Those 2013 Number Plates Explained

It’s nothing to do with superstition, silly.

*rubs rabbit’s foot*

Suzanne Sheridan of the Society of Motor Industry (SIMI) writes:

We’ve produced this video to answer the public’s questions about the registration plate which changed at the start of this year, it may be of interest to your readers


66 thoughts on “Those 2013 Number Plates Explained”

  1. Did somebody say utter bollox? No? Could have sworn I heard somebody say it? If not then, this is utter bollox.

    • +131
      And it has that annoying ‘explaining’ voice!!!!! …arrghhhhh.. just talk normally …

    • You would think that we actually made cars in this country the way that the govt seems to bend over backwards to help car dealers.

      Another example the way we had a scrappage scheme to help ‘stimulate’ the economy even though the bulk of this money goes directly abroad.

      • +1

        I hear as well that take up of new cars this year has been an absolute disaster.

        no one is buying a new car.

        Just like the property game, selling cars in ireland is another industry built on sand.

        So expect another scrappage scheme/scam in the next few months.

  3. Aw. I’ve always liked our number plates. They were the most logical and informative ones that I know of. I don’t like this new system.

  4. We don’t have a motor industry. We have a motor retail industry. Just like there is no Irish Champagne industry, just people who sell champagne.

    • This is the truth. A very small but obviously clout-wielding section of the retail sector is behind this change in the way cars are registered. The Irish motor ‘industry’ doesn’t produce anything, most of the proceeds are exported, so there is really no reason for giving it this sort of support. It would make more sound economic sense to declare the Douglas fir the traditional symbol of Easter so that the indigenous evergreen industry would be less Christmas-dependent.

  5. Sounds and looks like I just watched another iona video. Unbelievably stupid idea, trust our government to come up with it. IDIOTS.

    • They’ve ruined peppily-narrated minimalist explainer videos for me forever have Iona. Bastards.

      Furthermore, Ireland hasn’t had a motor industry since Ford left.

  6. They should bring in a plate that says NEWCAR whatever time of year you buy it. But you only get to keep it a week and then you have to have a plate that says OLDCAR, which means everyone will buy a new car every week and it’ll be just like the good old days.

    *Opens champers, sits back and admires the fountains in marble, gold and plate glass car showroom*

  8. did they just say it would be like the UK. We had the system like the UK. Then they brought in the year system ie 99-c-7865 so that more people would by cars at the start of each year. complete bollax.

  9. This makes sense in places like America, or Germany – where cars are actually produced. If the theory is correct, and more cars are actually sold, then jobs are created there for project managers/factory workers/engineers.

    Doing this in countries like Ireland, only creates jobs for Bill Cullen and his car salesmen.

    Actually ,if we spend money buying these cars, we’re actually fuelling Germany’s economy.

  10. What’s the big deal? If it works then great, if it doesn’t then who gives a shit if a car says 13 D, 131 D or 132 D?

  11. Can somebody please explain how this will spread the sales more evenly across the whole of the year?
    Is there going to be a big stigma attached to having a 131 car?
    Is this all about people’s insecurity about the perceived recentness of their status symbol?
    Just say, for instances that it’s March or April and you tell your buddy that you’re thinking of buying a car.
    Is he going to say, “If I were you I’d wait a couple of months, because then you’ll get a reg from the 2nd half of the year.
    WTF?
    Surely we can already tell by the number on the plate that the car was bought early in the year or late in the year.
    Maybe this will just intensify sales in January and July and months such as February and March will suffer.
    Anyway.
    It’s all about money.
    As long as this doesn’t cost anything to implement, good luck to them.

    • It’s taking you a while to figure out how people work, isn’t it?
      “Maybe this will just intensify sales in January and July and months such as February and March will suffer.” Did you even watch the video? They already explained this.

  13. Its a childish attempt to do away with plate snobbery, which is childish in itself ………….

    Hey look at me, I’ve got a new 141 – D – 0000 car, I must be doing well. And look there’s a person in a 142 – D – 0000,
    they obviously couldn’t afford a new car at the start of the year.

