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Greek car number plates are composed of three letters and four digits per plate (e.g. AAA-1000). The letters represent the district that issues the plates while the numbers begin from 1000 and reach 9999. The same plates but with digits beginning from 1 and ending with 999 are issued to motorbikes that exceed 50 cc.

Except Athens and Thessaloniki (Salonica), all other districts are represented by the first 2 letters while the third changes after 8,999 issued plates. For example Patras district plates are AXA-1000, where AX represents the Achaia district in which Patras is the capital. When AXA-9999 is reached the plates turn to AXB-1000 and this continues until AXX is finished. The letters used are only from the intersection between the Latin and Greek alphabets, namely A, B, E, Z, H, I, K, M, N, O, P, T, Y, X (in Greek alphabetical order), however Greek B, H, P, and X don't have the same meaning as in the English alphabet.

The combinations used for overseas residents are L-DDDD (where L = letter and D = digit) and are limitedly used. Some vehicles (e.g. sport utility vehicles) and tractors are not part of this system; they are given DDDDD. Until 2003, taxis used L-DDDD; the plate was aligned with the prefecture and the letters were colored red.

History

When license plates were introduced to Greece, they were numbered and in the late 1950s the system was D-DDD and DD-DDD. In the 1960s, the system was DDD-DDD. They became lettered in 1972 and the system was LL-DDDD while trucks used L-DDDD until the 1983, when they changed to LLL-DDDD and now use this present system.

Car designations

In Greek alphabetical order

The first 2 letters (which are listed below) of a licence plate usually represent the prefecture (nomos) where the car was registered. The almost full list of plates in Greece is below (next to the prefecture/district is its capital or an area within the prefecture that the plates are issued; some prefectures have more than one combination):

Special plates

Vehicles that belong to public services and armed forces use special license plates with the following letter combinations followed by numbers:

  • ΠΣ (Πυροσβεστικό Σώμα) - Fire Guard
  • Ε.Α. (Ελληνική Αστυνομία) - Police
  • ΛΣ (Λιμενικό Σώμα) - Coast Guard
  • ΠΝ (Πολεμικό Ναυτικό) - Hellenic Navy
  • ΠΑ (Πολεμική Αεροπορία) - Hellenic Air Force
  • ΔΣ (Διπλωματικό Σώμα) - Diplomat or foreign delegation (e.g. ΔΣ 48 CD, ΔΣ 48-1 CD)
  • ΞΑ (Ξένες Αποστολές) - Foreign missions

  • ΔΟΚ (Δοκιμαστικές) - Test plates
  • ΑΝ.Π. (Ανάπηροι Πολέμου) - Disabled in war (blue coloured)
  • ΑΜ (Αγροτικά Μηχανήματα) - Agricultural vehicles
  • ΜΕ (Μηχανήματα Έργων) - Public works vehicles (yellow coloured)
  • ΚΥ (Κρατική Υπηρεσία) - State

External links

Transport in Greece | License plates

Kfz-Kennzeichen (Griechenland) | Ελληνικές πινακίδες αυτοκινήτων | Plaque d'immatriculation grecque | Targhe automobilistiche greche

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Greek car number plates".

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