License plate (Argentina)

License plates havebeen aroundin Argentina since around 1900. In Argentina they are called chapas patentes , patentes or dominio . Until 1972, the license plates were assigned individually by each province, then centralized and standardized. In 1994 the registration system was changed again, the breakdown of the origin was omitted.

Since 2016

License plate from Argentina since 2016

Since 2016, the Mercosur countries have been introducing a uniform license plate similar to the EU. As in Europe, the format will be 400 mm × 130 mm. The number system provides AB123CDtwo letters followed by three digits and again two letters.

1994-2016

Old license plate from Argentina

Old license plate of a car trailer

Old license plate of a motorcycle

From January 1, 1994 to 2016, the license plate for motor vehicles nationwide consisted of three letters and three digits. For cars, trucks and buses there were initially three letters and three numbers. There were only three numbers for motorcycles, including three letters; the license plate was set in FE script . Car trailers carry three drawing pads of three characters each.

The color scheme with a black background and white lettering was retained, but the signs now had a white frame in which the coat of arms of Argentina and the country name in the national language appeared on the upper edge . The signs do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the origin of the vehicle. Vehicles that were registered before the cut-off date received new license plates starting with RAA001 , new vehicles got license plates starting with AAA001 . Public and diplomatic vehicles may have different license plates. The new system uses the letters A to Z and the digits 0 to 9 and thus enables 26³ × 999 = 17,558,424 different labels.

Diplomatic license plates show a contrary design with black letters on a white background. The signs begin with the letters CD followed by a combination of numbers. The full country name appears at the bottom.

Letter	Beginning of issue
A.	January 1995
B.	October 1996
C.	March 1998
D.	November 1999
E.	May 2002
F.	June 2005
G	December 2006
H	February 2008
I.	April 2009
J	July 2010
K	May 2011
L.	February 2012
M.	November 2012
N	August 2013
O	June 2014
P	July 2015

1972-1994

License plate from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires

Since 1972 the license plates have been issued by a federal authority. An Argentine license plate consisted of a letter and six digits, white on black. The letter stood for the province or city in which the vehicle was registered, the numbers were assigned in ascending order. However, more than a million vehicles were registered in the Province of Buenos Aires and the City of Buenos Aires by 1994, so another digit had to be added to be written under the letters.

Province abbreviation 1972–1994

A.	Salta	B.	Buenos Aires Province	C.	City of Buenos Aires	D.	San Luis
E.	Entre Ríos	F.	La Rioja	G	Santiago del Estero	H	Chaco
J	San Juan	K	Catamarca	L.	La Pampa	M.	Mendoza
N	Misiones	P	Formosa	Q	Neuquén	R.	Río Negro
S.	Santa Fe	T	Tucuman	U	Chubut	V	Tierra del Fuego
W.	Corrientes	X	Cordoba	Y	Jujuy	Z	Santa Cruz

1900-1972

Former hallmark of the Chaco Province , which was then President Perón Province.

Until 1972, every province, sometimes every city, issued its own license plate. Accordingly, there was no nationwide uniform system for the license plates.

Web links

Commons : Argentina License Plates  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Patents Única del Mercosur. 08/10/2014. - Information video about the new license plate on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.telam.com.ar/notas/201410/80966-patentes-matriculas-vehuculos-mercosur-2016.html
2. ↑ Blog entry with photos of Argentine license plates