CP CheckPlata P L AT E A V A I L A B I L I T Y, C H E C K E D L I V E 4 5 D A Y S O F P L A T E H U N T I N G 2 Aug — 11 Sep 2026 South Africa spent 45 days asking one question. Every figure below is a share of all checks run in the period. No counts, no names, no plates traced to anyone. 64% of every combination people checked was still free to claim. 0 1 / Where the hunting happens 58% Gauteng 25% KwaZulu-Natal 8% Western Cape 5% Mpumalanga Limpopo North West Free State Eastern Cape Northern Cape S H A R E O F A L L C H E C K S · 9 O F 9 P R O V I N C E S Gauteng 58% KwaZulu-Natal 25% Western Cape 8% Mpumalanga 5% Limpopo · North West · Free State · Eastern Cape · Northern Cape 1% Bubble size is each province's share of all checks. All nine provinces appeared at least once — five of them sat at roughly a hundredth of the total each. 0 2 / Your odds, by province G A U T E N G 69% still available — the busiest province is also the most forgiving W E S T E R N C A P E 62% still available — quiet register, steady odds K W A Z U L U - N A T A L 54% still available — the tightest of the big three 0 3 / What people actually want Letters only 47% Letters + digits 32% Digits only 21% Names, nicknames and single words lead. Roughly a twentieth of all checks were spelled in leetspeak — a digit standing in for a letter. 0 4 / Which style survives Letters + digits mixed 76% Letters only 64% Digits only 44% Share of each style that came back available. Pure number plates are the most contested thing on the register. Shorter isn't safer. Five-character combinations came back free 79% of the time, while four-character ones managed just 57%. 0 5 / When the searching happens S U N D A Y 30% of all checks land on a Sunday — the single busiest day of the week A F T E R D A R K 45% run between 6pm and 6am — plate hunting is an after-hours habit C A M E B A C K F O R M O R E 27% of people checked more than one idea — and the keenest fifth accounted for half of all checks checkplata.co.za Aggregated from checks run 2 Aug — 11 Sep 2026. Percentages only; no individual, plate or payment data is identifiable.