In Singapore, like any other countries, every motor vehicle must have a vehicle registration number (VRN) to operate on the road. Each VRN is unique and like no other — it does not repeat and cannot be reused once discarded. Most motorists use the VRN automatically assigned by LTA when buying a new vehicle. There is no charge for an assigned VRN. You could also bid (from LTA) for a new VRN or retain a VRN from an older vehicle. Your third option is to purchase and transfer a VRN from the open market. History of Prefixes A VRN generally consists of 3 parts: the prefix, the numbers and the suffix. Take ‘SJH1842U‘ for example. SJH is the prefix, 1842 form the numbers and U is the suffix derived from the checksum of the prefix and numbers. Private car VRN began in the early 1900s, with a single prefix S for denoting...