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Because the laws are no longer made on the just principles they once were.
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Because the laws are no longer made on the just principles they once were.
So they must all be disregarded? With each out of personal preference?
There's nothing wrong with authorities wanting to be able to read your number plate. Unless you've got something to hide?
It's one of those laws where it's a lot harder to break it than to comply with it. Not like speeding or lazy/bad driving.
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prat plates annoy me,i personally think its these peoples way at putting a finger up at authority
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All any sort of personal plate says to me is that the owner is an egotistical idiot with more money than sense. Even more so when they mess around with spacings etc.
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All any sort of personal plate says to me is that the owner is an egotistical idiot with more money than sense.
Well put. Plus these 'prat plates' look crap IMO, esp. the ones with hte owners name in small letters at the base.
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Even more so when they mess around with spacings etc.
Yes, its a great way of saying "Look everyone, I couldn't afford the private plate I really wanted"
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All any sort of personal plate says to me is that the owner is an egotistical idiot with more money than sense. >>
inferiority complex?........why else such a sweeping statement damning a whole bunch of people who indulge in something you don't wish to or understand. Each to their own surely.
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Not that I agree with the egostistical bit and would not post something like that but your correct in as much as I do not understand why people do it.
Normally people spend money on something that will add value to their lives in some way - with SWMBO it tends to be shoes and bags for instance - something that serves a purpose. What purpose does a prat plate serve ?
If you get a plate that resembles your name or initials in some way - then why ? do these people also like to walk around with name badges on when they go out ?
I would be grateful if someone could provide a reason.
I know my brother considered buying one because he wanted to hide his car's age - I explained that it will only last until a facelift or newer model comes out and also why should he care that people thought his car was x years old. Since when did he care what people thought of him.
I am just honestly baffled why people buy them.
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Pendlebury,
Firstly, you're allowing a degree of 'mission creep' because the original term 'prat plate' was seemingly referring to plates that were illegal and had been illeaglly spaced or had the wrong fonts etc. You are now inferring that all personal plates are 'prat plates'.
Secondly, there are many, many things in life that one person might consider spending their hard earnt cash on, whilst another might find it difficult to justify/understand.
I bought a plate because it had my name on it. I quite fancied having one plate for the rest of my life and something that was personal to me, not just a jumbled up number issued at random.
I bought one for my then new wife for her birthday. It consists of: my first initial, 4, her 3 initials e.g. A4 ABC. She thought it to be a romantic gesture and it gave me a load of brownie points. She was as pleased as punch. Again it personalised something, made it more meaningful and it is something she will remember for a long time, as she sees it everyday on her car.
As an aside (and not the reason why i bought either of them), they will both go up in value and the exependiture, therefore is not a total loss.
If i could afford it, (which i can't) I would have my 2 initials with a 1 following it e.g. AB1
Please don't look down your nose at something, just because you don't understand it or agree with it.......there are many things that other's do that i find most difficult to get my head around..but if it gives them pleasure, good luck to them.
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I bought a plate because it had my name on it. >>
Would that have been WE51PIG, westpig?
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I'm not looking down my nose westpig - just asking the question because I didn't understand why people did it. When I continue to read the posts below, a few people have reminded me that there is some value in doing it although they refuse to realise this value because they also say they won't sell. Personally I think the market will become saturated and they will start to lose value - but as they say they didn't buy it for a profit so no problem there then.
Just because someone questions why - doesn't mean they are belittling it although judging by some of the responses alot of people are getting het up at defending them.
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Why defy the law when it's just as easy to comply?
I guess that is something you would have to ask him. :)
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I think 'prat plates' are brilliant. I find it usually means the driver has an inverse proportion of driving ability to disposable cash, and I can take extra care when they're around.
Mind you, if I see an SUV with 'prat plates' driven by a blonde on a mobile 'phone, then I'm really scared ;>)
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Its funny how many of you are so unimpressed by "Prattish plates" that you manage to comment on every plate thread that appears on the forum, at least one a month by my estimation. I've got a PP, paid for by my toils, tax paid on the income and transfer fees paid everytime I've swapped it over to a different vehicle. Its worth more than I paid, does'nt need manipulation of digits and cost what I could afford at the time.
Its a sign that you're getting old when you spend more time talking about what you don't want than what you do!
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Why do people use non-standard fonts? Even if it's a clever reg (rare), the non-standard font just looks - well, eccentric, or sad, or attention-seeking.
We've had threads about clever regs: I can't imagine one about interesting fonts.
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Dox, could you please explain why exactly you felt the need to spend some of your had earned on a PP. What do you feel it gives you? On the odd occasion i've driven a vehicle with one the only things I've felt are embarrased and conspicuous.
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isisalar: " Dox, could you please explain why exactly you felt the need to spend some of your had earned on a PP. What do you feel it gives you?"
I, too, am one of those who drives with a personal plate. It needs no alteration of font or spacing to say exactly what I want it to say. I suspect that, along with Dox, I don't have to tell you why I spent the money on it. You've probably got things in your life that I would never justify (I have no stereo, an ancient TV, clothes that look like they are from Oxfam). If you have spent more than me on any of those things, could you please explain why exactly you felt the need to spend some of your had earned on them? Can you justify every penny you spent in the last ten years? Would a justification make you any happier? I suggest you live and let live rather than getting (what sounds like) a little anxious over what other people spend their cash on.
There are a few tangible things it gives me:
My car is instantly recognisable - any scroat who nicked it would be recognised as a thief the instant any friend of mine saw it
It makes me drive more considerately
I will never need to remember my plate again (I'm getting to that age)
I can drive a car of any age without the car showing it, whether brand new or ancient
A feeling of utter smugness when I look at the oiks who have a plate that needs rivets or fancy fonts to be readable
A feeling of superiority over every other road user, such as you.
V
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PS. Virtual pint to the first person on this forum who sees me and tells me what my number is.
PPS. No DVLA searches allowed. You'll have to give a location and time.
V
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You clearly have never met me.
V
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V1NDL? Spotted today at lunch time in Sussex
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thank you VIN(P) thats very enlightening.Apart from the remote possibility that one of your friends sees your stolen car and is in a position to take action,why would you want it to be instantly recogniseable? How does it make you drive more considerately ?Surely you should drive considerately anyway.Why do you need to remember your number?If you think your fooling anybody about the age of your vehicle with a PP you're wrong.Car buffs will know its age to within a year or so,and nobody else really cares. I accept that 'prat plates' are totally ridiculous but to feel utterly smug when you see one and feel 'total superiority over other road users such as me' because you have a PP is just being a snob.Each to his own I suppose.
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Isisalar, big chip on your shoulder old son. If I want something and can afford it I buy it. I'm the furthest thing away from being a snob, I'm as down to earth as anyone could be, I've spent the afternoon concreting in 9' concrete fence posts on my own as I have for the last week or so, with the money saved on paying professionals I may or may not treat myself to something nice.
Vin(p) you sound like my twin, buy middle of the range, look after it and it will reward you with good service possibly for life?
;O)
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Dox, I'm not sure you answered the question there.
I too am curious as too why people pay good money for pratplates - they are totally useless and serve no purpose. Buying something that is of use to you I can understand but these just seem a waste of money. Please tell me what you get out of it. (I am genuingly ineterested - I'm not havng a pop).
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Pendlebury, do you drink? I don't. What possible purpose is served by drinking alcohol? It ages you, wears out your liver, is associated with increased weight, cancers, etc, etc, etc.
Do I ask you for a reason? No. It's your money.
By all means call them "pratplates," if you wish: it's your choice.
V
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I drink red wine to be honest because I can taste something that is pleasant to me. So in that there is a purpose. As you know some alcoholic drinks also do some good. But even if they just did what you said at least they are doing something. What does a pratplate do exactly.
Is it to hide a car's age because you worry about what people think.
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Why do you buy a Honda when a Kia would get you to work for less money
DOX @@@ (3 numbers) cost £495 plus transfer.
You only need a 1L car with four forward gears and reverse, why does your car have so many needless gadgets? Snobishness, oneupmanship, or do you just spend your money on what pleases you?
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Oh I agree Dox I could have bought a VW for instance but decided to go for something decent - but as I said previously the Honda transports me and gets me from AtoB albeit I could do it cheaper and maybe less reliably with another make - so once again it is doing something - please explain what a pratplate does for you.
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snipquote
Who mentioned snobbery?
The plate sits on my bumper, thats about it really, it obviously annoys you. I could live without it should someone offer me a suitable sum, alternativelly if my numbers came out on the Lotto I could find a classic that would suit the plate beautifully and its not a peoples car.
