Vehicle registration plates of Uruguay

Uruguay requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates.

History

Until the early 2000s, the codes, designs, sizes, and colors of vehicle license plates varied in each department. In 2001, by agreement of the National Congress of Mayors, it was decided to implement the new alphanumeric system (3 letters and 4 numbers) for the entire country. During that year and at the beginning of 2002, the new system was adopted in Montevideo,UnknownUnknown that spread throughout all the departments of the country, except Maldonado and Salto. In March 2015, the Single Patent of Mercosur began to be implemented, which has been mandatory since 2016.UnknownUnknown

Maldonado was the only department that did not adopt the new alphanumeric license plate system for automobiles during the first decade of the 2000s (like the rest of the departments), except for motorcycles and some special license plates (such as those of ediles, intendencia, officials, tourism, professional freight transport, taxis and remises). Finally, on January 4, 2019, the department began to implement the Mercosur license plates,Unknown with the particularity of indicating each municipality by a badge added below the patent plate (in addition to the second letter of the series).

In the case of Salto, an alphanumeric system of 3 letters and 3 numbers was adopted, with the shield of the department larger than other departments in the center of the license plate. In 2015, the Mercosur patent was implemented with 3 letters and 4 numbers starting from HAA 1000.

Departmental coding Plates issued in each department begin with a one-letter code. These codes, used on the unique local issues of the past, have carried over to the current national series as part of the standard nationwide format.

Department or liaCodeArtigas DepartmentGCanelones DepartmentACerro Largo DepartmentEColonia DepartmentLDurazno DepartmentQFlores DepartmentNFlorida DepartmentOLavalleja DepartmentPMaldonado DepartmentBMontevideo DepartmentS also used on plates issued to vehicles owned by the government and several other plate types that are issued centrally.SPaysandú DepartmentIRío Negro DepartmentJRivera DepartmentFRocha DepartmentCSalto DepartmentHSan José DepartmentMSoriano DepartmentKTacuarembó DepartmentRTreinta y Tres DepartmentD

Old series Prior to the introduction of this series, plates issued in each department had a unique design, in many instances displaying only the name of the municipality, rather than that of the department or the country. The change echoes that made in Argentina in 1994 with the change to a national plate series displaying the nation's name rather than a more local designation.

Under the current plate series, a single serial number format of ABC 1234 (and ABC 123 for motorcycles) has been introduced for the entire country, with either the country name, the vehicle type, or both displayed on the plate. Now absent are department or municipality designations, except for the small official logos displayed on many plates, one between the letters and numbers indicating the department of registration and another in the lower right corner indicating the municipality of registration. Plates in the current series employ FE-Schrift for their serials.

Some older plates are still in use, but evidently they are being replaced with plates of the current series, as even many antique cars have plates from the current series.

Italicized letters indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type: {|class=wikitable |- !rowspan=2|Image !colspan=2|Type !rowspan=2|Legend !rowspan=2|Serial format !rowspan=2|Design |- !English !Spanish

Previous series

While also issued by department with the same codes, these plates employ varying designs, with unique plate sizes and shapes, dies, and color schemes and may identify the municipality of registration rather than the department itself. Many plates featured a white and blue color scheme.Italicized letters'' indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type:

ImageLocation and/or typeSerial formatDesignLegend(s)DiplomaticCC 123?white on blue?National Navy123black on white; embossed anchor at center"ARMADA"Public safety/governmentMI 12-345MI 123456black on white or blue on white; variety of manufacturing stylesnoneArtigas DepartmentGA-1234blue on white"ARTIGAS"; "ROU" debossed in embossed box at leftCanelones DepartmentABC 123Caneloles Department—OfficialA 1234white on blue"OFICIAL URUGUAY"Cerro Largo Department—Melo cityEM-12345 |black on white |"CERRO LARGO" embossed at top; "ROU" embossed vertically at left; "MELO" embossed vertically at right; the small M below the hyphen also indicates the city

|Colonia Department |LA-1234blue on white"COLONIA" debossed within embossed square that contains the "L"; "URUGUAY" at top. Some plates have a full-color seal, while others do not.Durazno DepartmentQAB-123dark blue on gold"DURAZNO - ROU" at bottomMaldonado Department—MaldonadoB 112-345 |black on white |"Maldonado" at bottom; first number signifies city

|Maldonado Department—Piriápolis |B 712-345 |black on white |"PIRIAPOLIS" at bottom; first number signifies city

|Maldonado Department—Punta del Este city |B 51-234B 512-345 |black on white |"PUNTA DEL ESTE" at bottom; first number signifies city

|Maldonado Department—San Carlos city |B 212-345 |black on white |"SAN CARLOS" at bottom; first number signifies city

|Maldonado Department—Solís |B 812-345 |black on white |"SOLIS" at bottom; first number signifies city

|Río Negro Department—Fray Bentos city |JAB 123black on white"FRAY BENTOS" at top, "RIO NEGRO" in orange band at bottomRivera DepartmentFAB-123dark blue on whute"RIVERA - URUGUAY" at bottomSalto DepartmentHA 123black on white; Salto logo at left"SALTO" at bottomSoriano DepartmentK 12-3456blue on white"SORIANO URUGUAY" at bottom

Special plates Certain vehicles dedicated to different functions (that is, those that are not private in most cases) have special combinations of letters and colors on the plates that do not have those of ordinary vehicles. These combinations are located (with exceptions) in the last two letters of the series. Almost all special license plates have the legend "Uruguay" and some have another legend added, depending on the vehicle's condition.

Private vehicles: black characters and borders

DI: for people with disabilities. They also feature the wheelchair badge. ME: for doctors. It also features a green cross as an additional badge.

Diplomatic Corps: gilt characters and borders

CC: for consular body. DC: for diplomatic corps. IO: for International Organizations.

Government vehicles: blue characters and borders

OF: for official vehicles. ED: for ediles. ID: for vehicles of the Departmental Administration. JD: for vehicles of the Departmental Board. PL: for vehicles of the Legislative Power. PE: for vehicles of the Executive Power. PJ: for vehicles of the Judicial Power. MD: for vehicles of the Ministry of Defense. MI: for vehicles of the Ministry of the Interior.

Commercial transport vehicles: red characters and borders

AL or LQ: rental vehicles. TP: heavy transport. RE: . Transfer and temporary vehicles: green characters and borders

EN: school vehicles. TX: taxis. AM: ambulances. TU: tourism vehicles. TC: collective transport. IT: intercity transport. AT: temporary admission vehicles. PR: test vehicles. DP: sports cars.

Nomenclatures used before the Mercosur Single Patent The following initials of special license plates were used to register vehicles in a specific department of the 19 that make up the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, these denominations follow the letter that identifies the department, for example B is Maldonado or S is Montevideo, a license plate would be composed as BCC (Consular Corps) or SCD (Diplomatic Corps): DU (Demonstration Used; yellow characters and border with red background; with caption "Demos. Used") AT (Temporary Admission); characters and green border with white background. CC (Consular Corps); characters and black border with white background. CD (Diplomatic Corps); characters and red border with white background. IO (International Organizations); characters and black border with white background. NG (Non-Governmental Organizations); characters and black border with white background. PR (Test; characters and black border with red background, or letters, numbers and white border and red background, or letters, numbers and red border and orange background; with the legend "Test") PR (Provisory; white characters and border with red background; with the legend "Provisory") PE (Permission; characters and red border with white background) AL (Vehicles for rent; characters and black border on a white background, or characters and black border on a yellow background, or characters and black border on an orange background, or characters and white border on an orange background; with the legend "Uruguay" on the most departments, only in Salto and Colonia the legend "Rent" is added) DA (Vehicles for rent; white characters and border with red background; with the legend "Rental") HA (Vehicles for Hire; characters and black border with red background, or characters and black border with orange background; with the legend "Rental") DP (Deportivo; black characters and border with a white background; with the legend "Deportivo"; this license plate is used in some departments to identify competition cars, such as rally cars, that enter the temporary admission regime). EX (Exempt; black characters and border with white background, or red characters and border with yellow background; also applies to motorcycles) DI (Disabled; characters and black border with white background, or characters and black border with orange background; with the wheelchair badge (this symbol is not added in Canelones))

Vehicle registration plates of Uruguay

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