I get asked this question quite a lot, especially from caravan driver…

Since 2018 Australia has adopted a new plate for heavy vehicles and if you wonder how to tell where a vehicle is from, you can still work it out Lets have an example of a new plate:

XQ-88AB in Black on white reflection base, and blue band legend with the words NATIONAL HEAVY VEHICLE imprinted on it.

XQ-88AB is for Trucks while YQ-88AB is for Trailers. In this example the prefix denotes X for Trucks and Y for Trailers and the last prefix letter is for home states/territory:

  • A for Australian Capital Territory
  • N Completed for New South Wales
  • O for New South Wales
  • Q Completed for Queensland
  • B for Queensland
  • R for Northern Territory
  • S for South Australia
  • T for Tasmania
  • V Completed for Victoria
  • W for Victoria