensed vehicles brought in to a repair garage for servicing.	Plate Finder Number One 5/20/09
Restricted	03738 X	Used on ATVs, golf carts, and snowmobiles that are to be driven on or across a public road. Series to follow AT 9999 will be 00000 X. Waldale dies. Changed from Astrographics to Waldale dies somewhere between 00 350X and 03635 X.	E. Morgan 3/08/10
Temporary Permit	5Q0N8D	For 1 to 14 days, paper permit affixed to rear window, but now Temporary permits can now be good for up to 20 days. This started somewhere before 5G7A6E. Progresses sequentially (1A, 1B, 1C, etc), as opposed to regular BC plates where numbers always change before letters regardless of placement. Handwritten Temp high- 0K1V5G 2009-08-02 E. Morgan It appears that Temporary Permits do not use I, O, and Z, but Q, U and Y are used.	Milan Kenjalo 8/19/10
Trailer	UPM 50Y	Same size as Motorcycle. New dies started between UCT and UCW, but a UCK was spotted with new dies. Progression: The end letter advances before the number, so the series began at UAA-00A, and worked up through UAA-00B, UAA-00C, and so on.	E. Morgan 7/30/10
Trailer Floater	LF nnnn	Follows TF, TG, TH prefix blocks	David Brown 8/27/09
Transporter	TS 1392	TR series is used up, TS is now used.	Plate Finder Number One 6/19/09
Truck	CW 2357	Adriaan Bergink reports that Waldale dies seem to have started at 0000 GG. The truck series began at 0000 MA and went through 9999 YY, and then to 0000 AA and up. Andy DeCeunynck reports that the Waldale appear to start around 7000 GF. This Truck series is nearly used up. Only LS and LT suffixes are left, but the current high in the series is 9988 LR. The last plate should be 9999 LT, but no LS or LT series plates have been reported yet. The series has now continued at AL 0000, which likely indicates that Olympic Truck, which started at AA 0000, will continue through AK 9999. E. Morgan confirms AL 0001. All AM and AN series reported so far had a single sticker well, yet some AL series had a double sticker well like the Olympic plates. AL 8433 had a single well, but AL 7432 had a double well. All AR, AS, AV, AW, AX, and AY series so far have a single well. AT was skipped because it was already used for Restricted plates. It was reported that BC was skipped because it is used on sample plates and Vintage Motorcycle, but BC 2445 was spotted on 2009-06-06 by Plate Finder Number One. BT was used, but BS appears to have been skipped. BJ also seems to have been skipped.	E. Morgan 8/30/10
Vintage	8042		Plate Finder Number One 10/20/09
Vintage - Motorcycle	BC 572	Rare type. The current high is the 537th issued since 1966.	E. Morgan 8/27/10
Specialty Plates
Foreign Consulate	Consul D17	E. Morgan reports that Foreign Consulate plates will be changing to a white on red AA-000A format, with the first two letters indicating the type of diplomat.	Plate Finder Number One 6/29/09
Honourary Consular Officer	HC 060A	One of four new series of foreign consular plates that are red and white in color. Diplomatic Representative Level - DL 000A Career Consular Officer - CC 255A 2009-08-03 Dale Honorary Consular Officer - HC 000A Consular Staff - CS 049A 2010-07-23 E. Morgan Special Representative - SR 012A	E. Morgan 5/25/10
Olympic	939 MJF	Olympic plates celebrating the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver went on sale April 16, 2007 and started at 000 MAA for Passenger and AA 0000 for Light Trucks and Commercial. The initial fee is $35, renewal fee is $25. Olympic plates are also available for Farm Truck (G9-0000), Motorcycle (V2-0000), Utility Trailer (UYM-00A), and Commercial Trailer (0000-0U). No personalized plates will be available. The mountain design depicts Garabaldi Park, between Vancouver and Whistler, and the slogan "The Best Place on Earth" appears on the plates. These plates will not be available after Dec. 31, 2010. Official Olympics vehicles used plates from 100 MFA into the nnn MFF range for cars, and AD 3100 to AD 35nn for trucks and vans. Those plates will be off the roads after the Paralympics.	E. Morgan 8/09/10
Olympic - Commercial Trailer	0034 3U		Tom Lindner 3/18/10
Olympic - Farm Truck	G9 0388	Started at G9-0000.	Plate Finder Number One 5/29/09
Olympic - Motorcycle	V2 6797		E. Morgan 6/19/10
Olympic - Trailer	UYM 51G		Tom Lindner 6/16/10
Olympic - Truck	AF 1933	AA 0023 reported as a low by Jeff Banerd.	E. Morgan 7/19/10
Veteran	066VBM	New type introduced 2 JUN 04 starting at 000 VAA.	E. Morgan 7/28/10
Veteran - Motorcycle	V 02263	V00005 reported as a low.	Adriaan Bergink 10/03/07
Veteran Truck	7051LV	David Allyn Brown reports that this series is now available in response to complaints that the original Veteran series was limited to passenger cars. Additional plates will be available for this series in the LW and LX suffixes, according to a B.C. Plates web site.	E. Morgan 8/21/10

British Columbia High Plates