Which country has the best numberplate system?

[DrSebWilkes]

I might sound very patriotic but I really 100% believe it has to be the UK!!

The font is great, the spacing is just right. Everything about our numberplates I like. Going to basically any other foreign country I am always left disappointed - some more so than others. (Have you seen the US ones?!?) 

Besides, I love how we have personal plates that are actually relatively meaningful. 

[joem83]

Australia has pretty good ones, you can pretty much have whatever you want.

[ratchart]

Never mind the reg plate, I'm more worried about what's going on with that black car on the left.

[BenzBoy]

I really like the US ones. Their personalised plates actually spell the words without fudging it with numbers, and the different designs for each state is a really nice touch.

German plates look really cool, I like the font. And I quite like Hong Kong plates because the font looks a bit like the original Charles Wright that we used to have here before going to the narrower (inferior, IMHO) New Charles Wright. And again, their personalised plates spell actual words.

[HoTWire]

Jul 14, 2017 8:24:36 GMT BenzBoy said:

I quite like Hong Kong plates because the font looks a bit like the original Charles Wright that we used to have here before going to the narrower (inferior, IMHO) New Charles Wright. And again, their personalised plates spell actual words.

Not seen Hong Kong plates before ... brilliant

[rude]

UK for sure as a system but I have never liked the yellow one on the back. The states always do it well with pictures and stuff but then some cars have to actually be made with a panel variation to accommodate the size of the thing (635 rear panel). I think they should scrap the UK plates altogether and develop some bar code type scanning/ transmitting thing but then you know... more crime opportunities, more fine opportunities... We are already being tracked and marked with CCTV/ANPR and gawd knows what else, and if you play by the rules then there's nothing to worry about.

[sb]

British plates are hideous IMO, Aus or J for me. I prefer the clean look and smaller size (ok Japanese plates are big but they don't look it)

[Adambt]

It used to annoy me when I iived in South Africa that the plates had nothing to do with age of the car, and changed depending on where you lived. There was only a brief prefix telling you the province the car is registered then a random number. It made shopping for cars laborious, you had to go round and ask the dealer the age of every car you were even vaguely interested in. The fact the plates said where you were from also made you a target for thieves if you travelled to other areas of the country, they knew you were from out of town.

Didn't like our new plate system when it first came out, but it's grown on me now, it's a clear system.

Have some retro sarcasm about the "new" plate system: www.sniffpetrol.com/issue003.html

[rustydan]

Jul 14, 2017 9:21:58 GMT Adambt said:

It used to annoy me when I iived in South Africa that the plates had nothing to do with age of the car, and changed depending on where you lived. There was only a brief prefix telling you the province the car is registered then a random number. It made shopping for cars laborious, you had to go round and ask the dealer the age of every car you were even vaguely interested in. The fact the plates said where you were from also made you a target for thieves if you travelled to other areas of the country, they knew you were from out of town.

Didn't like our new plate system when it first came out, but it's grown on me now, it's a clear system.

Have some retro sarcasm about the "new" plate system: www.sniffpetrol.com/issue003.html

Yeah I agree with the south african plate system, the only thing I like about them is the images for some of the provinces, eastern cape and free state for example

[SmokeEm]

I had this on my Forester - now on retention

[pseudonymous]

I think UK plates are hideous.

For me, it's German plates ...



... they just look 'right' IMO.

[VIP]

Jul 14, 2017 10:38:27 GMT SmokeEm said:

I had this on my Forester - now on retention

SMOE KEM? SMOB KEM?

[VIP]

Jul 14, 2017 8:45:40 GMT HoTWire said:

Jul 14, 2017 8:24:36 GMT BenzBoy said:

I quite like Hong Kong plates because the font looks a bit like the original Charles Wright that we used to have here before going to the narrower (inferior, IMHO) New Charles Wright. And again, their personalised plates spell actual words.

Not seen Hong Kong plates before ... brilliant

HK plates are amazing, I saw all manner of good ones whilst in China.

[Not my pics]

[VW]

Hong Kong plates obviously winning this battle.

[chandlergti]

In the US the personalized plates cost very little and you can move them from car to car. My last set was $56.

[SmokeEm]

Jul 14, 2017 13:53:07 GMT VIP said:

Jul 14, 2017 10:38:27 GMT SmokeEm said:

I had this on my Forester - now on retention

SMOE KEM? SMOB KEM?

Closest I could get to my user name

[misteralz]

HK plates are the best ones on this thread so far. uUK plates are incredibly hideous now - that modern narrow typeface looks especially sh1t considering the myriad typefaces that were commonplace prior to 2001.
Here in Europe at the moment I think Swedish plates are the best looking, and the XXX 111 combo is pleasing:



Hungarian ones are very similar.

Dutch ones have a cool typeface - a subtle redrawing of Gill Sans, but yellow front and rear looks awful:



That's a diplomatic 'plate, so it still has the pleasing 11-XX-11 combination (as do classics, motorbikes, and some others). We're on XX-111-X now, which is nowhere near as good.

I think my favourites are still the old German ones, though. DIN 1451 - which is the best typeface ever designed, hyphens, stadt seals, and white front and back.

[Littlepixel]

Swiss plates are pretty snazzy






The added bonus in Switzerland is that even bicycles get licence plates

[b3nson]

I've always loved the US plates and how over the top they are with some of the state designs! Also no front plates in some states is always a win

[SamJ]

I quite like the blue dutch plates