Ontario License Plates

The current blue on white Ontario passenger licence plate series debuted at AAAA-001 in early-1997 and reached BAAA in late-2006. Reflectorized sheeting on embossed aluminum had appeared earlier in September 1994 at 001-VYJ.

The prior 1986-1994 base used the same basic design but on a fully-embossed painted blue on white steel plate. That series was issued as high as 756-VWY with the next several thousand plates held in reserve. News media at the time reported the MTO had set aside approximately 70,000 pairs of older plates of various types in case the 1994 transition to the new aluminum base didn't go smoothly. The reserve stock was ultimately not needed so it is believed all plates were later scrapped.

The very first 1973-base passenger plate AAA-001, still valid and being used was observed in 2014 by Robert Lubinski. Plate AAA-137, still in regular use observed by JCampbell in 2009.

Personalized 1986-97 series 001-AAA observed by Phil C on the optional Star Trek graphic.

1986-97 series 999-ZZZ observed in use by Dale Snook in 2014.

Joe Sallmen and Jim Becksted both photographed the very first 1997-series plate AAAA-001 in 2004.

Tristan Anderson observed ZZZZ-999 personalized issue. This number would otherwise not have appeared normally for another 150-200 years.

The Ontario French slogan passenger licence plate debuted in May 2008 as a no-cost option. Initial prefixes used were BCAA, BEAA, BEAD, BEAE, BEAJ, BEAL, BEAM, BEAN, BEAP, BEAS, BSRH, BSRJ, BSRK, BTBE, BTBF and a few others. Tom Rodda spotted BCAA-001 as a low 2012-02-03.

Dedicated FAAA series for these plates started in 2019 and reached FAAD-679 before being interrupted by the short-lived 2020 blue base (only FAAE and FAAF series issued) before reverting to white at FAAL.

The optional slogan was extended to personalized plates on 3/28/2011 and later to all current graphics and some non-passenger types such as Manufacturer, Truck, Veteran and Green Vehicle.

This self-adhesive 5.5 x 8.5" 10 Day Special Permit replaced the previous 10 Day Temporary Permit by 7-31-08. It is only used in a limited number of specific instances where the T sticker plate application is not appropriate, such as motorcycles and out of province vehicles. Most temporary permits issued since 2008 receive a pair of regular plates with red on white T sticker affixed in top right corner.

The current Ontario Bus licence plate started at BA1-001 in 1980 and was produced to the mid-BH series in painted black on white steel. Ontario plates in 1994 received a facelift in the form of aluminum plates using 3M reflective sheeting. The updated bus plates started at BH5 001, featured Avery sheeting in some BJ, BK and BL prefix plates and reverted to 3M sheeting at BM4 until series reached BN9 999. Prefixes BP-BZ were previously reserved for PRP Bus so the regular bus series moved to suffixes starting at 100-1BF in 2009.

The current series of Ontario Consular licence plates started at CCA in 1987 and updated to reflective during CCB in 1994. Odd plate 011-CCN observed by Sebastien April 2013-09-19.

This Ontario Dealer-only licence plate series originated in December 2004., featuring red embossed registration characters on a screened black and white background with vertical "DEALER" at left.

Numbering started at 001-DLA while 011-DLA is the lowest actual observation by Matt Embro. Alan Bones observed 133-DLO in 2005, an unusual use of the letter "O" in Ontario.

Dealers and Service garages previously shared the black on yellow floater licence plate under the former "Dealer/Service" category from 1982-2004. Post-2004 Service garage registrations continued using the re-defined yellow plate tracked separately on this website.

White on red, reflective regular series Diplomat.

The CDR series follows CDL.

987-CDL was reported by Alan Bones on 2005-07-22, but this is out of sequence. 999-CDL was reported by Jim Sadler. 981-CDP also reported by Jim Sadler. Other plates of this type out of sequence have been reported. Remakes of numbers from the fully embossed period also exist.

