1. Motorists Are Required To Place Bids For Their Preferred Licence Plates
You read it right! Not only do we have to bid for a COE, we also have to bid for our vehicle registration number. Bid submissions can be made online at One Motoring. The minimum bid is S$1,000, and the amount must be in multiples of S$1. Do note that bids cannot be amended or withdrawn upon submission.
Alternatively, if you are on the hunt for unique or vintage license plates, look no further. With their massive database of highly sought after license plates, you are bound to find the perfect one at Car Plate Singapore.
Image Source: One Motoring
2. Singapore Licence Plates Must Adhere To The Standardised Lettering Dimensions
It is of vital importance that every motorist compiles with the standardised lettering dimensions for their license plates. Motorists are expected to meet the following requirements:
- All letters and digits must be 70mm high, 50mm wide and 10mm broad, and 20mm apart from each other.
- The space between adjoining letters or between adjoining digits must be 10mm.
- The space from the nearest part of each letter and digit to the top or bottom of the vehicle licence plate must be 10mm. Whereas, the space from the nearest part of each letter and digit to the side of the vehicle licence plate must be 20mm.
Image Source: One Motoring
3. Vehicles Can Be Differentiated According To The Colour Of Their Licence Plates
The uniform colours for a license plate are white lettering on a black background. However, if the vehicle licence plate is made of a reflective material, it should have black lettering on a white background for the front, and black lettering on a yellow background for the back.
If your vehicle is on a special scheme that requires a different colour for your licence plate, refer to the examples above for the lettering and background colours that you are required to have.
4. Vehicles Can Be Differentiated According To The Letters On Their Licence Plates
Apart from the colour scheme, vehicles can be differentiated according to the letters on their licence plates. A typical vehicle registration number comes in the format “SEL 1995 T”:
S – Vehicle class (“S”, with some exceptions, stands for a private vehicle since 1984)
EL – Alphabetical series (“I” and “O” are not used to avoid confusion with numbers “1” and “0”)
1995 – Numerical series
T – Checksum letter (“F”, “I”, “N”, “O”, “Q”, “V” and “W” are never used as checksum letters; absent on special government vehicle plates and events vehicle plates)
Whereas vehicles belonging to the government have specific letters appearing before (prefix) and after (suffix) the car plate number. A few examples are as such:
- LTA: Land Transport Authority enforcement officers’ vehicles.
- MID: Singapore Armed Forces vehicles (this is a suffix with up to five digits before it, e.g., “12345 MID”). “MID” originally stood for the Ministry of Interior and Defence. General ranks in the armed forces are provided with staff cars with two-digit MID plates.
- MP: Vehicles operated by the Singapore Armed Forces Military Police Command. (SAFPU plates were formerly used)
- QX: Emergency and law enforcement agencies (Singapore Police Force, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, etc.)
- S1 to S10: State cars used for ferrying official government guests and dignitaries
- SEP: “Singapore Elected President” – the official state car of the President of the Republic of Singapore (SEP 1)
- SJ: Supreme Court judges (the Chief Justice‘s car has the plate number “SJ 1”).
- SP: Speaker of Parliament (SP 1)
- SPF: Commissioner of Police, Singapore Police Force (SPF 1)
If you have any other interesting facts on car license plates, relay them in the comments section below!
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