Vehicle registration plates of Hainam

All road vehicles in Hainam must be equiped with a vehicle registration plate by law.

Standard license plates in Hainam follow the format RYY/XXXX (where 'R' represents the region's corresponding Chinese caracter, 'YY' is the year code, and 'XXXX' is the serial number. The serial number follows the format of A123 for cars (AB12 for overflow) and 1A23 for motorycyles, eg. ‌ 南48 / T621 ‌ is a vehicle registered in the Southern Region (南) in 2018 (48).

Plates are American/Japanese size (30cm across and 15cm tall), with a white background and green letters. The region and year designations are written on the top line slightly smaller than the serial number below, and are similar in appearence to Japanese license plates.

Speical Plates

 * ‌ 警察 / 1234 ‌ - police vehicles


 * ‌ 的士 / 1234 ‌ - taxis


 * ‌ 中50 / V123 ‌ - electric vehicles (Central Region 2020 as an example)


 * ‌ 中50 / Z123 ‌ - regional/county government vehicles (Central Region 2020 as an example)


 * ‌ 海南 / 1234 ‌ or ‌ 海南 / A123 ‌ - national government vehicles


 * ‌ 中50 / 123A ‌ - commerical/work vehicles (Central Region 2020 as an example)


 * ‌ 中50 / 123X ‌ - heavy machinery, diggers, bulldozers, etc. (Central Region 2020 as an example)


 * ‌ 消防車 / 0123 ‌ - fire engines


 * ‌ 救護車 / 0123 ‌ - ambulances


 * ‌ 公共汽車 / 0123 ‌ - public buses


 * ‌ CD / XX12 ‌ - diplomatic vehicles (XX is a 2 letter country code)

Trivia

 * The letters I, O, Q, and R are not used on any plates.
 * In the regular series, serials beginning with V and Z are reserved for electric vehicles and government vehicles respectively.
 * Due to the Southern Region's high population, each year the combinations from A000 to Y999 run out, and switch to AA00 onwards. As of 2020, the Eastern Region has also started issuing AA00 numbers.
 * The first digit of motorcycle serial numbers is never 0, instead starting at 1A00.
 * Plates with desirable combinations, such as A111 or B888, are auctioned off in each region every year.

Special Issue

 * ‌ V.00-000 ‌ - ‌ V.99-999 ‌ for military vehicles, often comes in reversed colours, i.e. ‌ V.12-345 ‌


 * ‌ X.00-000 ‌ - ‌ X.59-999 ‌ for special vehicles, including bulldozers and heavy machinery


 * ‌ X.60-000 ‌ - ‌ X.79-999 ‌ for rental vehicles


 * ‌ X.90-000 ‌ - ‌ X.99-999 ‌ for electric vehicles, future series will use ‌ EV.00-000 ‌


 * ‌ Z.00-000 ‌ - ‌ Z.99-999 ‌ for government vehicles, including police cars, ambulances, etc.


 * ‌ 50 hailamflag.png A00 ‌ plates issued for Hainam's 50 year anniversary of independence in 2008


 * ‌ TAXI 1234 ‌ for taxis


 * ‌ A.12T345 ‌ or ‌ AA.12T345 ‌ for trailers


 * ‌ CD VN 12 ‌ for diplomatic vehicles


 * ‌ 南48 / T621 ‌


 * ‌ 南50 / BH63 ‌