[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":24},["ShallowReactive",2],{"content-license-plate-codes-en":3},{"about":4,"steps":7,"faq":11},[5,6],"The first one to three letters of a German number plate – the district code – tell you in which district or city a car is registered. The lookup knows all current codes of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), plus expired old codes and the special codes of federal and state authorities and diplomats.","You can enter a code, a whole plate or a place name. For every code you see the district or city, the federal state and the derivation – the highlighted letters form the code. With the state list you can browse all codes of a state.",[8,9,10],"Type a code like “KA” or a whole plate like “KA-AB 123”.","To find the code of a place, enter the place name instead and pick a result.","Choose a state below to see all of its codes.",[12,15,18,21],{"q":13,"a":14},"What are old codes?","Codes of former districts that were dropped after administrative reforms. Many have been reissued since the liberalisation of plates and then show up as current codes. Those marked as old here are no longer issued but stay valid on existing vehicles.",{"q":16,"a":17},"Why do some codes list several districts?","Some old codes belong to areas that are now split across several districts. All of them then issue the code, e.g. ESB for Eschenbach in the Upper Palatinate.",{"q":19,"a":20},"What do plates with Y, THW or BP mean?","These are special codes: Y for the German armed forces, THW for the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, BP for the Federal Police. Plates starting with 0 belong to diplomats or international organisations.",{"q":22,"a":23},"How current is the data?","The list comes from the register of the Federal Motor Transport Authority and the vehicle registration ordinance, prepared by the openpotato\u002Fkfz-kennzeichen project (as of April 2026). More about the car behind the plate is revealed by the vehicle identification number in the [[vin-decoder]].",1793808251041]