Often, people purchase cheap private number plates or a basic number plate that appears to be fashionable as a trendy gift for someone. Certain people become fascinated by private number plates and they get a bug for them. They subsequently plan to buy additional number plates as they see them as a great investment. Dateless number plates are generally seen to be the most attractive as an investment.
Dealing with a private number plate:
In simple terms, it is a vehicle registration mark selected and unique to the owner of the vehicle when compared with the original set of random alphabets and numbers that the DVLA registers and issues to the vehicle. Again, the costs differ. Within the category of private number plates there are subcategories that indicate specific patterns or formats:
- Dateless
- Suffix
- Prefix
- New Style
- Irish Dateless
What is the perfect style for a personalized number plate?
Prefix plates
Let’s take “A5 JON”. Here, the prefix that is the letter ‘A’ is selected. Then, a number is taken like ‘5’. Following, the last three letters “JON” have been selected. If you are lucky enough, you can get your name or at least a part of your name. Here, it is JON signifying the name “JON.” It could be “ROB” or “SAM”, “JAN” or “EMA” as further examples.
New Style plates
New or current style number plates such as “CB55 CDB” can allow you to choose personal initials as the prefix numbers and suffix numbers. Here, it is “CB” and “CDB” with first name, middle name, and surname initials represented within the format available. The year indicator is “55” for 2005 but this can be used to represent a birth year for someone born in 1955.
Dateless number plates:
Dateless private number plates are identical to standard registration plates but with the absence of a year identifying letter or number. The prime advantage of these plates is that they can be assigned to any year of the vehicle. The first dateless plate issued to a vehicle was “A1” issued in London in the year 1903. Dateless plates are allowed to be displayed on any type of road-going vehicle. They are attractive as an investment, particularly when they have a history associated with them.
You can remain anonymous: How?
Many people want to remain incognito and never display their initials or names on their vehicles. This condition is popularly seen in the case of celebrities and footballers. A cool car can look super cool with number plates such as “O6”. There are personalized registration plates like “OO 15” and “OO II.” The number plate “OO 7” is famous for the James Bond character. It was sold for more than £200,000.
The DVLA issued the entire range of O/OO/OOO registrations through the DVLA auctions. “O” is accepted as a very popular option. Other options such as registrations with alphabets X/XX/XXX are also present and are popular as distinctive but anonymous combinations.
Are personalized registration number plates a good investment?
The sales of personalised number plates have been fast increasing over several years. Experienced investors recognise the collectible and rare or unique registrations. The exclusive dateless plates have proven to be the most attractive investments.
Registrations are accepted as an alternative to other forms of investments like antiques, property, and works of art. They have added attractiveness because they don’t require any maintenance.
Reputable number plate brokers have stocks of very collectible number plates. There are single-letter numbers like P2, K5, 2P, 8M, 3D, 9M, 5J, etc. These are the most exclusive, and the most sought after, according to the experts. Then, there are two-letter, single number combinations like 8 MB, 9 AM, 8 JW, 8 JB, JW 8, etc.
Purchasing number plate for another person:
In this case:
During the purchase, no vehicle documents are needed. The vehicle documents will be required for the transfer process only. It will be necessary to know the registered keeper’s name on the vehicle V5C registration certificate at the time of purchase.
The personalized registration number will be issued on a certificate referencing the buyer’s name and the name of the recipient as the ‘nominee name’ on the certificate.
Certificates have a 10-year life and need to be assigned to a vehicle within the life of the certificate to avoid potential loss of entitlement to the registration.
If any further doubt arises, people can get in touch with a reputable number plate dealer for guidance.