Which UK number plate will your car get?

Every car we import leaves our site on UK plates: white at the front, yellow at the back. The Gulf plates are long gone by then. In Dubai the car will have left on export plates, and elsewhere in the Gulf its local registration will have been closed before it sailed. Our guide to export plates and deregistration covers that end.

The question people ask us is what the new number will look like. The answer is simpler than most expect.

How UK numbers show a car's age

A standard UK registration has two digits in it that show when the car was registered. They change twice a year, in March and September. A 76 plate, for example, covers September 2026 to February 2027.

Because of that, a UK registration number tells anyone who looks at it roughly how old the car is. That is why the DVLA cares about an import's age before it gives it one.

An import gets a number for its age

A Gulf car registered here this autumn does not get a 76 plate. An import gets a number matched to its date of manufacture or first registration. A car first registered in Dubai in 2022 gets a number that reads as 2022, so it looks exactly as old as it is.

For a modern car, its age is plain from the documents, and this happens without fuss. The registration card and the car's own details normally say everything the DVLA needs.

The Q plate, and how to avoid it

If the age of a car cannot be proven, it gets a Q plate instead: a registration number beginning with the letter Q. It tells everyone the car's age or identity was uncertain when it was registered. It's legal and it's driveable, but most owners would rather avoid one.

For a recent Gulf car that is rarely a risk. Where it can come up is with older cars, where the original paperwork has been lost, or where a forty-year-old car arrives with a Kuwaiti registration book that does not answer every question on its own.

Classics and dating evidence

The DVLA wants to know a car's age and identity before it will register it. For older cars that can take more work, and that is where experience counts. We have a wealth of experience registering historic cars and can source the additional paperwork the DVLA needs, such as dating evidence. Our guide to dating letters explains who writes them.

With the age and identity proven, a classic can often get its age-related plate, which matters to the car's character and its value. Our classic cars page has more.

What keeps the right number

The paperwork that proves the car's age is the same paperwork the rest of the import needs. Keep hold of:

• The Gulf registration card, in your name
• Any older registration documents from earlier owners or earlier countries
• The purchase invoice
• Service records showing the car's history

Our guide to the documents you need covers the whole set, in order.

Registration, done on our account

Once the car has passed its IVA test or MOT, we register it through our dealer-level DVLA account, usually in around 10 working days. The UK number is issued, the plates go on, and the car is ready to collect or deliver. Our registration page explains the steps before that.

If your car is older, or its paperwork is patchy, tell us when you ask for a quote. We would much rather sort the evidence out before the car sails than after it lands.