Are you superstitious? Do you fear the no.13? Well don’t worry about your car registration number next year, because you won’t be driving a 13, or so it looks…
There have been many calls for next year’s vehicle registration numbers to be changed in order to avoid scaring off superstitious people as the plates should technically read 13-D, 13-KE, 13-C etc.
However, cars that are registered between January and the end of June will have a ‘131’ registration. Likewise, from July 1 to the end of December will have ‘132’ on the plate, according to the Irish Independent. So your 13-D will be 131-D if it was bought in January to June and 132-D if it’s bought in the latter half of the year.
Now, it’s not being changed purely on the basis that a few superstitious people might be put off buying a new car. It’s also got to do with the fact that most people tend to buy their new car in the first four months of the year.
Once the first four months go by, people tend to wait the eight months for a new registration number because the car will be ‘newer’, or so they think. So at least with a bi-annual system – like what they use in the UK – people will still want to buy cars in the latter half of the year.
Well, that’s what car dealers are hoping for at least…
