Personalised numberplate question

jamjar,

I am looking to buy a car that has a personalised numberplate that the previous owner did not transfer to their new car. Obviously this numberplate will mean nothing to me as it does not have my initials. Can anyone please tell me how I could go about selling it, and the likely costs, or changing it for one that would have my initials? The numberplate type is M7 - - -.

Ebe_Scrooge

If you google for "Private Number Plates" there are any number of companies that buy & sell numbers. You can also buy and sell from the DVLA itself, here's a useful link with lots of information :

http://dvlaregistrations.direct.gov.uk/

Basically there's a fee of £80 to transfer a registration, other than that it's whatever the cost of the plate is valued at. Like anything, at the end of the day a number plate is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it .......

harveybobbles

Why don't you read the "free to a good home" section of the local newspaper too and get a dog and then sell that too...?! :eek:

[Deleted User]

Just leave it on?

My mate got a cheap £25 (plus DVLA fees) NI plate to put on his car to hide the age and to make it a bit "different" to all the other cars on the road. The letters of the NI plate mean nothing to him.

Lum

Some people thing personalised numberplates are a bit chavvy, especially if they aren't particularly impressive ones. May as well get rid and get some cash if you really don't care for the plate.

Since you're in no hurry to sell, you may as well do it the way I did.

As already mentioned, there is a fee to put it on retention. When you do this you can also nominate a person other than yourself to be the recipient of the plate. If you later decide to add or change this person then there is an additional fee.

So I kept the plate on the car and advertised it for sale privately. In this case I advertised it on the Subaru Legacy forums since the plate was B4 ---, referring to the Subaru Legacy B4. When I found a buyer and we agreed on the price I took the money from him and then went down to the DVLA local office with the paperwork to put it on retention (form, logbook, MOT, tax disc optional), and nominate my buyer.

In my case that was the end of the matter as the car was a write off, so I just left it plateless on my driveway until the insurance could be bothered to collect. Your case will be a little different:

You will receive a "numberplate authorisation certificate" for your new numberplate and a new tax disc. Your car will temporarily be valid on both numberplates in effect. You use that certificate to purchase new numberplates from a supplier, then once you fit them you need to put the new tax disc in and post the old one back to the DVLA or hand it in at a DVLA local office.

Remember to inform your insurance company of this change unless you want to get pulled over for no insurance!

Shortly after you will receive a new logbook and MOT from the DVLA along with the retention certificate with both your name and the name of your buyer.

I then signed my section of the certificate and posted it to the buyer. Technically you are supposed to meet the buyer in person and both sign it together, but I'm in South Wales and he was in Newcastle upon Tyne so sod that. I also included my old plates when I posted it because I had no need for them. My buyer then just had to sign his section of the certificate and fill in his current car reg, then take that plus logbook and MOT to the DVLA to start the same process I just went through.

Fees to be aware of:
£80 - Retention fee (may have changed since I did it)
£20-£40 - Cost of new numberplates
£0-£20 - Admin fee from your insurance.

Remember to include this in your price.

Kilty_2

Lum wrote: »

£5-£40 - Cost of new numberplates

Edited for accuracy

Lum

If that's the only flaw in you can find in my post then I think I'm doing all right TYVM.

Care to share where you managed to get a pair of legal plates and fixings for a fiver?

Kilty_2

Lum wrote: »

If that's the only flaw in you can find in my post then I think I'm doing all right TYVM.

Care to share where you managed to get a pair of legal plates and fixings for a fiver?

£7.99 on eBay but some people seem to be able to find factors that will do them for even less! :rotfl:

anewman

Kilty wrote: »

£7.99 on eBay but some people seem to be able to find factors that will do them for even less! :rotfl:

They're not supplied legally, although when checked by Police/MOT tester they don't check in the book of authorised number plate providers by DVLA so so long as they have all the correct legal markings on you'll get away with it. Surprised this hasn't been clamped down on yet, with them getting so excited and gung ho with laws against "show plates" and needing ID for everything.

I wonder if I could get some P3 N15 or P155 0FF plates made up on ebay for £7.99?

Kilty_2

They've all the correct legal markings in every possible way - so supplied legally or not there's absolutely no way I would bear any repercussions - the seller obviously might.

There's a supplier name and postcode along the bottom, I've never bothered to check whether it's actually on the suppliers register or not tho

split_second

hard to say if it will be worth anything or not, mine starts r13 and spells out my surname with the rest, i gave £250 all in. it will always be my surname and its a bit of fun.

anyone buying should go through the dvla, it is a lot cheaper, i could have paid 100's more for my plate :eek: