What year is a 21 plate?
A 21 plate car was first registered between 1 March 2021 and 31 August 2021, which makes it 5 years old.
-
5
years old
Registered March to August 2021
-
1 Mar 2021
first issued
The March identifier
-
31 Aug 2021
last issued
Then the 71 plate
What a 21 plate tells you about a car
How old is a 21 plate car?
5 years old
The first 21 plate cars turned 5 on 1 March 2026 and the last on 31 August 2026. The V5C gives a car's exact date.
MOT on a 21 plate
All past their first MOT
First MOTs fell due from 1 March 2024. Each car should have an unbroken run of annual tests since, and a gap is the first thing to ask about.
Car tax on a 21 plate
The flat standard rate
One standard rate after the first year, plus a five-year supplement if the car cost over the expensive-car threshold new. Our car tax calculator works out the current figure.
21 plate cars at the MOT and in clean air zones
DVSA's 2025 MOT results for cars and light vans first used in 2021, and where the plate sits against the emissions standards for London's ULEZ and the UK's clean air zones.
MOT results in 2025
12.8% initial fail rate
DVSA's 2025 figure for cars and light vans first used in 2021, the year every 21 plate car was registered: 1,803,966 tests at around 4 years old and an average of 36,745 miles on the clock. Those figures cover the makes in our MOT statistics: 98.5% of all 2025 tests on cars and light vans first used in 2021. The 12.8% rate is 14.9 points below the 27.7% average in our MOT statistics.
ULEZ and clean air zones
Petrol and diesel generally comply
A 21 plate petrol car was registered after 2005, so it generally meets Euro 4, the petrol standard. A 21 plate diesel was registered after Euro 6 became compulsory in September 2015, so it generally meets the diesel standard. Check one car with our ULEZ checker or TfL's.
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT results for 2025, cars and light vans (class 4 tests). Contains DVSA MOT testing data © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
An area code, the age, three random letters
What the rest of the plate means
The first two letters name the region of first registration. See the area codes, the regions or the free plate decoder.
What the plate cannot tell you
The exact age, or how it has been kept
A private plate hides the age. The V5C has the exact date, and the free MOT history check shows every test.
Looking at a 21 plate car?
Check the car, not just the plate
Cars on this plate are now 5 years old, so the MOT history and mileage tell you most about how one has been kept. From £5.
Every identifier since 2001
Each year has a March plate, which uses the year, and a September plate, which adds 50. The yellow one, the 76 plate, is being issued now. When the next plate change happens.
The 21 plate: common questions
What year is a 21 plate?
A 21 plate was issued between 1 March 2021 and 31 August 2021. March identifiers are simply the last two digits of the year, so 21 means 2021.
How old is a 21 plate car?
A 21 plate car is 5 years old. The first 21 plate cars turned 5 on 1 March 2026 and the last on 31 August 2026.
When does a 21 plate car need its first MOT?
Three years after first registration, so the earliest 21 plate cars needed one from 1 March 2024 and the last of them from 31 August 2024, then one every year.
Does the plate tell me anything else about the car?
The two letters before the numbers are the DVLA memory tag, which DVLA describes as referring to the region where the vehicle was first registered. The three letters after them are random. Neither says anything about where the car is now, and a transferred private plate hides the age entirely.