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Plate Atlas
Driving abroad

Driving in Netherlands

The licence plates you will see on the road in Netherlands, how to read them, and what a car from abroad needs.

NETHERLANDS5080100130

Speed limits

Default limits for cars, unless signs say otherwise, as on the signs at border crossings.

In towns
50 km/h
Outside towns
80 km/h
Expressways
100 km/h
Motorways
130 km/h

Most motorways are limited to 100 km/h from 6:00 to 19:00.

Before you drive

Environmental zones
Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Arnhem have environmental zones (milieuzones) for cars and vans, where diesel ones must meet Euro 4 or later. There is no sticker; the emission class is checked from the plate number.

Rules and prices change. Check the official site before you travel.

NL

Country code

Cars registered here show the country code NL. Plates carry it on the blue EU band, which counts as the country sign: no separate oval sticker is needed in the European Economic Area, and the plate is also valid in other countries of the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. A car from abroad shows its own country code at the rear in the same way.

Reading the plates

Plates carry no regional code, so the letters and numbers do not tell where a car is from.

Plates you will see

  • GBB-01-B

    Standard · Since 2024

Older plates still on the road

  • G-001-BB

    Standard · 2019–2024

  • GB-001-B

    Standard · 2015–2019

  • 1-KBB-00

    Standard · 2013–2015

  • 00-GBB-1

    Standard · 2008–2013

  • 01-DB-BB

    Standard · 1999–2008

  • DB-01-BB

    Standard · 1978–1999

  • AB-12-34

    Standard · 1951–1978

Plate formats and history of Netherlands

Sources