Vehicle registration plates of Brazil
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Brazilian vehicle registration plates are issued by the states. Each state has a Departamento de Trânsito (DETRAN) that is in charge of vehicle registration and car tax collection, but plates are standardized across the country and form a national vehicle registration database.
Description
The current system, being phased out in favor of Mercosul standard plates, was created in 1990 and was named Registro Nacional de Veículos Automotores (RENAVAM). It uses the form "LLL·NNNN", where LLL is a three-letter combination followed by a four-digit number with a dot between the letters and numbers. A combination given to one vehicle stays with it "for life" - it cannot be changed or transferred to another vehicle. Vanity plates are allowed as long as they abide to the same standard as non-vanity plates.
Above the combination is a metallic band with the State abbreviation (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, PR = Paraná, AM = Amazonas etc.) and the name of the municipality in which the vehicle is currently registered. This band has to be changed when a vehicle needs to be registered in a different municipality. Rear number plates are bound to the vehicle by a plastic seal. Broken seals invalidate the number plate, which has to be re-sealed by the authorities. Seals need to be broken in order to change State/Municipality tags.
The size of the Brazilian license plates has been standardized to 400 x 130 mm (15" x 5" approx.) in 2008. That standardization also requires a unique typeface known as "Mandatory", which is similar to the typeface used on British plates introduced there in 2001. Plates in North American standard or European standard size can no longer be used as of January 1, 2008.
Colors
- black on grey: privately owned vehicles
- white on red: any kind of paid transportation (buses, taxis etc.)
- red on white: driving school (autoescola in Portuguese)
- black on white: official use (government-owned cars: police departments, fire departments, federal, state or city public services)
- gray on black: collector's items (vehicles older than 30 years in excellent state of conservation and in original state - with more than 80% of its original components).
- white on green: manufacturer plates for vehicles under testing, dealer-testing, or in some cases test-drive (in most cases test-drive cars are registered to the dealership and thus use black on grey plates; privately owned cars being tested after repairs usually carry dealer-fitted green plates over their black on grey plates)
- white on blue: diplomatic use (in this case in the format CD 1234 or CC 1234) or newer licenses like EMB 1234)
Letters
The letters on the license plate can describe the state where a vehicle was originally registered. Vehicles relocated from one state to another will show the new state/municipality on the replaceable tag, but it is always possible to determine the place of original registration for a used vehicle by observing the license plate range for each Brazilian State:
| State | 1st sequence | 2nd sequence | 3rd sequence | 4th sequence | 5th sequence | 6th sequence | 7th sequence | 8th sequence | 9th sequence | 10th sequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Paraná (PR) |
AAA to BEZ | |||||||||
 São Paulo (SP) |
BFA to GKI | QSN to QSZ | SAV | |||||||
 Minas Gerais (MG) |
GKJ to HOK | NXX to NYG | OLO to OMH | OOV to ORC | OWH to OXK | PUA to PZZ | QMQ to QQZ | QUA to QUZ | QWR to QXZ | RFA to RGD |
 Maranhão (MA) |
HOL to HQE | NHA to NHT | NMP to NNI | NWS to NXQ | OIR to OJQ | OXQ to OXZ | PSA to PTZ | |||
 Mato Grosso do Sul (MS) |
HQF to HTW | NRF to NSD | OOG to OOU | QAA to QAZ | ||||||
 Ceará (CE) |
HTX to HZA | NQL to NRE | NUM to NVF | OCB to OCU | OHX to OIQ | ORN to OSV | OZA | PMA to POZ | ||
 Sergipe (SE) |
HZB to IAP | NVG to NVN | OEJ to OES | OZB | QKN to QKZ | QMA to QMP | ||||
 Rio Grande do Sul (RS) |
IAQ to JDO | |||||||||
 Distrito Federal (DF) |
JDP to JKR | OVM to OVV | OZW to PBZ | REC to REZ | ||||||
 Bahia (BA) |
JKS to JSZ | NTD to NTW | NYH to NZZ | OKI to OLG | OUF to OVD | OZC to OZV | PJA to PLZ | QTU to QTZ | RCO to RDR | |
 Pará (PA) |
JTA to JWE | NSE to NTC | OBT to OCA | OFI to OFW | OSW to OTZ | QDA to QEZ | QVA to QVZ | |||
 Amazonas (AM) |
JWF to JXY | NOI to NPB | OAA to OAO | OXM | PHA to PHZ | QZA to QZZ | ||||
 Mato Grosso (MT) |
JXZ to KAU | NIY to NJW | NPC to NPQ | NTX to NUG | OAP to OBS | QBA to QCZ | RAK to RAZ | |||
 Goiás (GO) |
KAV to KFC | NFC to NGZ | NJX to NLU | NVO to NWR | OGH to OHA | OMI to OOF | PQA to PRZ | QTN to QTS | RBK to RCN | |
 Pernambuco (PE) |
KFD to KME | NXU to NXW | OYL to OYZ | PCA to PGZ | QYA to QYZ | |||||
 Rio de Janeiro (RJ) |
KMF to LVE | RIO | ||||||||
 Piauí (PI) |
LVF to LWQ | NHU to NIX | ODU to OEI | OUA to OUE | OVW to OVY | PIA to PIZ | QRN to QRZ | |||
 Santa Catarina (SC) |
LWR to MMM | OKD to OKH | QHA to QJZ | QTK to QTM | RAA to RAJ | RDS to REB | ||||
 Paraíba (PB) |
MMN to MOW | NPR to NQK | OET to OFH | OFX to OGG | OXO | QFA to QFZ | QSA to QSM | |||
 Espírito Santo (ES) |
MOX to MTZ | OCV to ODT | OVE to OVF | OVH to OVL | OYD to OYK | PPA to PPZ | QRB to QRM | RBA to RBJ | ||
 Alagoas (AL) |
MUA to MVK | NLV to NMO | OHB to OHK | ORD to ORM | OXN | QLA to QLM | QTT | QWG to QWL | ||
 Tocantins (TO) |
MVL to MXG | OLH to OLN | OYA to OYC | QKA to QKM | QWA to QWF | |||||
 Rio Grande do Norte |
MXH to MZM | NNJ to NOH | OJR to OKC | OVZ to OWG | QGA to QGZ | RGE to RGN | ||||
 Acre (AC) |
MZM to NAG | NXR to NXT | OVG | OXP | QLU to QLZ | QWM to QWQ | ||||
 Roraima (RR) |
NAH to NBA | NUH to NUL | ||||||||
 Rondônia (RO) |
NBB to NEH | OHL to OHW | OXL | QRA | QTA to QTJ | |||||
 Amapá (AP) |
NEI to NFB | QLN to QLT |
2018 Mercosur standard
In October 2014 the design of the new license plate to be used by all Mercosur countries was officially presented. This consists of a plate of 15.75 in × 5.12 in (400.05 mm × 130.05 mm), with a white background, the characters and frame in black and a blue band at the top that shows the name of the country, its flag and the Mercosur logo. The typeface used is FE-Schrift.
In September, 2018, Mercosur standard license plates started to be adopted in Rio de Janeiro. As of January 2020, all states have started issuing the new plates. By the end of 2023, all vehicles are expected to be carrying these new plates.[1]