British Columbia Collector License Plates

After twenty-four years of abiding by the somewhat restrictive tenets of Antique plates, owners of vintage vehicles where offered an alternative by the province in 1990. Even though the Collector plates provided a greater degree of flexibility, they are still restricted to pleasure use, prohibiting use of the vehicle for transit from either work or school. A registrant must also have another primary vehicle in order to qualify for the cheaper Collector premium, which, at one point, equaled a saving of eighty percent.

Generally, a vehicle has to be twenty-five years old years old, or at least 15 years old and of a limited production run. A limited production run being defined as 1,500 or less of that model made by the manufacturer worldwide for that model year. Allowances would also be made for vehicles at least 15 years old and from a source ("owner of the marque" or make) which had not manufactured a vehicle of any kind for at least five years. If, however, a vehicle was registered as a 1948 or earlier model, with a current status of "altered"; meaning it has had one or more major components replaced, it may still apply for Collector plates.

A rare "Collector" Motorcycle plate.

To qualify for the plates, an owner must submit an application to ICBC along with photos of the vehicle for assessment. If approved, the application will be sent back to the owner, who will then need to return to an AutoPlan broker, the broker will then contact ICBC for issuance of the plates. As of September 2000, all applicants for Collector or Modified Collector vehicle status must provide current proof of having passed where required. The car does not need to be tested every year after that, but does need to pass the test again if it is sold.

"Multi-Vehicle" Collector plates are used by people who have multiple vinatge cars, but only want to use one license plate for all of them (obviously, this limits how many cars they can take to a show!). Apart from the registration numbers, these plate differe from other "Collector" plates in that they state "Multi Vehicle" under the "Collector" title at the top of the plate.

1990 - 2013: Passenger

1990

CLICK HERE

Issuing Statistics

1990:	B00-001 to B39-999*
1994:	B40-000 to B41-999

* The available issuing data is misleading as it is generally understood that Collector passenger plates have been issued in the following sequence:

1990:	B00-001 to B09-999
1994:	B40-000 to B49-999
2002:	B50-000 to B59-999
2007:	B10-000 to B19-999

Importantly, plates from the 2007 bloc display Waldale dies, thereby leading to the conclusion that Astrographics never manufactured any plates in the B10-000 to B39-999 range.

1994

1995

1996

CLICK HERE

1999

CLICK HERE

2001

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

1990 - 2013: "Passenger Floater"

Issuing Statistics

1990:

B6-0000 to B6-1000

Also known as "Multi-Vehicle" Collector plates, this type is exceedingly rare and it is not thought that the full bloc of B60-000 has been reserved for use by this type.

1990 - 2013: Motorcycle

Issuing Statistics

1990:

B8-0001 to B9-9999

As of August 1, 2009, the high plate in the series was B8-7464. It is thought that the first batch manufactued ran from B8-0001 to B8-5000 utilising Astrographics dies. The first Waldale dies did not begin appearing until 2007.

1990 - 2013: "Motorcycle Floater"

Issuing Statistics

1990:

B7-5001 to B7-5100

The "Multi-Vehicle" Collector equivalent for motorcycle plates, this type is even more exceedingly rare than its passenger plate counterpart and it is unlikely that more than a few hundred will ever be issued under this format.

Sources

Vancouver Sun Newspaper

Dan Howlett, "Decoding British Columbia License Plates", http://www.kasumirecords.com/bcplates/index.htm (October 28, 2001).

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, http://www.icbc.com (Ocotber 28, 2001).