Identification: This is what the letters X and Y stand for
Created: 01/19/2022, 12:46 p.m
By: Janine Napirca
Bundeswehr number plates differ from conventional, reflective EU number plates by a different font, the hyphen and the German flag to the left of the letter Y.
© Sepp Spiegl/Imago
Have you ever seen vehicles with license plates X or Y?
You can find out what these letters stand for here.
License plates
in Germany usually start with letters that
refer
to the
location
.
For example, B stands for Berlin, D for Dusseldorf and M for Munich.
Larger cities are usually limited to one letter, smaller ones have two to three letters that refer to the place.
To avoid confusion with other cities, larger towns such as the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg also have several letters, in this case HB or HH.
Also read
: Seasonal number plates: These are the penalties if you park on the street during the rest period.*
What does the license plate Y stand for?
Perhaps you have already noticed
vehicles with the
number plate Y on the road.
Although these are rare, they do occur.
As of today (2022), there are a total of
around 90,000 vehicles
with this number plate.
Since
1955
, the Y sign has stood for the
Bundeswehr
.
According to the ADAC, Brigadier General Kurt Vogel opted for this letter at the time because when the Bundeswehr was founded in 1955 all possible combinations had already been assigned and the license plate should only have one letter.
No major German city begins with a Y, so the matter was decided.
Also
interesting
: Rare traffic sign sighted: Overtaking by bicycles is prohibited here.
According to the ADAC report, the Y license plate differs from other license plates in that it has a different
font
. Also, Bundeswehr license plates are
non-reflective
, the German flag can be seen to the left of the license plate and the Y is followed by a hyphen. If the Y license plate is red, this indicates a vehicle under test. Normally, the following identification number consists of up to six digits, three digits is the Bundeswehr license plate number if the vehicle was purchased in the USA and one digit if it is the inspectors of the army, air force or navy. According to the ADAC, for example, Y-1 is the license plate number of the General Inspector of the German Armed Forces.
Also read
: Motorists beware: This error in winter threatens high damage.
Who is driving with the license plate number X?
The X license plate is much
rarer
than the Y license plate. Only
a few hundred vehicles
with this license plate number are on German roads.
These are vehicles of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or
NATO
for short .
According to the report, international NATO headquarters based in Germany are allowed to have X plates on their official vehicles.
According to the ADAC, just like Y-plates, the NATO license plates are also produced in the Bundeswehr's Center for Motor Vehicles.
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