A new pink license plate created to combat temporary registration fraud

The vehicles concerned are “new before final registration”, those “registered abroad awaiting French registration” or even “professionals undergoing road tests”.

“A new specific pink license plate” will appear from January 2026 “to better identify vehicles with provisional registrations”, announces the interministerial delegation for road safetyTuesday December 2.

This more visible plate will be affixed “on vehicles subject to provisional registration”i.e. vehicles “new before final registration”those “registered abroad awaiting French registration” or even “professionals undergoing road tests”.

Until then, temporary plates for new or imported cars looked like regular plates and began with the letters “WW”, followed by a series of numbers and letters. Some motorists continued to use them, beyond the maximum four months of validity, even though this temporary plate had been assigned to another vehicle. Consequently, the new owner risked receiving fines from the previous owner.

“Even if fraud remains a marginal phenomenon (…) it has grown in recent years”says Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior, in the press release. “The installation of these pink plates, which are very recognizable, will make it possible to better identify and control vehicles under temporary registration in traffic”according to the interministerial delegation for road safety. These plates will also mention the month and year of the end of their validity, in place of the regional identifier and the department number on the right.