Alan also notes that it appears serials 980-999 are now reserved for heads of mission (Ambassadors and High Commissioners)

Tom Rodda spotted the first of this series, 001-CDA in Ottawa. Alan Bones reports this plate number is issued to the "Dean of the Diplomatic Corps" (i.e. the longest locally-serving head of mission). If the Dean changes, the number is re-issued to the new dean. Tiger Joe reports 001-CDA was the non-reflective base, and registered at least since 1995 to the Papal Nuncio, but there have been two other since, and the current Dean is from Guyana.

Current suffix format Ontario Medical Doctor licence plates started at 001 MAB in late-1994. The MAB series lasted nearly 12 years until 2006. The MAC series that followed lasted 13 years until 2019, so these plates are not overly common or well-known. MAD suffix skipped, current MAE started in 2019.

Original 1973-78 era plates used prefixes MDA-MDV; "73" dropped from MDW-MDY series 1978-83, sticker box dropped and Yours to Discover slogan started in 1983 at MDZ. Embossed plates used some of the MAA suffix in the early-1990s.

Current licence plate format is reflectorized white on red starting with XTV series in 1994.

White on red XOR suffix Ontario licence plates are allocated to foreign organizations not of diplomatic status, such as the Taiwan trade office.

1980-2003 issues were in the FA1-234 format. FK series skipped. Initial plates were fully-embossed, vertical "FARM" side caption, painted black on white and in prefixes FA-FT. The design was updated to reflective style in 1994 starting at FV and lasting to 2003 when FZ prefix was finally reached. The current suffix series started at FA in 2003 and has still not been exhausted over 20 years later.

The Ontario "GREEN VEHICLE" licence plate debuted in June 2010 in both English and French versions. The English version started at GVAA with French plates starting at VEAA and tracked separately on this site.

Green vehicle plates are not mandatory but are available only to plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric vehicles. Regular hybrid vehicles such as the Prius are not eligible for green plates. Green-plated cars may access recharging facilities at GO Transit and other provincially operated parking lots. They may also use designated parking spots at the University of Toronto and some private companies such as Walmart Canada. Thanks to Matt Embro.

This French green vehicle plate was introduced in 2010 using same design as the standard English version. French series started at VEAA with screened bottom slogan "Vehicule Ecologique".

Current format after 999-HVZ reached in summer 2007.

Introduced 3-27-06 for Limited Speed Motorcycles. Small plate is white on green.

New type 1/1/17. French version has stacked PFV instead of MFR on left side.

White on red

After F9999, the series progressed to EA 101 and up.

The current Ontario motorcycle licence plate originated in 1980 using the numbering formats and ranges below.

Embossed 1980: 10001-99999 then Z1-Z9999

No embossed year, sticker box, 1981 and 1982: Y0001-S9999 (letters issued in reverse order)

No sticker box, fully embossed 1982-1994: R0001-H9999 (letters issued in reverse order), 001AA-999EZ, 001NA-999ZZ, FA001-KZ999.

Reflective sheeting, 1994-present: LA001-LZ999, 1A001-9Z999, 100A1-999Z9, 0001A-9999Z, 0A0A1-9Z9Z9 and 00A0A since 2023.

White on light blue.

This current reflective green on white 4.25 x 7.25" version of the Ontario Off Road Vehicle (ORV) licence plate debuted in 1994 somewhere in the mid-Px prefix range. Those initial plates reached TZ999 around 2000 and these ranges followed:

-2000-13 series 10AA1-99ZZ9

-2013-23 series 1AA01-9ZZ99

-2023-present 0A01A+

Ontario ORV plates appear to move quickly, see our History tab for details and more recent observations.

New tracking bucket coming soon: Off-Road Dealer (red on white) - 371MD 2009-04-15 Terry Ellsworth

Commemorative plate to mark the 100th anniversary of the OPP in 2009. Black on white with special emblem at left, used only on OPP vehicles.

