Glossary

The unique combination of characters, alphabetical and/or numeric, assigned to a motor vehicle registered in accordance with Transport Legislation. The maximum number of characters of a plate number is six. All motor vehicles registered in New Zealand must display the plate number on a metallic plate or plates affixed to the vehicles.

Different vehicle types requires different plate styles:

• General Purpose (GP) plates are issued in sets of 2 for use on vehicles which require GP Plates (cars, trucks, etc.)
• Motorcycle (MC) plates are issued in sets of 1 for use on vehicles which requires MC Plates (motorcycles, mopeds, tractors, etc.)
• Trailer (TL) plates are issued in sets of 1 for vehicles which require TL Plates (trailers, towed caravans, etc.)

Any plate type, except trade plates, can be in GP, MC or TL style.

Personalised Plates are plates with unique character combination chosen by the owners of the plates and purchased from Personalised Plates Limited. Personalised plates come in 3 main categories:

• Standard — black characters on white background;
• Investment — blue characters on white background;
• Special Issue — as issued by Personalised Plates Limited.

A personalised plate can be used on different vehicles. Appropriate change of plate transactions must be lodged to transfer a personalised plate from vehicle to vehicle.

Power output of the engine of a motor vehicle as rated by the Manufacturer (in kilowatts). Some vehicles may be showing brake horsepower (bhp) for this figure.

Country where a vehicle has been previously registered before arrival in New Zealand.