Originally posted by: Viper GTS
Why would they need to use more than 7?
7 would be sufficient for the entire US, let alone one state.
If they use all 36 alphanumeric characters that's over 78 billion combinations.
If you drop off a few to account for similar shaped letters/numbers (B/8, 0/O, Z/2 for example) & allow only 33 characters you still have 42 billion.
Viper GTS
it doesn't work that way. certain characters HAVE to be digits or characters. you have to use a # for the first space (in CA, at least), and I believe the entire series is:
#-letter-letter-letter-#-#-#
so that severely limits the number of possibilities. don't believe me? we're up to 6 or 7 for the first digit already. in 1991, we were only at 3. as the OP implied, we are fast approaching the time at which the system has to change how it does things.
at this point, every car which is new to CA gets a new, unique plate. this is going to have to stop. if they just reuse numbers from cars that are no longer in operation or registered in other states, the problem would be solved.
edit: furthermore, there are no plates that start with 0, so that limits choices further. i did some multiplying and correct me if i'm wrong, but that leave about 177 million possibilities. for a state with 33 million people NOW, and many many many more in the past, who have purchased a sh!tload of cars (PLUS people who have moved in and moved back out again), can you see the problem?