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Brazilian vehicle number plates are issued by the states (each state has a Departamento de Trânsito, DETRAN).

The current system was created in 1990 and was named registro nacional de veículos automotores (RENAVAM). It uses the form "ABC·1234" with a dot between letters and numbers. A combination given to one vehicle cannot be transferred to another vehicle. Above the combination there is a metallic band with the state abbreviation (SP = São Paulo, RJ = Rio de Janeiro, PR = Paraná, AM = Amazonas etc.) and the name of the municipality. This band can be changed by breaking the seal (plastic or lead-made).

The size of the Brazilian licence plates is 380 x 130 mm (15" x 5" approx.) but plates can be made in Japanese or European size. Brazilian license plates use colors to show their type, and front and rear plates use the same color:

• black on gray: private-owned
• white on red: any kind of paid transportation (buses, taxis etc.)
• red on white: driver's school (auto-escola in Brazil)
• black on white: official use (government, police department, fire department, federal, state or city-owned for public services)
• gray on black: collection (vehicles older than 30 years possessing an excellent state of conservation and more than 80% of its originality).
• white on green: dealer-testing, or in some cases test-drive (most of test-drive cars use black on gray plates)
• white on blue: constructor-testing or diplomatic use (in this case in the format CD 1234 or CC 1234)

The letters of the plate can describe its state of origin. Vehicles can be relocated from one state to another, but their plate's combination will show the origin: