Registration Date

[Robert Leigh]

In the 1950s when I started motoring, tax for vehicles was from 1st January for 12 months or for 3 months at a slightly higher rate. I suspect that buyers may have wanted to buy cars on 1st January partly for keeping up with the Joneses but also to get maximum value from the tax. Some will remember the change of registration suffix letter date moving from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year in 1967. This was because of pressure from the motor trade to reduce the surge in new car sales on 1st January. I believe the later change to altering the year identifying numbers to twice per year started on 1st September 2001, again to reduce the market surges.
Robert Leigh