More Information About Personalised Number Plates
To be issued with a personalised licence plate, which is also known as a vanity plate, you have to go through the DVLA. They will not approve licence plates with certain offensive words from any language that is widely used and UK plates are required to meet certain strict letter/number combinations.
Registrations can be sold or transferred from one vehicle to another, although there are some restrictions. In the 1990’s, the DVLA changed from only selling vanity plates of ordinary registrations that had been transferred to personalised registrations that were unrelated to the registration districts.
Following this change in decision, there were a number of private dealers who started to trade number plates, sensing that these would be objects that would be in demand. In the UK, a high number of private dealers act as agents for selling DVLA registration plates and can sometimes sell their own stock that they have bought at auctions or from other private sellers.
Choosing A Personalised Number Plate
When choosing a personalised number plate, there is some flexibility when it comes to using number that look like letters, such as 5 for S, 1 for I etc. There is also a certain amount of leeway with using large black, yellow or white headed screws to affix the fix to the car, in order to create or fill in a gap, such as a screw head in the middle of a H to make it look like two 1’s or two I’s.
However, the laws surrounding font style, size and spacing make this practice illegal. The font that is now used on all new number plates, from September 2001, is unofficially known as the Charles Wright 2001 font.
Buying A Personalised Registration Plate
When buying a personalised registration plate, you can only buy one for a vehicle that is or is about to be registered, taxed and used in Great Britain. There are also restriction on making a car look newer than it actually is, such as putting an ’09’ registration on a vehicle that was registered in 2005.
When you decide to buy a personalised registration plate, you are buying the right to assign the number you a vehicle that is registered in your name or someone else’s name, who is known as the nominee.
You can purchase a personalised registration online or by bidding at a DVLA auction. If you decide to buy a plate online, the DVLA’s personalised registration website has access to more than 30 million registration plates, with prices starting from £250 including VAT and an £80 assignment fee.
Each year, the DVLA holds 6 auctions of the more exclusive registrations at several locations around the country. The registrations are distinctively dateless and there are also current and older styles on offer. The reserve prices start at just £250 and there is the option to also bid through the internet or over the phone if you are unable to attend an auction. There is more information about the DVLA’s auction process and the past and future auction dates on the Auction part of the DVLA’s personalised registration website.