The new DVLA number plates for 2018/19 will be coming in on September 1st.
Every year in March and in September the new plates enter circulation and with them comes a new batch of new batch of vehicles.
Number plates will be marked with two different suffixes called the age identifiers throughout the year.
For example, in 2018 plates will be marked with ’18’ from March 1st until August 31st, which cars introduced on September 1st, 2018 until February 31st, 2019 will be marked with ’68’.
The current numberplate system was introduced in September 2001 with the labelling of new cars starting at ’51’ in 2001 followed by ’52’ in the following September.
It changed slightly after 2010, the half-year mark was changed from ‘5’ to ‘6’.
For example, November 2009 got 59 while November 2011 got 61.
Before this point licence plates used a single letter that represented the year it was released in.
This system began in 1983 with the letter A and ended in August 2001 with ‘Y’.
Ahead of new number plates being introduced car manufacturers usually slash the price of vehicles they currently have on sale to shift old stock to make way for new vehicles.
Pre-registered cars with next to no miles on the clock are typically offered at a slashed price ahead of new number plate registration introductions.
This is of the cheapest ways to own a brand-new car because you won’t be classed as the first owner despite the car only covering a handful of miles.
You will have less control over the colour, specs, and tech onboard but could make a substantial saving.
However, for the sake of having an ’18’ plate instead of a ’68’ you could save some serious cash.
In addition to this, from September 1st the new WLTP car emissions standards will come into force.
This has caused manufacturers to slash the prices of some of their cars ahead of this date to flog old stock.
Earlier this month, research was revealed that suggested motorists could save £4,000 off the price of a new car by buying one ahead of the WLTP emissions standards coming in.
WhatCar? Provided a number of examples of cars that were being heavily discounted before September 1st including Ford Fiestas, Citroen C4 Spacetourer, and Mazda MX5.
Here is a how you can identify the age of a car since its introduction:
2001/02: 51
2002/03:02/52
2003/04: 03/53
2004/05: 04/54
2005/06: 05/55
2006/07: 06/56
2007/08: 07/57
2008/09: 08/58
2009/10: 09/59
2010/11: 10/60
2011/12: 11/61
2012/13: 12/62
2013/14: 13/63
2014/15: 14/64
2015/16: 15/65
2016/17: 16/66
2017/18: 17/67
2018/19: 18/68
After the number identifier is three random letters.