A guide to private plates

Private plates are personalised car reg numbers different from the usual UK reg. For you to settle for extraordinary registration plates, you must have a cherished number that you would want to appear on your valued possession. It could be your birth date or the day you met or married your spouse. Better still, they could be the initials of your name or loved one. Whatever the numbers or initials, they represent something that you value. How, then, do you go about obtaining private plates?

Conduct a registration search

The first step is to identify your cherished registration from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. Your choice should be appropriate for your car model and age. This is to ensure that your car does not appear too young or too old. However, you can disguise the age of your car by settling on a dateless registration mark. On the other hand, you can establish the age of the car using a suffix private car reg or a prefix personalised reg. These reg numbers provide the age of the car at the end and the beginning of the car numbers respectively.

Apply for claim or retention

Once you have established your private numbers, forward your application to the DVLA. Your application can be through a letter or face-to-face with the necessary certificates. Should you choose to have the plate number transmitted immediately, then you need to present a certificate of claim. Likewise, if you choose to withhold the private regs pending transmittal on a future date, a retention certificate would be required. Alongside these certificates would be the log book, a copy of your tax record and MOT certificate where applicable.

Selling cars with private plates

When selling a car with personalised plates, you can keep the plates using a retention certificate which is renewable after every one year. On the other hand, a special form available at the DVLA allows you to transmit your personalised plates from one car to the next. The form is available at extra transmittal fee.

Cheap registration

You can also acquire cheap plates from other non-governmental registration companies. This will ensure that you save on registration because the price is either inclusive or catered for in the price of the plates. The registration process is also handled by some of those companies.