Vehicle registration plates of Uruguay

New Uruguayan license plates

Uruguay requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates.

Departmental coding

Plates issued in each department begin with a one-letter code. These codes, used on the unique local issues of the past, have carried over to the current national series as part of the standard nationwide format.

Department or entity Code
Artigas Department G
Canelones Department A
Cerro Largo Department E
Colonia Department L
Durazno Department Q
Flores Department N
Florida Department O
Lavalleja Department P
Maldonado Department B
Montevideo Department[1] S
Paysandú Department I
Río Negro Department J
Rivera Department F
Rocha Department C
Salto Department H
San José Department M
Soriano Department K
Tacuarembó Department R
Treinta y Tres Department D
  1. ↑ S also used on plates issued to vehicles owned by the government and several other plate types that are issued centrally.

Current series

Prior to the introduction of this series, plates issued in each department had a unique design, in many instances displaying only the name of the municipality, rather than that of the department or the country. The change echoes that made in Argentina in 1994 with the change to a national plate series displaying the nation's name rather than a more local designation.

Under the current plate series, a single serial number format of ABC 1234 (and ABC 123 for motorcycles) has been introduced for the entire country, with either the country name, the vehicle type, or both displayed on the plate. Now absent are department or municipality designations, except for the small official logos displayed on many plates, one between the letters and numbers indicating the department of registration and another in the lower right corner indicating the municipality of registration. Plates in the current series employ FE-Schrift for their serials.

Some older plates are still in use, but evidently they are being replaced with plates of the current series, as even many antique cars have plates from the current series.

Italicized letters indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type:

Image Type Legend Serial format Design
English Spanish
Passenger Particular URUGUAY ABC 1234 black on white
Motorcycle Motocicleta URUGUAY ABC
123		 black on white
Official Oficial OFICIAL—URUGUAY SOF 1234 blue on white
Ambulance Ambulancia URUGUAY AAM 1234 green on white; embossed cross in lower left corner
Doctor Médico URUGUAY AME 1234 green on white; embossed cross in lower left corner
Departmental Assembly Edil Junta Departamental EDIL JUNTA DEPARTAMENTAL AED 1234 white on light blue; screened type designation
President of Departmental Assembly Presidente de la Junta Departamental PRESIDENTE J. DEPARTAMENTAL APE 1
Diplomatic Diplomático URUGUAY SCD 1234 black on white
Diplomatic—Motorcycle Diplomático—Motocicleta URUGUAY SCD
123		 black on white
Diplomatic—Consular Corps Diplomático—Cuerpo Consular URUGUAY SCC 1234 black on white
Diplomatic—Consular Corps—Motorcycle Diplomático—Cuerpo Consular—Motocicleta URUGUAY SCC
123		 black on white
Government Gobierno URUGUAY SAB 1234 black on white
Government—unknown type ? URUGUAY SAB 1234 white on orange
International organization Organización internacional URUGUAY SOI 1234 black on white
National Representative Representante Nacional REPRESENTANTE NACIONAL ARN 1234 blue on white
Non-governmental organization Organización no gubernamental URUGUAY SNG 1234 black on white
Livery Remise REMISE ARE 1234 black on yellow
Taxi TAXI ATX 1234 black on yellow
Public transportation Transporte colectivo URUGUAY ATC 1234 black on yellow
School Escolar ESCOLAR AES 1234 black on yellow
Tourist van Turismo TURISMO—URUGUAY AMT 1234 black on yellow
Tourist bus Turismo TURISMO—URUGUAY ATU 1234 white on blue
Truck Carga CARGA URUGUAY ATP 1234 black on white
Rental motorcycle Motocicleta—Alquiler URUGUAY AAL
123		 black on yellow
Rental vehicle Alquiler ALQUILER—URUGUAY AAL 1234 black on white

Previous series

While also issued by department with the same codes, these plates employ varying designs, with unique plate sizes and shapes, dies, and color schemes and may identify the municipality of registration rather than the department itself. Many plates featured a white and blue color scheme.

Italicized letters indicate a departmental code; bold letters indicate a fixed type code that appears on all plates of a particular type:

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Image Location and/or type Serial format Design Legend(s)
Diplomatic CC 123? white on blue ?
National Navy 123 black on white; embossed anchor at center "ARMADA"


 Public safety/government MI 12-345
MI 123456		 black on white or blue on white; variety of manufacturing stypes none
Artigas Department GA-1234 blue on white "ARTIGAS"; "ROU" debossed in embossed box at left
Canelones Department ABC 123
Caneloles Department—Official A 1234 white on blue "OFICIAL URUGUAY"
Cerro Largo Department—Melo city EM-12345 black on white "CERRO LARGO" embossed at top; "ROU" embossed vertically at left; "MELO" embossed vertically at right; the small M below the hyphen also indicates the city


 Colonia Department LA-1234 blue on white "COLONIA" debossed within embossed square that contains the "L"; "URUGUAY" at top. Some plates have a full-color seal, while others do not.
Maldonado Department—Punta del Este city B 51-234
B 512-345		 black on white "PUNTA DEL ESTE" at bottom; first number signifies city
Maldonado Department—San Carlos city B 212-345 black on white "SAN CARLOS" at bottom; first number signifies city
Río Negro Department—Fray Bentos city JAB 123 black on white "FRAY BENTOS" at top, "RIO NEGRO" in orange band at bottom
Salto Department HA 123 black on white; Salto logo at left "SALTO" at bottom
Soriano Department K 12-3456 blue on white "SORIANO URUGUAY" at bottom
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