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I suppose it will help to hide all the hire cars with their block bookings such IIRC Eurocar all being registered in Rouen (76) - but it will make it less fun "spotting" non Var (83) cars when on holiday.
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It's quite a clever system, similar to the one in Italy, although it produces some curious anomalies.
From what I've read on the French websites, ALL cars registered in France will eventually have to be re-registered (once and for life) under the new system whenever they are (i) MoT-tested; (ii)sold, new or second hand. So your neighbour with a 50 year old CV will eventually have a "newer" registration than the brand new car you bought yesterday.
From my experience of living and driving in Spain for nearly 20 years, an end to regional rivalries is no bad thing. Those of us living in the Basque Country can now drive to other parts of Spain without suffering humiliating roadside checks (ETA terrorists, of course, always used false plates).
The Spanish 1234 BCD system prohibits vowels to avoid unfortunate words creeping in, although I have spotted a few cars with almost complete "Anglo Saxon" words...
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Bosnia similarly has avoided regional number plates, wisely. Although Serbia and Croatia persist with them.
I once hired a car in Croatia and drove it to Montenegro, where it was vandalised over night, in the shape of a well known Serbian national symbol. Thankfully I had bought top insurance cover and was not charged for resparying the bonnet of a metallic silver Fabia.
I often drive Serbian registered hire cars through Vukovar in Croatia, although I try not to leave them parked up on street and keep them in a locked compound when I arrive at my destination. No problems so far.............
I also once drove a Portuguese hire car in to Spain and had the car broken in to over night, they smashed the rear door quarterlight (Clio II) and had a good rummage around, but there was nothing to steal.
I'm all in favour of pan-European number plates, although will there be enough combinations to go around?
What I miss most on French cars is the old yellow headlights they all used to have.
Edited by Alanovich on 21/04/2009 at 14:35
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