    No, you see I bought my car 142 – D – 0000 at the start of the summer because now, I am doing considerably better than you.

    In a couple of years when I wish to sell it, the little minion who buys it will pay more for it, even if it has more mileage than yours, because it will be blatantly obvious to everyone around him that he is six months better than them.

  14. Needs more stick figures and explanations about why two cars of the same colour sharing a house is no environment to be bringing up a little tricycle.

  15. 22% down on the dire figures posted last year. Are they going to claw that back in June? No chance.

    • Exactly, how many taxi journeys do you think you would before the reason(s) behind it were disclosed to you like a UFO documentary on the discovery channel.

    • Almost certainly MI5. Reason: diplomatic plates in London are in the format 123-D-123 (3 numbers, 1 letter, 3 numbers). Can’t wait to buy a car with a plate like that and drive it to the UK.

  17. From now on I refuse to understand something until it is explained to me with large text, bland yet upbeat music, icons wooshing about and an inoffensive south Dublin Gaiety School of Acting accent.

  19. The one thing it will do is help the 2nd hand car market down the road. It was somewhat unfair on a person who bouht a car in say late ’99 to have it’s depreciation valued the same as someone who bought in January.

    For those who give out about that, a lot of manufacturers change models in January so you could get a really good deal on a new car in the old model. Lots of bells and whistles and a significent saving.

    At least the split will see the depreciation of cars be split between early and late in the year.

  20. Rubbish excuse. They did the same in UK without adding an extra digit. (eg. 13 first half of year, 53 for second half, simple)

    • what would happen the auld fella with the AIB account on negative real interest and his “vintage car” rotting in the driveway on a 53-D-1 plate?

  21. The motor industry is a complicated beast.

    The new 1 or 2 plate won’t really make a difference for about 5-6 years if the UK is anything to go by.

    even then it is fuked as it was mostly financed by the banks. Thats why the VW group do so well. They have their own “bank”

    you would be surprised how many jobs were lost over the last few years though :/ I don’t mean in Garages, the Distributors etc.

  22. Idiots. All the people who buy a new car every year will just wait until July of each year to buy a car.

  23. why not just keep the old system that worked – and instead start selling personalised plates – the government would actually make money!! BOD13, 007, ENDA 01…..whatever crap people want – but sell them €200 a plate

  25. If you import a second hand car now, the number you’re assigned gives away that it’s an import. Another great idea from the SIMI to stimgatise people who dared go oversees to buy their car instead of getting one from a local dealer.

    There is no logical reasoning behind it and I think it should be challenged in court.

    All counties have been give a starting number, e.g. all cars in Dublin being registered in a previous year will start at a number over 120000. The applies to other counties, Kildare is 16000, Offally is 7000 or something like that.

  26. Hold on a sec.

    [Old System]
    New cars sold each year (roughly) = 80,000
    80% we’re told sold in 1st half of year = 64,000
    Cars sold in 2nd half of year = 16,000
    Side-effect = Those people with either too much money or who don’t appreciate depreciation get to enjoy that ‘I’ve got a new car’ feeling for at least 1 year

    [New System]
    New cars sold each year (roughly) = 80,000
    Cars sold in 1st half of year = 40,000 (With 80% being in Jan)
    Cars sold in 2nd half of year = 40,000 (with 80% being in July)
    Side-Effect = No increase in cars sold and possible decrease.
    - Jobs won’t increase, the same amount of money is being made but just split across the year.
    - People think “screw buying a new car, I now only get half the length of enjoyment of it being ‘new’, might as well buy a year old used car”.

    As the young kids say nowadays…LOL

    • Plus, surely if the gross number of cars sold remains the same it would be in the dealers best interests to have the sales front loaded.

      Sell 80,000 cars in January, place money in bank and earn interest. Sell 40,000 in January, sell 40,000 in July, earn significantly less interest on your profits.

  27. After this superstitious nonsense Irish people cannot ridicule Americans for being religious nutbags.