Private Plate Help!

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 09:22
Private Plate Help! - Nobby Clark

Hi all.

As you may have seen in a previous post, i am buying privately a 2003 Honda Accord 2.4L auto, which i cannot wait to collect! :)

This current owner is selling the car with a private plate on it. My question is, how do i/we go about changing ownership of the plate from the current owner to me?

Once the transfer has taken place, i am going to see how much the plate is worth and then sell it as the initials have no relevance to me!

Thank you all for your help,

Nobby :)

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 09:28
Private Plate Help! - Wee Willie Winkie

You don't need to do anything. Unless the owner puts then current plate on retention and has a new plate assigned to the car - the current plate will remain on the car.

He doesn't 'own' the number plate, as such.

Edited by DieselBoy on 27/09/2018 at 09:31

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 10:18
Private Plate Help! - Andrew-T

Exactly. Every car is identified by the plate it carries. An owner can retain his(her) personal registration but this must be made clear when the transfer is recorded on a new V5. The DVLA system knows the original registration of the car (it will have one unless it went on the road with a personal reg), and you can revert to that if you wish - and maybe sell the personal plate at a profit :-). I think it costs £80 to re-register a car.

Edited by Andrew-T on 27/09/2018 at 10:19

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 13:51
Private Plate Help! - Manatee

If the owner wants to keep his cherished number, then he will have to put it on retention before he sells you the car.

When you have bought the car, you have the number that it is then registered with.

If you don't like it, you can either buy [the entitlement to use] another and apply that, losing the number that's on it. Or, for £80, you can put the existing number on retention. You or anybody else you nominate can then transfer that number to another vehicle.

If you do put the number on retention, DVLA will issue a new, age-related plate (which may well be the number that the vehicle was originally registered with).

The swopping about can all be done online.

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 14:15
Private Plate Help! - Gibbo_Wirral

I bought a car with a private plate which sort of spelt "Wendy".

I got a valuation of it - £600 and though "Kerching, that's a third of the car paid for!"

As soon as I got the V5 I listed the plate on every reg transfer site I could.

Five years later, still had the plate!

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 16:51
Private Plate Help! - Manatee

I imagine that's fairly common. I have a couple of dateless plates that I bought partly because they were "cheap" i.e similar ones were typically advertised at around twice the price.

I would hope that my heirs could get more than I paid for them, but I wouldn't bet on it.

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Thu 27 Sep 2018 22:51
Private Plate Help! - Nobby Clark

Thanks for all of your help and comments peeps.

It all sounds too easy and straight forward! :)

I will definitely put the plate on retention and try and sell it!

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Sat 29 Sep 2018 15:49
Private Plate Help! - Mutton Geoff

I bought an old style plate for my S3 when I owned one, S3 and my initials. I thought it good at the time but when I sold the last car I had it on, switched it to retention and put the details on a large number plate site who claimed they would get £400 for it. I ticked the box and in 2 days had a call from them that it was sold if I still wanted to go ahead. I had paid £250 from the DVLA so managed to turn a small profit there when I had thought the old vanity plate would be worthless.

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Sat 29 Sep 2018 17:23
Private Plate Help! - skidpan

I will definitely put the plate on retention and try and sell it!

Leave it on the car and try to sell it. Costs you nothing.

Putting it on retention costs money and this needs renewing every year. Mate of mine bought a plate from an advert which he thought was brilliant and tried to sell it for a profit. After about 4 years not one single person had realised how brilliant the plate was and by then he had paid more in fees and advertising than he paid for the plate, he finally let it go.

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Sat 29 Sep 2018 17:50
Private Plate Help! - Mutton Geoff

> needs renewing every year

Not any more. It's £80 to the DVLA and lasts 10 years.

https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/take-private-number-off

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Sat 29 Sep 2018 17:58
Private Plate Help! - skidpan

Not any more. It's £80 to the DVLA and lasts 10 years.

OK, presumably that changed with the SORN rules?

But its still £80 more than leaving it on the car.

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Sat 29 Sep 2018 18:00
Private Plate Help! - catsdad
I saw the plate on the original link to the ad. I did see it was a personal plate but I can't recall it being a particularly special one. I suspect the value is modest. You could just keep it on the car so as not to announce its age if that appeals.

You can always transfer it at a later date if you think its worth the cost of new plates and DVLA fee.
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Sat 29 Sep 2018 22:54
Private Plate Help! - Nobby Clark

Hi all and thanks for your replies.

I didn't realise you could keep the plate on the car and sell it! When I collect the car and get the logbook in a few weeks, I'll look into its value! :)

Edited by Nobby Clark on 29/09/2018 at 22:55

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Sun 30 Sep 2018 00:04
Private Plate Help! - Andrew-T

I didn't realise you could keep the plate on the car and sell it! When I collect the car and get the logbook in a few weeks, I'll look into its value! :)

I don't think it was meant to say that you could both keep the plate AND sell it .... If you sold the plate you would then have to re-register the car with another number !

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Sun 30 Sep 2018 08:04
Private Plate Help! - Nobby Clark

Sorry Andrew-T, I've phrased it the wrong way!!

What I meant was I thought I would have to remove the private plate from the car, and have a new registration number assigned to the car to allow me to sell the private plate!

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Sun 30 Sep 2018 10:20
Private Plate Help! - Andrew-T

What I meant was I thought I would have to remove the private plate from the car, and have a new registration number assigned to the car to allow me to sell the private plate!

I don't see why you could not offer a personal plate for sale, and re-register when a buyer came forward, if the delay during transfer wasn't a problem?

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Sun 30 Sep 2018 11:20
Private Plate Help! - Nobby Clark

Andrew-T.... That's what I'm saying.

I didn't realise I could do that but now I know I can, that's exactly what I shall do!

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