Perhaps you could tell me what the plate does for me Dr Pendlebury?
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You mentioned snobbery Dox in your earlier repsonse to my thread - and how did you know I was a Doctor ?
It really does not annoy me at all - I am just genuinely interested in what people get out of buying one becuase I do not understand or see any reason for them. I am not saying they are wrong in any way - as I say - just trying to understand why people do it. Like I said earlier SWMBO buys shoes so she can wear them - I drink red wine because I like the taste and enjoy visitig vineyards.
As you say it sits on your bumper - if thats the reason for buying it & you enjoy seeing it on your bumper then great - who am I to argue - I just want to undertsand thats all.
VIN for instance gets all tingly when people let him out and he annoys them with his plate. (I was only calling them pratplates cos the thread title did by the way).
I couldn't justify seeing a different set of digits on my bumper for £495 but as someone else said each to their own. You have explained why you did it so thanks.
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dox are you boasting or complaining about the price of your number plate? If it pleases you Why?This is what pendlebury and I can't fathom.Spend your money on what you like but why? what do you get out of it?
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Don't look too deep into it, its just a number plate with some relivance to the owner / driver. I spent 3 years browsing the autotrader and eventually bought my plate for half the price I'd seen similar plates. As for £500 being boastfull, if I'd ordered an option for my car for a similar amount (CD player, climate and metallic paint added over £1k to the cost price of my Golf in 2001) would you be giving me the third degree as you are now?
Buy one, don't buy one, don't care
:o)
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isisalar: Why shouldn't I like being instantly recognisable? Be assured, I drive considerately, just more so nowadays. Aren't you ever asked for your registration number? Do you really not need to remember it? I don't give a tinker's cuss whether a car buff can age my car.
By not seeing that that final comment was tongue-in-cheek, you have proven to me that you are typical of the killjoys who get aeriated (sp?) about my personal plate. I am about as far removed from snobbery as you could ever wish to get. With a face and dress sense like mine, it's impossible to be a snob.
What I am is tolerant of what people wish to do with their money. It's their cash; let them do what they want, I say.
V
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Just realised another reason I like my pratplate.
I like it when people let me out of a side junction. If they are the sort of people who dislike my pratplates, I feel a little tingle of schadenfreude that they may be distressed that they let me out. People who don't care about pratplates are repaid with the satisfaction of having let me out without the attendant stress and tension in their lives.
V
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Oh - I get it now VIN - clearly someone wrapped up in what others think about you in that you actually go around thinking that someone who does not like pratplates is getting all worked up and you get that tingling feeling becuase you have one ----- get a life.
But is that raelly the reason you bought one then ?
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VIN(P)So one of the reasons IS that You want to be instantly recognisable. Well done for admitting it. Very rarely asked for my reg no .If I need to give it and I dont know it I open the drivers door walk to the front of the car and there it is. If you dont care whether people know how old your car is why give disguising the age of your car .as one of your justifications in the first place.You spend your money how you like too I couldn't care less, I'm just genuinely interested in why people pay good money for PP's
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isisalar: "I'm just genuinely interested in why people pay good money for PP's"
No, obviously not. There is nothing I could say that you aouwld accept as a reason. I've given you a handful of reasons and none of them register with you because you don't agree with PPs in principle.
Therefore, I could give you a hundred reasons and you'd still be saying "I'm just genuinely interested".
I bought one because I bought one. If it bothers you, I'm sorry.
V
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VIN(P) Your handfull of reasons don't stand up to logical reasoning that's why I dont accept them. As I said at the beginning of this thread PP's are bought by egotistical idiots with more money than sense and nothing I've heard since has made me change my mind.Will one PP owner please give me a logical reason for buying one and dont give me all this investment tosh.There are far better ways to invest money.If you're vain showoffs why not just admit it before this thread peters out. Someone earlier said their plate was'a bit of fun' how?
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thank you VIN(P) thats very enlightening.
You just don't get it do you? eh!!
MD
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>>I've got a PP, paid for by my toils, tax paid on the income and transfer fees paid everytime I've swapped it over to a different vehicle. Its worth more than I paid, does'nt need manipulation of digits and cost what I could afford at the time.<<
I've got absolutely no problem with such a plate - all completely legal.
I don't think you're an idiot and I don't think your driving is compromised by it.
I have however been pulled for driving a vehicle with an illegal font (it wasn't my car, although I was insured to drive it) - and I didn't appreciate the owner having a go at me for being pulled - just for the plate, my driving was legal.
I wouldn't drive their stupid car again, and they never really did understand why.
I did hope the obviously illegal fonts would disappear - but they haven't.
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er dox we are talking messed with plates,moved fonts moved spaces 5 into n "s" i saw a e backwards in a carpark last week
prat plates =prat people its a fact its even statute law in some towns/counties
i have a private plate not messed with and came with a car so cost nowt but transfer fees, i have nothing wrong with these and do sometimes wish i could buy my ultimate plate now up for £26,000 :-( it was £1500 20 years ago
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No doubt you all have your reasons for giving a damn about any of this. I absolutely don't. I don't even mind people writing Stan and Tracey on their windscreens. Harmless egotism, and if they stray outside the rules I still don't care. The authorities may, but why should I?
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just been shopping lud and came across an rta the number plate on a lads car (chavved up) was unreadable,if he had dun a runner and i couldnt read the slanted plate how could i tell the police who he was?
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Surely you would say 'Purple Corsa, 2003, chavved up, non-standard exhaust, scraped offside rear wing, unreadable number plate, driver about 13, pimply, grubby red baseball cap, green teeth, one brass earring (in nose), elderly lady in front passenger seat, last seen heading towards Chester...', wouldn't you bell boy?
The illegible number plate would be part of the description. Of course plod can't just get the name and address from DVLA (but how often can they really?) but they should be on the lookout and warn all the 'remote camera operators' to keep a lookout too...
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I'm sure these types of VRM's can be a good investment - in stock market lore there is the 'greater fool theory' : there is always someone willing to buy the stock you want to sell, even when it's falling. By that token, even the most anodyne or convoluted VRM is bound to find a buyer. On the taste question, well taste or aesthetic sense is personal of course & I'm sure the private plate constituency have a sincere fondness for their hobby, as do the entrants at an Elvis look-alike convention.
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I have a 3 digit old style county based reg number on my car. I like it, it cost me the transfer fee from another vehicle I owned 30 years ago. I care little about its worth in money terms. People who misspace or mis-font annoy me in exactly the same way that fat middle aged blokes with beer bellies wear football or rugby shirts. But each to his own.
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You wouldn't waste the time or money getting less anonymous and invisible and neither would I.
But why should we be down on someone who does? It's a sort of aesthetico-ideological fascism. I would absolutely hate it if lots of people were jostling in my area. I am more than happy for them to occupy their own areas. And all these joke number plates and so on add to the amusing richness and inconsequentiality without which life would be boring.
I have nothing against this sort of thing or chavving up your car come to that. within reason.
Too much respectability is the kiss of death just as too little is hopelessly stupid.
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Is Vin's registration VIN3GAR , purchased because of his love of vinegar?
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< snip >
Little bit violent for me when I'm eating my dinner, Vin! PG
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Come at this the same way as PU.
Mrs B has a plate comprising three letters and the number 21. It was on a vehicle given to her mother as a 21st birthday present on the mid 20th century and has been on the family ever since. When the MoL had to give up driving it went on retention but, scared of loosing it in an oversight on renewal of the retention we got it transferred to one of our cars. The original owner derives some pleasure from seeing it still in use and it provides a talking point when friends etc ask what it means.
Spacing and bolt fiddlers fiddlers (hello Becky!!!) and font messers need the book throwing at them, those who can use the plate as it was issued just want somethig different.
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50 years old any minute now. Used to own **** MD on an Anglia van at age 17 years. Wish I had it now. Nothing to do with 'Martin Devon', just a coincidence. But have a PP on the Mercedes that came with the car and spells someone elses name. I need to get rid. It is not incorrectly spaced, but (I think), has an additional rivet somewhere, I genuinely do not care, but friends of mine and Plod say it stands out like a sore thumb and is recognisable from some distance. Been offered £400 by one of the bigger companies so I guess I may get Eight. Can't be bothered though. Is Inertia the same as Procrastination???
