Private number plate

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Oct 8, 2006
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To go off at a slight tangent, is it me or has there been a huge increase of cars being transported on flatbacks or trailers that have not had their registration plate covered? I thought that was a legal requirement?
 
Nov 6, 2005
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To go off at a slight tangent, is it me or has there been a huge increase of cars being transported on flatbacks or trailers that have not had their registration plate covered? I thought that was a legal requirement?
I've not been aware of a legal requirement - I thought the reason plates were often obscured was for security/privacy.
 
Mar 14, 2005
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Perhaps it to deliberately cause confusion to ANPR systems, which might pick up the transported vehicles plate rather than the actual transporter
 
Jan 20, 2023
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Cars being recovered with plates obscured are done to prevent the cloning of an insurance loss vehicle (a mate is a recovery driver).

Regarding private plates, I have one and it was a very easy process through DVLA’s own site, all done online in a few minutes. New V5 arrives a week or so later, insurance informed immediately and tax /MoT (if applicable) are done automatically. Regarding servicing garages, main dealer systems work by the vehicle VIN number so when you quote your registration number to them it will bring up the VIN number of your car so whatever it’s registration is doesn’t matter (at least that’s how Volvo work).

The only slight odd thing is that when your new registration is done, your old number ceases to exist (it’s effectively mothballed until the private plate is removed) and for a few hours the .gov web site doesn’t recognise either the old or new registration number if you check your vehicle while everything is updated.
 
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Jan 20, 2023
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How much is a private numberplate does it depend what you want?

Very much so, my initials are GB hence any plate related to my name is mega-bucks! The one I have now was £395 and vaguely relates to the car model and family initials, mine isn't out of vanity but more to disguise the age of the car from my employer. I take a monthly allowance rather than a company car and the policy says you should change your car when it's five years old, if my plate hides the car's age it won't be obvious I've slipped over the five year limit by a few months when that time comes!
 
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Jul 18, 2017
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Complete waste of money in my opinion as rather spend that money on a couple of nights away, however up to the individual if they have the dosh to spare. :LOL:
 
Nov 11, 2009
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BB, the DVLA website has an excellent search function and as JC says prices start quite low. I put in a number of options for me and surprised at how many quite suitable ones came up. Variations on LPH, MEO, PNO, CA and ADA. Might shock my daughter and buy one secretly 😂 See #16
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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How much is a private numberplate

You can buy an Irish plate for 40 quid - but then there's the transfer fee on top, which will bring the cost up to around £130. That will be for a plate made up of three letters and four figures and will be a fairly recent issue - maybe from a recently scrapped vehicle or scooter. An older Irish plate will be more costly, as will those with only three figures. In 2001, I bought a plate for my Citroen Xantia. It cost around £23 plus the transfer fee. The same three letters today would be into 3 figures. The Irish plate which is on my current tow car was bought (also from Speedy Regs) in 2005 - Its basic price was £50. It always raises a smile when I take the car to France - the letters read QUI - but if you want that combination today, you'll be looking at spending £500 upwards

. LasPalmeras 2005 047a.jpg
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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You can buy an Irish plate for 40 quid - but then there's the transfer fee on top, which will bring the cost up to around £130. That will be for a plate made up of three letters and four figures and will be a fairly recent issue - maybe from a recently scrapped vehicle or scooter. An older Irish plate will be more costly, as will those with only three figures. In 2001, I bought a plate for my Citroen Xantia. It cost around £23 plus the transfer fee. The same three letters today would be into 3 figures. The Irish plate which is on my current tow car was bought (also from Speedy Regs) in 2005 - Its basic price was £50. It always raises a smile when I take the car to France - the letters read QUI - but if you want that combination today, you'll be looking at spending £500 upwards

. View attachment 4258
Is that Northern Ireland I assume?
 
Jun 16, 2020
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I am not against them but not bothered to have one. Like OC I have browsed but not found anything that looks any good with my name. I once knew an Angela. Who got L 2 ANG. And an Henrietta who had HETTI . My son has had one for years, an Irish plate I think. He said it was to hide the age of his car. He had a BMW then which are not easy to age by looks. A granddaughters boyfriend just bought her one for Christmas.

John
 
Nov 16, 2015
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I am not against them but not bothered to have one. Like OC I have browsed but not found anything that looks any good with my name. I once knew an Angela. Who got L 2 ANG. And an Henrietta who had HETTI . My son has had one for years, an Irish plate I think. He said it was to hide the age of his car. He had a BMW then which are not easy to age by looks. A granddaughters boyfriend just bought her one for Christmas.

John
Our one,. Is my wife's Initials Then the year we were born then My Initials.
EH52 ARH. Just some thing for our retirement,
Yes Bucksman, waste of time, conceited, but that's myself, would I help a Safa, stuck in a mud on a Cl pitch, with a Jeep, If he bought me a beer afterwards.
Catch you at the Robin Hood one day.
 
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Our one,. Is my wife's Initials Then the year we were born then My Initials.
EH52 ARH. Just some thing for our retirement,
Yes Bucksman, waste of time, conceited, but that's myself, would I help a Safa, stuck in a mud on a Cl pitch, with a Jeep, If he bought me a beer afterwards.
Catch you at the Robin Hood one day.

My one is wifes maiden name,, the year we met (blind date) and my initials, M80 KPC . 50th birthday present from my darling wife.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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I bought two cherished numbers, both cheap, for my grandsons with their initials and an old prefix - I had them put on my son's and daughter-in-law's cars with "instructions" to transfer them to their sons when they reach 18.

I don't have a middle initial so I could get a current format number with my initials, two numbers and my wife's initials but it does seem a waste of money!
 

Parksy

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Nov 12, 2009
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Mine is the year of the old Kia plus my initials.
I took it off my old Kia and I now have the registration on a retention certificate, ready for when the DVLA finally decide to alter the VED on my new Kia to disabled tax.
When the new log book arrives I'll put the private registration on my new(er) Kia Sorento.
 
Jan 20, 2023
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When the DVLA released the "G" suffix plates for sale (this was in the late 90's when the surplus G suffixes were put up for sale) I looked at buying "G4RYB" but as I had a company car at the time it would have just sat in the drawer on a retention certificate, the cost then was £3,500.
 
Nov 11, 2009
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When I was a lot younger one of my first jobs was in Leicester City Council Motor Tax Office. Part of my role involved allocating new registration numbers to the city’s motor traders. They would start to ring up towards the end of the month to be allocated numbers from the register. They would be very keen to obtain a “ good” number; something with an interesting combination of letters and numbers as the first of the plates with letters indicating registration year not arrived IE BMV 55A.

There were even a few dealers who would offer to “ see you right” if a particularly good number was allocated to them. They soon got the message when they were allocated whatever came next on the register.
 
Nov 6, 2005
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When I was a lot younger one of my first jobs was in Leicester City Council Motor Tax Office. Part of my role involved allocating new registration numbers to the city’s motor traders. They would start to ring up towards the end of the month to be allocated numbers from the register. They would be very keen to obtain a “ good” number; something with an interesting combination of letters and numbers as the first of the plates with letters indicating registration year not arrived IE BMV 55A.

There were even a few dealers who would offer to “ see you right” if a particularly good number was allocated to them. They soon got the message when they were allocated whatever came next on the register.
And yet in those days, people of influence were usually able to get" XXX 1" and the Fire Brigade usually got "XXX 999" when each new XXX allocation was started.
 
Jul 15, 2008
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....I bought mine direct from the DVLA by phone on the day W registrations were released back in 1999/2000.
It was cheap because it is obscure and to this day most people realise it has a meaning but have no idea what!
Can you work it out?.......W80SON
 
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Jul 18, 2017
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....I bought mine direct from the DVLA by phone on the day W registrations were released back in 2000.
It was cheap because it is obscure and to this day most people realise it has a meaning but have no idea what!
Can you work it out?.......W80SON
WATSON?
 
Jan 3, 2012
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With me having a middle name I thought I use my initials. and this year it our 40th Anniversary it would make it special to us
 

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