Vehicle Registration Plates of Vietnam

Vehicle registration plates in Vietnam are assigned to all vehicles that travel on roads. The current system has been in place since 2000.

System
Current Vietnamese plates follow this format:

‌PPT-YYY.NN for cars, truck, and vans

‌PP-TY//YYNN for motorcycles and scooters (where // is a line break)

P is a province's number, T is a letter representing the vehicle type, YYY is a 3 digit number for the year (4 per year for cars and trucks, 8 per year for motorcycles and scooters) and NN is a serial combination.

Part 1: Provincial Codes

See Provincial Codes

eg. ‌28B-150.89 is from Hòa Bình Province (28).

Part 2: Vehicle Type

The second letter represents the vehicle's type

A, B, C, D, E, F for private cars, vans, small trucks, and buses

G, H, K, L, M, N, P, S, T, V, X, Y for private motorcycles, scooters, and auto-rickshaws

U for trucks

R for trailers

W for rental vehicles

Z for provincial government vehicles (ambulances, police cars, etc.)

(The letters I, J, O, and Q are never used)

eg. ‌65E-180.12 is a private car/van (E) from Cần Thơ (65).

Part 3: Year of Registration

Every year has 4 three-digit combinations (for cars and trucks) and 8 three-digit combinations (for motorcycles). This system started with 100, 101, 102, and 103 fir cars/trucks for 2000. In 2020, the combinations for cars/trucks are 180, 181, 182, and 183, and the combinations for motorcyles are 360 to 367.

eg. ‌14U-138.53 is a truck (U) from Quảng Ninh Province (14) registered in term 3 of 2009 (138).

Part 4: Serial Number

Combining all factors, there is a possibility for 8000 vehicles to be registered in a province per year. Some provinces and cities (such as Hanoi or Saigon have multiple province codes. 48,000 vehicles can be registered in Hanoi per year (which has 6 codes), 88,000 per year in Saigon (which has 11 codes), and 16,000 per year in Hải Phòng and Đồng Nai Province (which both have 2 codes each).