V V B R.......MD
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Sigh. All this angst, and it could be solved by allowing personal plates, but by selling off the rights to a private company that pays the government a percentage. Then anything (not too rude) can be used without funny spacings and everybody's happy. It's a boost to the ego for those that need it, advertising for firms, a laugh at the funny ones, and investments for those that want especially nice ones. These days, who needs to know when the car was registered or when? Come on UK, join the 21st century. This is all feasible because it already exists. Out here in New Zealand. Check out www.plates.co.nz to see how it works.
I've got one for my wife's car that spells her name (and it's fitted to a Mitsubishi too, so that gives a clue). She was tickled pink, and no-one here thinks of them as prat plates, as there are so many around. They're pressed out of aluminium by the company and sent out to you. You transfer the number to your car and that's it.
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>>>These days, who needs to know when the car was registered or when?<<<
Over here in England, if all plates were dateless sales would take a dive, it's called "keeping up with the Jones's" ans is encouraged by our tax grabbing government. It doesn't affect me as I keep my cars long term.
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Has anybody ever thought some people have these plates as investments.
bought the wife a plate 5 years ago for £250, sold it last year for £730, only went up in value
my auntie has a plate with three letters and a number 1 on it, gets it valued now and again, ( shes had it for 30 odd years) it goes up in value every time,
my point is they seem to me to go up in value whereas a car doesnt.
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A car is generally the second biggest financial outlay we make and the most widely visible object we have - it goes everywhere!
If registration numbers were mounted on the dashboard like modern VIN numbers you can bet that sales of PPs would go down.
Fine, spend what you like on what you like and justify it however you wish but dont pretend that by slinging something highly visible on the front and back of a large object that moves around in public that you dont want people to notice and draw some kind of conclusion about it (wether positive or negative)
Yes, you might be a modest and retiring person 99.9999999% of the time but somewhere in the human psyche in most people there is a wish to stand out/be individual and therefore have some impact on the world in a motoring way?
I think thats the nub and why certain people seem to be getting defensive.
Personally I think PP plates are great - and why not! But lets not pretend that somewhere down the line it isnt to get a reaction form the public - I dont think its honest if you deny that.
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Your a long time dead, if you want something you can afford and it harms no one else go for it. If all I wanted was to get noticed running naked down the high street would have a bigger effect and cost me nothing! Even if I got arrested I'd get 3 free meals and a roof over my head for a few days.
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Provided it isn't illegally spaced, it doesn't have a stupid font and it isn't worth more than the car (Nothing more daft than A1 ABC on a 96 Fiesta 1.25) then why not?
When I get an E39 M5, I intend to have an M5 XXX plate. Why not? It's a bit of fun, isn't it?
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I have a plate with my 2 initials and an " interesting " number, and I have had it for 10 years or so. It cost me £1000. I won't justify why I have this plate but lets say I like it. It is now worth more than I paid for it, but I don't want to sell it anyway.
How many of you number plate critics smoke ? and how much have you wasted over the last 10 years.How much damage have you done to your health and others that have inhaled your smoke.What have you got to show for the money spent ?
Get a sense of perspective !
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A number of people (or at least 2) above have said they (or someone they know) has an "illegal" plate for general use and and a set of "legal" plates for mot time.
Just a question/observation but if the car was inlvolved in an accident and required an insurance claim whilst having plates that would fail an MOT - are the insurance company within their rights to not pay up becuase according to the mot laws now the car is not mot worthy ? (I nearly used the term roadworthy but of course an mot does not mean roadworthy).
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>>are the insurance company within their rights to not pay up
My (limited) understanding is that insurers must pay the third party costs, but may recover these costs from the insured if there was a fault (or more generally a non-compliance with the terms of the policy) which contributed in a material way to the accident. It's difficult to see how even the most blatantly mis-placed font on a number plate could cause an accident.
Number_Cruncher
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Put like that then I agree NC - I just remember seeing an insurance assessor inspect a car once that required a claim and he went over it with a fine tooth comb and I got the impression he was looking for anything to contest paying up.
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Inferiority complex and Superiority complex are one and the same phychology.
"Normal" = "live and let live".
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dox you still havn't answered the question WHY?
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PS why does the fact your'capable of concreting in fence posts mean you can't be a snob? Incidentally postcrete is a much quicker and more efficient way to install fenceposts.
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This thread has been done to death. It went off the topic of DVD's original posting early on. Fed up of the arguing between members. Thread locked.
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