Over the last decade, private number plates have become immensely popular within the UK. They were once considered a status symbol of the rich and famous but these days, you are just as likely to find a private plate on a celebrity’s car as you are on your local plumber’s vehicle. As common as they are, we acknowledge that many people don’t fully understand private plates, so we have rounded up the most interesting and useful facts to help.
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What is a private number plate?
When a car is first manufactured, it is registered with the DVLA and given a unique registration number by default. The vehicle owner can then change the registration number to something more personal through the purchase of a private number plate.
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There are various interchangeable words used for a private number plate.
A private number plate is often referred to as a private registration, personal number plate, cherished number plate, private plate or personalised registration to name a few.
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Most people buy private plates for personal reasons
According to a DVLA survey, 69% would purchase a private registration because of a private connection, either in the form of a name or initial. In fact, 28% of UK car owners have named their car. Within that group, a further 87% have bought a personal number plate to display the name given to the car.
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You will rarely find the letter ‘Q’ on a number plate.
When browsing our website to buy a private plate, you will not be able to find a personalised registration with a ‘Q.’ This is due to the fact that the letter is reserved for cars with aspects of their history that are questionable. Q- plates are only issued to specific vehicles, such as, kit cars, super-modified cars, former military vehicles and cars without a Vehicle Identification Number.
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Private registrations are very popular with the British public.
The Office for National Statistics reported that the people of the UK owned £3 billion worth of personalised number plates in 2020. This figure is most certainly set to rise in the future due to the increasing popularity of private number plates.
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The first-ever issued number plates are nearly 120 years old.
Number plates were introduced with the Motor Car Act in 1903. DY 1 is the earliest registration to be released according to existing records with some plates turning 120 years old in November 2023.
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There have been 4 different formats of number plates.
These number plate formats are called dateless, suffix, prefix and finally current-style. When a format had run out of available combinations, it was replaced with a new system. The current-style format was released in 2001 and was designed to have enough unique registration numbers to last up to 50 years.
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You cannot use a personal number plate to make your vehicle appear newer than it is.
Suffix, prefix and current style registration numbers have characters that identify when the vehicle was initially registered. So if your original number plate has an age identifier of ‘15,’ you cannot buy and transfer a private plate with ‘22.’ Dateless number plates are the only kind of registration number that can be applied to any vehicle.
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The most expensive number plate in the UK.
‘25 O,’ is the costliest number plate along these shores; it was sold at a DVLA auction in 2014 for a staggering figure of £518,480. In addition, two other dateless plates, G 1 and X 1 were bought for over £500,000 in 2011 and 2012 respectively. We expect that this list of the most expensive number plates in the UK will look quite different in the foreseeable future.
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Some private number plates are banned.
Every year, the DVLA releases a list of number plates that are banned. These registration numbers cheekily reference sex, genitalia, derogatory words and even COVID-19. In 2022, there were a total of 343 plates on the prohibited list.
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The DVLA started selling private plates in 1989.
It was reported that the DVLA had raised approximately £2 billion for the HM Treasury through the sales of private number plates. The agency didn’t start selling personalised plates until 1989, when they realised private plate dealers like Regtransfers were successfully selling them. Since then, DVLA have gone on to sell these plates through its website and annual auctions.
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The private plate industry is valued at over £1 billion.
It has already been made clear that private registrations have become very popular within the last 10 years. Since 2018 the demand for personalised number plates has increased by 58% and this trend is set to continue in the foreseeable future. Compare The Market’s research has stated that the industry is currently valued at £1.3 billion in 2022.
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The world’s most expensive number plate.
If you take a look at our list of the world’s most expensive plates, you’ll see that there are no private registrations from the UK in the top 10. Dubai and Abu Dubai are home to 14 of the top 15 costliest number plates in the world. With a total price tag of £12 million, the P 7 Dubai registration is now the world's most expensive car registration number sold to date.
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Number plates are a shrewd investment.
Highly desirable number plates that are exclusive can represent a clever piece of business. As private registrations are seen to be more stable than other investment types, such as cryptocurrency and stocks. Private number plates have a superior percentage increase in value of +110% in comparison to watches (+23%), jewellery (+41%) and even classic cars (+91%).
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You don’t need to own a vehicle to buy a private plate.
Once you complete the purchase of a private registration number, you can decide to assign it to a vehicle or retain the number plate on a certificate. The latter option allows you to retain ownership of the plate for up to 10 years at a time without being assigned to a vehicle.
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The Royal Family has an exclusive collection of personalised plates
Members of the royal family do not have number plates on their personal vehicles, but their fleet of state cars was originally registered with dateless number plates. The late Queen Elizabeth displayed the registration number, ‘A 7,’ one of the first number plates released by the London council in 1903.
This is just a tiny insight into the topic of private number plates. We have a number of resources to walk you through important processes, such as guides on how to transfer a number plate and how to retain a registration number. If these facts have inspired you to buy a number plate, then our search box allows you to conveniently search through over 50 million private plates. However, you can also learn more about The World Of Personal Number Plates with our famous free magazine.
