Austria

International code: A
ISO code: AT / AUT
Data status: Verified

Plates show the district of registration.

Explore 94 districts on the map Driving in Austria: plates, vignettes and zones

Current plate formats

StandardSince 1990
LZ 123AB
One or two letters for the district of registration (state capitals have one letter, other districts and statutory cities two, such as WN for Wiener Neustadt), the state coat of arms, then four or five characters that start with a digit and end with a letter, or five or six in state capitals and Vienna, without Q. Since 2000 the serial is three digits and two letters (LZ 123AB), four digits and two letters in state capitals. Federal vehicles carry the federal eagle and diplomats a hyphen instead of the coat of arms. Since 2002 the plate has a blue EU strip with the A and red-white-red edges. Mopeds have white letters on a red plate, dealer plates white on green and temporary plates white on blue with a red strip on the right.
black on white
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PersonalisedSince 1990
W-ABC1
A chosen combination (Wunschkennzeichen) after the district code, starting with a letter and ending with a digit, three to five characters (six in state capitals and Vienna). Because the coat of arms is written as a hyphen, G-UNTER1 and GU-NTER1 are both possible, so a personalised plate can read as more than one district. Authorities and diplomats cannot choose one.
black on white
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ElectricSince 2017
W 123AB
Since 1 April 2017 battery-electric and hydrogen vehicles can get green letters on white on request. The format is the same as a standard plate. Some cities exempted these vehicles from parking charges, and some have since ended the exemption (Innsbruck in 2018).
#1b7a3a on white
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GovernmentCurrent
BH-12345
Federal vehicles with the federal eagle instead of a state coat of arms. A is for the highest organs (A 1000 is the president), BH the Federal Army, BP the Federal Police since 2005, BD Postbus coaches, FV the financial administration and JW the prison service. Retired codes are BB (ÖBB, now W series BB), BG (gendarmerie, until 2005) and ZW (customs, until 2005).
black on white
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DiplomaticCurrent
WD-15
WD for the diplomatic corps and WK for the consular corps in Vienna, with a hyphen in place of the coat of arms. The number is a rank among missions (1 = the Holy See). Other states use their own letter in the same way (KD-, GK-, SK-), which this format does not match yet.
black on white
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States (9)

Area codes (122)

Each code opens a page with the region it stands for.

Older formats

No longer issued, but some may still be on the road.

Standard1947–1989
W 123.456
White letters on black, a state letter (B, G Graz, K, L Linz, N, O- for Upper Austria, S, St for Styria, T, V, W) and up to six digits with a dot after the thousands. No coat of arms. Outside the cities the thousands showed the district (N 1.312 Amstetten). From 1972 the hundreds digit could be a letter (N 11.A02). No black plates have been issued since 1 January 1990, but about 220,000 were still in circulation in 2014.
white on black
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History

1906
First plates, one letter and a Roman numeral followed by three digits (A III 118 was Archduke Franz Ferdinand's car).
1930
One letter and five digits, the thousands encode the district.
1939
After the Anschluss German-style plates with two letters and seven digits (W-1234567) replace the Austrian ones.
1947
White-on-black plates with a state letter and up to six digits are introduced, with no coat of arms.
1990
New black-on-white plates with a district code, the state coat of arms and a serial replace the state-letter system; the old ones stay valid.
2002
From 1 November the plate has the blue EU strip with the letters A.
2005
On 1 July police and gendarmerie merge into the Federal Police and BG plates are no longer issued; BP replaces them.
2012
In the Styrian district reform, Judenburg and Knittelfeld become Murtal (MT) in July 2012; in July 2013 Feldbach and Radkersburg become Südoststeiermark (SO), Fürstenfeld and Hartberg become Hartberg-Fürstenfeld (HF), and Bruck an der Mur and Mürzzuschlag become Bruck-Mürzzuschlag (BM). The old codes are phased out.
2017
On 1 January the Wien-Umgebung district is dissolved. On 1 April green plates for electric vehicles are introduced.