Vehicle registration plates of Uruguay

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.

Current 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:

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: