While many people think about how only rich people can be able to choose some special plates for their vehicles, the situation is changing in many countries, where choosing a special combination of characters became much more affordable. That led to their great popularity of them. For example, people who live in the United Kingdom spend over $100 million each year by paying for these plates. However, it is not so easy to buy any type of number plates, because there are some strict rules related to characters, spaces, size of the place, and more. Also, the plate must be unique. You can check this website to see the selection of available number plates.
There are many benefits of having some unique plates on your car. For example, you can add some funny phrase, make your car more attractive, or even use it for the promotion of your company. In this article, we are going to introduce you to some of the most important things related to personalized number plates.
Table of Contents
1. Where Can You Buy Them?
There are three main methods that you can choose to buy the registration numbers for your car, and they are the private sale, broker, and the agency. If you are interested in buying plates over a private sale, you can use various methods to find the right choice. For example, you can use online platforms like eBay where you can find a lot of people who are selling their registration numbers. However, in case you are looking for some more unique combination of characters, you can expect that the price will be much more expensive than when you choose an agency.
Moreover, when you choose a broker, the main advantage is that you can save a lot of time. On the other side, the expenses could become even bigger than with a private sale, but a reliable and experienced broker might find your desired numbers easier than you would do. The most common way of buying registration plates is over Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. You can use some advanced tools to check which numbers are available. Also, you can attend the auctions organized by this agency, where you might get some unique numbers for a much cheaper price than when you buy them or from a broker.
2. Why Do We Need Personalized Registration Plates?
The main reason why so many people choose to invest in personalized number plates is that they can make their vehicle more attractive. Also, there are many other purposes. For example, if you have a private business, you can add some characters to your plates where you can promote it. However, most people choose to add private plates that resemble some interesting phrases and quotes, like adding H4PPY, IAMLATE, XCOOOSME, and many more.
3. The Price of Number Plates
Since there are various ways to buy these plates, there can be a huge difference in prices. If you choose to buy personalized registration plates from an official agency, the average price would be around $300. On the other hand, brokers and private sellers will demand much more money for some unique combination of characters. We can find many examples where people spend a huge amount of money only to have some unique plates. For example, a businessman from London paid around $500,000 for the 1D plate, a number 5 is sold for near $5 million in the United Arab Emirates, and the current record is $10 million in the same country for a registration plate with only number 1 on it.
4. Types of Number Plates
While there are various regulations related to the number of plates in every country, you can choose from four types in the United Kingdom. Those four types are Prefix, Current, Dateless, and Suffix. The Prefix plates are not in the use anymore. When they were in use, the first letter resembled the year of production of the vehicle. For example, the letter P is related to all vehicles manufactured in 1976. The Current is related to active regulations of registration characters. You are allowed to use seven characters.
First, two are the letters related to your area followed by the numbers that describe the age, and any three letters in the end. Many people are interested in dateless plates because there is nothing on them that can be connected to the age of the vehicle or your area. However, they were in use only until 1963. When it comes to Suffix plates, the letter, in the end, is related to the year of production. The letter C was for vehicles manufactured in 1965.
5. Legal Requirements
After you choose a preferred combination, the official agency will demand from you to sign a contract and get a special certificate that represents an allowance to place the plates on your car. There are some rules related to the materials and appearance of plates as well. The material has to be reflective, while the background has to be white, with black numbers over it. In some countries, plates on the backside of the vehicle must be yellow. Also, you are not allowed to edit the plate in any way, like adding some patterns, additional characters, and more.
6. How to Transfer Plates on Another Vehicle?
I case that you want to replace your current vehicle, but you are not interested in selling the plates along with it, you can transfer them to a new car easily. All you have to do is to visit an official agency where you can fill the papyrology and assign the plates to a new car. You will have to pay an additional fee as well. In the UK, that is around 80 pounds.
Last Words
Installing some unique combination can be a great way to show your status, business, and more. However, it is important to learn about all important facts related to legal ownership of personalized plates because avoiding any of them might bring some legal issues.
