Whatever your motivation for wanting a personalised number plate, here’s our guide to getting your hands on one.
Whatever your motivation for wanting a personalised number plate, here’s our guide to getting your hands on one.
A DVLA survey showed that 69% of respondents would buy a private number plate because of a personal connection, name or initial. But where should you look for that cherished number plate? And do you know what’s allowed and what’s not?
How to buy a personalised number plate
There are around 60 million currently for sale online through the DVLA. You can also buy a personalised number plate at auction, from a private dealer or another individual – bear in mind costs might creep up depending on mark-up and rarity of the number plate.
How to transfer a number plate
All number plates are allocated to vehicles (not the registered keeper) as part of the registration and taxing process. When you buy a number plate or use one from another vehicle you own, you need to assign it to a vehicle. You can do this using one of the following :
- A V778 retention document
- A V750 certificate of entitlement
Check out the DVLA to find out how to obtain these forms.
What personalised number plate can I have?
There are some rules around what you can and can’t do with a personalised plate. For example, you can’t use a registration number that makes your vehicle look newer than it is or assign a number starting with Q or NIQ. The DVLA provides further details on eligibility.
If you don’t assign the personalised plate to a vehicle, you must renew your right to use it every 10 years.
Does a personalised number plate add to the cost of insurance?
In most cases, a personalised number plate doesn’t count as a modification to your car, so it shouldn’t increase your premiums. But you should always let your insurance provider know if you install a custom number plate on your car, and double check whether it counts as a modification.
How easy is it to clone a personalised number plate?
Cloning tends to be more about opportunity than targeting particular number plates. You own the plate so if someone steals it you can get another one made.
What happens if your car is involved in an accident?
Most motor insurance policies don’t cover the cost or value of a personalised registration plate.
If your car is deemed a total loss, you would need to follow your insurer and DVLA processes to make sure you keep your entitlement to your personalised number plate. It’s important to make your insurer aware as soon as possible of the personalised plate, and that you would like to keep it either on retention or to transfer to another vehicle.
What’s legal and what’s not?
If you have a personalised number plate, it is your responsibility to ensure it is displayed correctly. You can’t rearrange or misrepresent the numbers and letters on a number plate to form names or words. For example, you can’t use bolts to change any of the letters or numbers.
If your vehicle was manufactured after 1 January 1973, its number plate must:
- be made from a reflective material
- display black characters on a white background (front plate)
- display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
- not have a background pattern
- be marked to show who supplied the number plate
- be marked with a British Standard number – this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021
The DVLA has produced a leaflet that provides more guidance on the sizing and lettering of number plates.
You could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates. You could also lose your initial purchase money so it’s worth getting the basics right to start with.
Flying the flag
If you’re feeling patriotic, you can display the following flags on the left-hand side of the number plate with the identifying letters:
- Union flag (also known as the Union Jack)
- Cross of St George
- Cross of St Andrew – also known as the Saltire
- Red Dragon of Wales
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.