OPP004 reported as a low.

Original prefix letters were ONA-ONS blue on white embossed until 1994, then plates updated to reflectorized, letters moved to suffix position and used ONA, ONB, ONC and later some ONN and ONP series. Most provincial government vehicles use regular passenger, truck or bus plates with striped orange/black sticker top right.

Original series started with PJO prefix in 1973 and switched to PJO suffix in 2005.

2019-present - prefix PA-PZ, 5 numbers

2006-2019 - 4 numbers, PA-PZ suffix

1994-2006 - prefix PJ8-PZ, 4 numbers, reflective sheeting start

1982--1994 prefix PA-PJ7, 4 numbers, embossed plate.

The Ontario PRP Bus licence plate for cross-border coaches debuted in 1982 with the BP-BZ prefixes reserved The original series of plates was fully-embossed painted black on white and numbered BP1-001 through BP1-615. These plates were seldom observed except for Voyageur coaches in the early years. PRP bus plates were updated to the reflective style in 1994 starting at BP2-001 and advanced only to BP2-443 by 2004. The International Registration Plan (IRP) which governs the rules for PRP plates expanded their scope to include charter buses in 2016, creating new demand for this previously low-issuance type.

This black on yellow Ontario licence plate was originally categorized as "Dealer/Service" starting in 1982. In December 2004, Dealers branched off into their own dedicated category and plate series, tracked elsewhere on this website. These yellow plates were re-defined and Service garages continued using them from 674-DKA to end of DKZ, followed by DWx and then DXx. Garages could also continue renewing their existing stock of older yellow plates. Those can be spotted by their lower suffixes and post-2005 renewal date stickers.

Transporters started using these yellow floater plates in 2004 or perhaps a bit earlier. They previously used the old orange on white "In-Transit" paper single-trip permit which was confirmed as high as #317000 and in use as late as February 2002.

Ontario registers snowmobiles with a pair of 3.5 x 6" blue on white decals. Registrant may apply their own custom-designed number stickers to both sides of cowling instead of the MTO-supplied decals. Number format moved to 0AA000 after 999999 reached in 2009 . Snowmobile registration numbers are intended to be permanently assigned and remain with machine when sold. OFSC trail passes are signified with a different sticker renewed annually.

A12-12A is the low for this type seen by David Wilson on 2002-02-12.

The current Ontario 7-digit two-letter prefix truck plates appeared in 2011 starting with AA-10000; low observation AA-10094 by Matt Embro. Prefix Dx reserved for French language version tracked elsewhere on this site.

Prior suffix series started in 1996 at 100-1AA with low 101-4AA observed by Mike Franks. Suffixes BA-mid-BE produced and issued to trucks by mistake in late-1990s; remaining suffixes BF+ re-reserved for regular bus plates which hit the road years later in 2009. Letters G, I, O, Q and U are not used on truck plates except letter O only used in AO, CO and NO suffix series in late-1990s and early-2000s. Fx, Px and Sx suffixes omitted from truck series as they were previously reserved for other vehicle types. Truck plates reached 999-9ZZ (later photographed by David Wilson) in 2011.

Original prefix truck series started in 1980 at AA1-001 except for prefixes Bx, Fx, Px and Sx reserved for other vehicle types. All plates were plain black on painted white steel and reached as high as ZD8-525 when the base was updated in 1994. The revised black on reflective white aluminum truck plates started at ZE1-001 and lasted until prefixes were exhausted in 1996.

Introduced in August 2011 as a no-extra-cost option. Low DA-10007 spotted by Tom Rodda 2013-07-02.

First available 2007-03-26.

Introduced on June 16, 1997. Note this is not a "Tribal plate" in the sense that it is available only to members. It is a specialty plate that carries the same additional fee as others in Ontario and is available to the general public.

Debuted April 24, 2006.

