Vehicle registration plate

A vehicle registration plate is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. These vehicles with these purposes include bicycles (only back), buses, cars, golf carts (front and back in each state), motorboats (only back), motorcycles (only back), scooters (only back), tractors, tricycles (only back), trucks, vans, and possibly hoverboards and segways (only back), but not likely unicycles (only back). The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the vehicle owner within the issuing region's database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered. The next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well. The third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, while in others it is unique within a state or province. Whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. Depending on the country, the vehicle registration plate may be called a licence plate (e.g., United States and Canada), or number plate (e.g., Australia, India, United Kingdom).

Most governments require a registration plate to be attached to both the front and rear of a vehicle, although certain jurisdictions or vehicle types, such as motorboats, require only one plate, which is usually attached to the rear of the vehicle. National databases relate this number to other information describing the vehicle, such as the make, model, colour, year of manufacture, engine size, type of fuel used, mileage recorded (and other similar data in jurisdictions where vehicles are regularly inspected for roadworthiness every year or two), Vehicle Identification (Chassis) Number, and the name and address of the vehicle's registered owner or keeper.

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