Vehicle registration plates of Brazil

Brazilian vehicle license plate for a private-use vehicle registered in Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Mercosur-style plates were introduced in September 2018.

Colour schemes denoting functions used in Brazilian license plates in the style that lasted from 1990 to 2018

Brazilian vehicle registration plates are issued by the states. Each state has a Departamento de Trânsito (DETRAN) that is charged with 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.

Privately owned license plate in Mandatory font, compulsory since 2012

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:

Rear plate from Pernambuco

Front license plate of a truck from Pernambuco

License plate ranges

Alphanumeric combination	State
AAA 0001 to BEZ 9999	Paraná (PR)
BFA 0001 to GKI 9999 SAV 0001 to SAV 1000	São Paulo (SP)
GKJ 0001 to HOK 9999 NXX 0001 to NYG 9999 OLO 0001 to OMH 9999 OOV 0001 to ORC 9999 OWH 0001 to OXK 9999 PUA 0001 to PZZ 9999 QMQ 0001 to QSZ 9999	Minas Gerais (MG)
HOL 0001 to HQE 9999 NHA 0001 to NHT 9999 NMP 0001 to NNI 9999 NWS 0001 to NXQ 9999 OIR 0001 to OJQ 9999 OXQ 0001 to OXZ 9999 PSA 0001 to PTZ 9999	Maranhão (MA)
HQF 0001 to HTW 9999 NRF 0001 to NSD 9999 OOG 0001 to OOU 9999 QAA 0001 to QAZ 9999	Mato Grosso do Sul (MS)
HTX 0001 to HZA 9999 NQL 0001 to NRE 9999 NUM 0001 to NVF 9999 OCB 0001 to OCU 9999 OHX 0001 to OIQ 9999 ORN 0001 to OSV 9999 OZA 0001 to OZA 9999 PMA 0001 to POZ 9999	Ceará (CE)
HZB 0001 to IAP 9999 NVG 0001 to NVN 9999 OEJ 0001 to OES 9999 OZB 0001 to OZB 9999 QKN 0001 to QKZ 9999 QMA 0001 to QMP 9999	Sergipe (SE)
IAQ 0001 to JDO 9999	Rio Grande do Sul (RS)
JDP 0001 to JKR 9999 OVM 0001 to OVV 9999 OZW 0001 to PBZ 9999	Distrito Federal (DF)
JKS 0001 to JSZ 9999 NTD 0001 to NTW 9999 NYH 0001 to NZZ 9999 OKI 0001 to OLG 9999 OUF 0001 to OVD 9999 OZC 0001 to OZV 9999 PJA 0001 to PLZ 9999	Bahia (BA)
JTA 0001 to JWE 9999 NSE 0001 to NTC 9999 OBT 0001 to OCA 9999 OFI 0001 to OFW 9999 OSW 0001 to OTZ 9999 QDA 0001 to QEZ 9999	Pará (PA)
JWF 0001 to JXY 9999 NOI 0001 to NPB 9999 OAA 0001 to OAO 9999 OXM 0001 to OXM 9999 PHA 0001 to PHZ 9999	Amazonas (AM)
JXZ 0001 to KAU 9999 NIY 0001 to NJW 9999 NPC 0001 to NPQ 9999 NTX 0001 to NUG 9999 OAP 0001 to OBS 9999 QBA 0001 to QCZ 9999	Mato Grosso (MT)
KAV 0001 to KFC 9999 NFC 0001 to NGZ 9999 NJX 0001 to NLU 9999 NVO 0001 to NWR 9999 OGH 0001 to OHA 9999 OMI 0001 to OOF 9999 PQA 0001 to PRZ 9999	Goiás (GO)
KFD 0001 to KME 9999 NXU 0001 to NXW 9999 OYL 0001 to OYZ 9999 PCA 0001 to PGZ 9999	Pernambuco (PE)
KMF 0001 to LVE 9999	Rio de Janeiro (RJ)
LVF 0001 to LWQ 9999 NHU 0001 to NIX 9999 ODU 0001 to OEI 9999 OUA 0001 to OUE 9999 OVW 0001 to OVY 9999 PIA 0001 to PIZ 9999	Piauí (PI)
LWR 0001 to MMM 9999 OKD 0001 to OKH 9999 QHA 0001 to QJZ 9999	Santa Catarina (SC)
MMN 0001 to MOW 9999 NPR 0001 to NQK 9999 OET 0001 to OFH 9999 OFX 0001 to OGG 9999 OXO 0001 to OXO 9999 QFA 0001 to QFZ 9999	Paraíba (PB)
MOX 0001 to MTZ 9999 OCV 0001 to ODT 9999 OVE 0001 to OVF 9999 OVH 0001 to OVL 9999 OYD 0001 to OYH 9999 PPA 0001 to PPZ 9999	Espírito Santo (ES)
MUA 0001 to MVK 9999 NLV 0001 to NMO 9999 OHB 0001 to OHK 9999 ORD 0001 to ORM 9999 OXN 0001 to OXN 9999 QLA 0001 to QLM 9999	Alagoas (AL)
MVL 0001 to MXG 9999 OLH 0001 to OLN 9999 OYA 0001 to OYC 9999 QKA 0001 to QKM 9999	Tocantins (TO)
MXH 0001 to MZM 9999 NNJ 0001 to NOH 9999 OJR 0001 to OKC 9999 OVZ 0001 to OWG 9999 QGA 0001 to QGZ 9999	Rio Grande do Norte (RN)
MZN 0001 to NAG 9999 NXR 0001 to NXT 9999 OVG 0001 to OVG 9999 OXP 0001 to OXP 9999 QLU 0001 to QLZ 9999	Acre (AC)
NAH 0001 to NBA 9999 NUH 0001 to NUL 9999	Roraima (RR)
NBB 0001 to NEH 9999 OHL 0001 to OHW 9999 OXL 0001 to OXL 9999	Rondônia (RO)
NEI 0001 to NFB 9999 QLN 0001 to QLT 9999	Amapá (AP)

2018 Mercosur standard

Pre-production sample of Brazil's Mercosur license plate. Note that the actually implemented alphanumeric format is different from the one shown above: it will be LLLNLNN and not LNLNLLN, as seen here)

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.

From September 1, 2018, the Mercosur standard license plate will be adopted in Brazil. By the end of 2023, all vehicles will be carrying these new plates.