IV is for "Illuminate Viam" the motto under the group's symbol on the plate. Vince Black observed the first plate of the series, 01IV01 on 2014-01-04.

Canadian Blood Services plate introduced with "Give Blood" English logo starting at 01BL01 in March 2007.

In order to create a French option for this graphic in May 2008, the logo text was revised to "Donnez du sang" while retaining standard English Ontario licence plate slogan. These plates ranged from 50BL01 through high 50BL15. In 2010 they were again revised, this time with the French licence plate slogan (tant a decouvrir) for all remaining 50BLxx plates. Low all-French 50BL21 10-24-10 Matt Embro.

This pay-extra graphic was first introduced in September 1994. Originally the middle letters were CF until they changed to FC in 2015. Plate design remains otherwise-unchanged except for slogan optionally available in French starting in 2017. With the two exceptions of 50x-series Franco Ontarian and CDN Blood Svcs plates, the French versions of Ontario specialty graphics use randomly-chosen letter series and not the initials of the organization like the English plates do.

First available 1997-03-03.

First available 11/30/09

Graphic is for safety awareness, actual graphic is "Elmer" the safety elephant.

First available 11/30/09

Introduced on March 26, 2007.

The first Ontario Fire Service Society specialty licence plate series started at 01FD01 on October 11, 1997. After the FD series was exhausted in 2004, the letters changed to FS, then to FR in late-2012 and RF in mid-2022.

There are two versions of this plate, with just the slogan being different. The lower number series (starting at 01FL01) has the slogan in English, while the higher series (starting at 50FL01) has it in French.

English high: 06FL08 2014-06-08 David R. Wilson

French low: 52FL63 2010-02-10 Jim Sadler

French version: 01DY03 reported 5/20/23 by Brent M.

First available 2006-04-24.

Grand Lodge of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons specialty plates were introduced at 01FM01 in November 2009. The masonic emblem is superimposed on a maple leaf to the left of the plate number.

Introduced in July 1996.

First available 2000-09-01.

Graphic updated 1/4/2011 and is now called "International Ch'ang-Hon Taekwon-Do Federation."

Old style high - 04TD22

New style low - 04TD71

Vince Black spotted what could be an error plate with 17TD10 on it. The letters TD are normally used for the Taekwon-Do Federation plates, but this plate appeared to have a Loon logo, and the Taekwon-Do series is only in the 04 block of numbers, so the 17 doesn't fit.

Only available between January 2001 and 2018, low 01KL03.

Only available between March 1997 and January 2010.

Introduced in late 2005.

First series used LN, now LM since 2002.

Available only between November 1999 and June 2003.

Commemorated the War of 1812 bicentennial in 2012.

First available 2006-08-09.

Graphic is for Ontario Federation of Snowmobile clubs.

Low of 01SN01 spotted at Peace Bridge Border Crossing by Jacob Robitaille.

Released in March 2010.

This type debuted in 2003 using the PA series, then moved to the EP series in 2010 due to an alleged conflict with numbers reserved for a future PRP series.

Introduced on October 6, 2008 exclusively for members of the OPFFA (Ontario Professional Firefighters Association). This plate is NOT available to the general public.

Introduced in late 2005. Discontinued 5-28-2010.

Alan Bones provided some interesting information about the RR series. The RR series has been used on three different plates. The original was the red, blue and black logo for the Ottawa Rough Riders (two words, distinct from the Saskatchewan Roughriders). These plates started at 01RR01. The logo was later changed to red and black (dropping the blue), and these seem to have started from 01RR40. The third is the one noted here, for the Renegades, which seems to have started at 02RR01.

Graphic has been updated as of 1/4/11 to reflect a change to the team's logo that actually happened a couple years ago. This is now the third version of this graphic.

