Types of number plates in Saudi Arabia

While roaming around on roads, you might have noticed many different types of number plates in Saudi Arabia. What do the color, English letters, Arabic letters, and digits on the number plate mean?

• How to replace a car number plate?

Types of number plates

There are 5 types of number plates in Saudi Arabia available in white, blue, yellow, and green color.

White Number Plate

The white number plate is assigned to private cars; hence, it is the most common type of number plate. Private cars are not allowed to be used for transportation as well as any other commercial purpose.

People with any type of driving license can drive a car with white number plate.

Yellow Number Plate

The yellow number plate tells you that this taxi can take passengers from one place to another.

Moreover, the cars owned by private transportation companies such as Uber and Careem also have this type of number plate. Only vehicles with the yellow number plate are authorized to transport goods in Saudi Arabia.

People with a public taxi driving license can drive a car with a yellow number plate.

Blue Number plate

The blue number represents commercial vehicles such as pickup cars, trucks,  and other heavy mobile equipment. People with private driving license cannot drive any vehicle with a blue number plate.

Green Number plate

The green number plate is the least common type of number plate in Saudi Arabia as it represents that the vehicle is registered in the name of a consulate or embassy.

This is why you will hardly find traffic police stopping vehicles with a green number plate.

Black Number plate

The vehicles which are directly owned by the government of Saudi Arabia have the black number plate. 

Content of a Saudi Number Plate</strong>

There are 5 parts of a Saudi Number plate that tell us everything about the car.

1. Arabic Letters

Your car is registered in the traffic police records with Arabic letters and digits. When traffic police charge you with a traffic violation, they note down the Arabic letters.

2. Arabic Digits

The second part of the number plate is Arabic Digits. This is precisely the same as English digits.

3. English Letters

The third part of the number plate is English letters. In fact, Arabic letters are converted to English letters to display on the number plates. If you want to translate a Saudi number plate from Arabic to English, use the following code;

Saudi plate number Arabic to English

• ا ~ A.
• ب ~ B.
• ح ~ J.
• د ~ D.
• ر ~ R.
• س ~ S.
• ص ~ X.
• ط ~ T.
• ع ~ E.
• ق ~ G.
• ك ~ K.
• ل ~ L.
• م ~ Z.
• ن ~ N.
• هـ ~ H.
• و ~ U.
• ى ~ V.

4. English Digits

The fourth part of the number plate is English digits. They are precisely the same numbers that are already written in the Arabic language.

5. The Color of the Number Plate

The fifth part of the Number plate is its colors which differentiate the car’s purpose. There are 5 types of number plates in Saudi Arabia as far as color is concerned (explained above).