Buying A Personalised Number Plate

British motorists love their personalised number plates.

According to industry statistics, UK drivers spent more than £100 million on them in 2017 and their popularity doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

And leasing rather than owning your car is no bar to having your own personal car registration plates.

When you purchase your private number, you are effectively buying the right to assign your new registration to any vehicle you drive, and that includes leased and contract hire cars.

Leasing companies generally recommend that you put on your personalised plates as soon as you’ve taken delivery of the vehicle.  It’s a straightforward process and your account adviser will happily talk you through it.

Once your leasing contract is up, you’ll need to remember to take off the private plates so you can keep them to use later or put them on your next car.

There are several ways of buying a personalised registration number, including the DVLA’s own auctions, which are held about five times a year. Prices start at around £250, with the rarer and usually shorter plates costing more than £2000. Bids can be made in person, by phone, online or in writing, and once you’ve bought your number, you’ll receive a V750 certificate giving you the right to assign it to your vehicle.

Alternatively, if the DVLA doesn’t have what you’re looking for, you can buy your registration from a broker or privately.  Plates sold via classified adverts and dealers are usually the most sought-after so can command prices well into the high thousands.

Given the rarity value and desirability of some numbers, it’s not surprising that in some cases the reg plate is worth more than the car it’s attached to!  Those registrations spelling out names are often the hardest to find so fetch the biggest sums.

The DVLA has strict rules on how plates should be displayed, their size, shape and colour – and, of course what letters and number combinations are allowed.  They

must be made from reflective material, display black characters on a white background on the front, display black characters on a yellow background on the rear, have no background pattern and have no altered font or spacing. Additionally, your plates should not make your car appear younger than its true age.

If the registration number is deemed offensive or in poor taste, then the DVLA will ban it before it goes into circulation. Before the 68 registrations were released, more than 400 had been blacklisted by the DVLA for being too naughty or embarrassing.

Funny or slightly cheeky ‘words’ are acceptable, but rude is definitely not allowed.

There are plenty of registration numbers you can buy which will still get you noticed (in a good way) and make your car look and feel even more special. For more information, check out the DVLA’s own website.