Find the letter a Singapore vehicle plate ends in, or check that one adds up, and see what the prefix says about the vehicle. Cars, motorbikes, taxis, buses, lorries.
Every Singapore vehicle licence plate is a prefix of one to three letters, a number from 1 to 9999 and a checksum letter, like SBA 1234 G. The last letter isn’t part of the series: it’s worked out from the rest, so a mistyped or misread plate shows up.
| Remainder | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | A | Z | Y | X | U | T | S | R | P | M | L | K | J | H | G | E | D | C | B |
So F, I, N, O, Q, V and W are never checksum letters. Some worked examples: SBS 9889 U, E 23 H, SG 2017 C.
A plate’s checksum catches any one wrong digit: no digit’s weight times a change of 1 to 9 is a multiple of 19. See also Wikipedia: Vehicle registration plates of Singapore.
The last letter is a checksum: it’s worked out from the prefix letters and the number, so a plate that has been mistyped or misread usually doesn’t add up. It catches any one wrong digit.
Roughly. Car series run in order, EA in 1972 up to SBA in 1984 and on through the S series, and each new one comes out every month or two. A car with an SMP plate was registered in July 2019 or later. But numbers can be bid for after the series opens, or kept from an older car, so the car may be newer than its series. The dates come from LTA’s list of car prefixes.
SH is a taxi, F a motorcycle, G a light goods vehicle, Y a heavy one, X a very heavy one or a prime mover, P a private bus, W engineering plant, SG a public bus and QX an emergency vehicle. The checker tells you when you type one. (Wikipedia)
F, I, N, O, Q, V and W: with 19 possible remainders, only 19 letters are needed.
Yes: every series of plates uses the same checksum. Only special government vehicles and event vehicles have plates without one.
NRIC and FIN numbers end in a checksum letter too: check an NRIC · More small things at liddat.com