1st version high - 16SE53

2nd version low/high - 17SE01/55SE48

3rd version low - 56SE10

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) graphic plates debuted on November 28, 2010. Consistent with MTO rules for all new graphics, the first 200 pairs of these plates were purchased and distributed by PEO, the sponsoring organization. Various numbers of those initial plates were available to the general public via the organization's website while 03PE03 and up remain available at issuing offices across the province. Thanks to Matt Embro.

High 02PE97 initial PEO block 2012-11-22 Vince Black

The graphic logo on these licence plates was updated from "Queen's University" to "Queen's Alumni" on February 24, 2010. Numbering series continued unchanged.

Original logo high - 12QU93, alumni logo low - 13QU32

Introduced 4/24/06.

One of the original graphic plates introduced in fall 1994.

First available 2006-08-09.

First available 2006-08-09.

Introduced in summer 2005.

First available 2007-03-26.

Only available between 1997-2002. Personalized AAA-001 on this graphic plate observed by Phil C.

First available Feb. 1, 2010. Plate features a graphic of a Yellow Ribbon.

Revised logo debuted 2007-03-26.

Toronto Blue Jays plates debuted October 1994 and have so far appeared with four different logos:

1st logo 1994-2001 high - 09JA30

2nd logo 2001-04 low/high - 11JA29/55JA57

3rd logo 2004-12 low/high - 56JA40/65JA83

4th logo 2012-21 low - 68JA22

5th logo 2021+ low 90JA50

The first letter set was ML, then TO came into use in 2002, then TM in 2007. A leafs plate with the letters LF (47LF96) was spotted by Dale Snook on 3-8-12, but no others like it have been seen.

Toronto Raptors licence plates debuted in October 1994. Original logo with purple behind mascot reached high 35RA45 when it was updated in late-2009, revised logo with black behind mascot low 34RA04. Logo changed again to the current style in 2016, low 41RA20.

First available 2006-08-09.

Officially available only between 1997 and 2005. The Toronto Sky Dome was renamed to the Rogers Center in 2006. The first Sky Dome regular series plate 01SD01 was spotted by Robert Lubinski on 2008-03-19.

Letters TR used from 1994-2004, succeeded by TL. Martin Vincent observed what was likely the first Trillium plate issued, 01TR01 on 10 June 2012.

Promotes organ donation. Introduced in 2007.

Issued only between October 1997 and March 2005. Low 01UG02.

Graphic has been updated to reflect a change in the U of T logo.

Old logo high - 10UT19

New logo low - 12UT31

Graphic updated in early 2012 to reflect a change to the U of W's official logo that was made in mid 2011.

Old style high - 06UW12

New style low - 07UW10

Issued only between October 1997 and March 2005. Existing plates remain valid as long as renewed.

Introduced in November 2003.

Introduced April 2011.

This fully-flat standard Ontario passenger licence plate debuted February 2, 2020, with serials starting at CMAA after the previous white series left off around CLXV. These plates featured 3M High Definition (HD) sheeting which is optimized for highest reflectivity as seen by various speed and other high-mounted cameras. The dark colour and basic reflective properties of this type of sheeting are not ideal for viewing at other angles where traditional sheeting would normally reflect. Despite the apparent success of HD sheeting in other jurisdictions,, this base went on hiatus. The standard Ontario passenger issue eventually reverted to the 1997 series by June 2020 with CMMZ 349 as the highest blue plate issued. Higher plates were made but later recalled from issuing offices and destroyed. Blue plates issued to motorists during their short lifespan remain valid as long as renewed.

New type in 1973, replaced by the District Court Judge (DCO) series in 1985. A tiny number of CCJ plates still existed on the road in 2005 but current use is unconfirmed. Very rare type.

This 5.5 x 8.5" temporary permit design was used December 2004 through approximately July 2008, per Manny Jacob. Low was A000263.

Entire front side was lightly pre-glued for affixing inside windshield facing outwards. Registration details handwritten on simple printed back side form. These permits measured 4.75 x 8.5" and were made of thin paper which tended to fall apart when removed after expiry. Issued until December 2004.