Vehicle registration plates of official road vehicles registered in Vatican City use the prefix SCV (Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae) followed by a series of digits while vehicle registration plates of residential road vehicles registered in Vatican City use the prefix CV (Italian: Città del Vaticano) followed by a series of digits.

The Pope's car carries the registration SCV 1 in red lettering and the rest of the cars that the Pope can be inside, also carry red letters.

[1] The international vehicle registration code for the Vatican City is V.[2] Vatican registration plates does not incorporate this code.

When driving outside of the Vatican, as a contracting party of the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, the distinguishing sign of the country of registration must be displayed on the rear of the vehicle, in black letters on a white background having the shape of an ellipse.

[2]