- France introduced pink plates for temporary use on January 1.
- New plates include the expiry date printed on the right side.
- Vibrant design helps authorities quickly identify such cars.
If you find yourself driving through France this year and catch a sudden flash of pink in the oncoming lane, don’t worry, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. The country has officially introduced bright pink license plates for vehicles with temporary registrations.
While the visual might appeal to Barbie fans, the logic behind the shift is rooted in more grounded concerns. The French government wants to give police officers a quick way to spot vehicles in transit. That includes cars waiting on permanent plates, recent imports, and dealer vehicles used for test drives.
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Until now, these temporary vehicles wore plates marked with the “WW” prefix but shared the same black-on-white color scheme as regular registrations. As of January 1, 2026, temporary plates are switching to a bright background.
In addition to the color update, the new license plate design includes a clearly printed expiration date in the right-hand corner. That should cut down on the need for officers to manually check validity through the central database.
Only plates issued from 2026 onward will feature the pink background, while existing ones will stay in circulation until they expire. The updated tags will be valid for a maximum of four months, with no possibility of renewal. According to the French government, around 400,000 vehicles use temporary plates each year.
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If you’re wondering why French authorities went with that particular shade, the reasoning is straightforward. Pink is rarely seen in nature or on road signs, which makes it instantly noticeable. The high-visibility design also serves a practical purpose in discouraging drivers from overstaying their temporary registration by making the expiration date much harder to overlook.
What Happens In The Rest Of The World?
Other countries take their own approach to marking temporary registrations. In Germany, short-term plates come with a bright yellow strip on the right side, while red text on a white background is used for export or dealer transfers that last a bit longer.
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Monaco has stuck with bright blue plates for temporary vehicles, and in Poland, certain cases call for a yellow background instead.
As for the US, the system is far less consistent. Some states still use temporary tags made from paper or cardboard, which has opened the door to widespread abuse. Counterfeit tags are commonly sold to dodge tolls, avoid insurance, or skip registration altogether. In response, a few states have started switching to tougher materials or tying temporary tags to digital systems to close the loopholes.
