UK Number Plates...

[mdsalemi]

We here in the colonies have 50 states, and pretty much, in all 50, you can get a "vanity" plate or similar by payment of a small fee. You can also get, depending on the state, a number of special plates indicating the local university you may have allegiance to, a sports team, or some charitable cause. I think most states also have an antique or classic car plate, some that carry restrictions on driving (because they are not taxed the same). In some places "numbered" plates are considered "vanity plates" and have usually been in a family for generations, such as the Massachusetts plate I once saw that was in the single digits, from an old monied family.

In terms of "vanity plates" I once had, when my car was in Michigan, a Michigan plate that reads "PAGODA". It's hanging on my wall, as I don't use the Michigan plate any longer. JonnyB and I both have Signal Red Pagodas, and when he was in Ohio, HE had the Ohio plate Pagoda, and in 2005, the cars were photographed side by side at PUB in Blacklick.

Now unless I'm mistaken--I've tried to do a bit of reading on this--in the UK, you don't have such a choice. In fact, little to none. The numbering and lettering schemes have changed over the years, and it is apparent that a plate stays with the car, and it's only happenstance that one may end up with a set of numbers, letters or both that carry some special meaning...

...unless someone ELSE ended up with them, and then you go and buy the plate from a specialized vendor.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why anyone may pay:

£405,000 for H 6
£230,000 for RR 100
or even
£2,500 for S3 ARC

I may be able to understand why someone may want the plate 60 MG if they had a 1960 MG A, but no understanding why this may command £25,000.

These are all wildly humorous prices from Registrationmarks.co.uk who has an ad in the latest edition of Mercedes Enthusiast magazine.

Here in North Carolina, with an Antique Plate, you can put any license plate you want ON your car, regardless, as long as you keep the issued plate in your car and show it upon demand. Thus, I can readily have an ersatz 1969 North Carolina license plate made by licenseplates.tv for $100, and put it on the car. I'll keep the issued plate in the passenger compartment.

[Cees Klumper]

Here in North Carolina, with an Antique Plate, you can put any license plate you want ON your car, regardless, as long as you keep the issued plate in your car and show it upon demand. Thus, I can readily have an ersatz 1969 North Carolina license plate made by licenseplates.tv for $100, and put it on the car. I'll keep the issued plate in the passenger compartment.

That to me seems to negate the whole purpose of license plates: to identify the registered owner in case someone driving the car commits an offense. Do the 'any plates' you put on the car instead of the plates that were issed for it also have to be registered to the car? Otherwise, what's the point, why have any plates at all on the car? I don't get it.

[ejboyd5]

Anything is possible:

[MikeSimon]

Here is the current "state of affairs" regarding plates in Ohio:

- regular plate. Renew every year $68.-
-vanity or personalized plate (has to be approved, restrictions apply) renew every year additional fee $35.-
- collector plate (has to be approved, certain vehicles qualify, must provide proof of other vehicle owned) renew every year additional fee $5.-
- historical plate (vehicle has to be 25 years or older, driving restrictions apply) buy one time for 50 years $30.-

Once you have historical plates, you can apply to use "year plates", i.e.: Ohio plates from the same year of the vehicle. You have to send a photo of the year plates to the BMV and they send you a new registration. You can then use the plates on the car but must keep the original historic plates with the vehicle. This only works with actual year plates, i.e.: before Ohio started to use renewal stickers. I think this is 1975 or 1976

I just found a set of 1971 plates at the recent Autorama in Cleveland. depending on the "rarity" - less numbers, unique combination etc. - and condition, the sellers charge up to $200.- for a set

[mdsalemi]

I don't get it.

I don’t get it either and I don’t have to I just have to live with it!

But the point of this thread had nothing to do with North Carolina’s peculiar registration issues, it was bringing to light the fact that apparently [some] people in the UK are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds for number plates and that does not include the car?

[stickandrudderman]

Sometimes I get lucky and buy a car with a valuable plate. I take the plate off and retain it and the authorities issue a new plate for that car. I then sell the car and the plate seperately and the plate is often worth more than the car.

[mdsalemi]

Sometimes I get lucky and buy a car with a valuable plate.

So here is the million dollar (or million pound!  ) question:

How do you know which number plate has any value, and how much?

Using the examples I culled from the reseller, how would you know that S3 ARC may be worth £2,500, or that RR 100 nearly ten times that? How do you go about discerning a value for these things?

[MikeSimon]

Don't know about the examples, but several years ago, one UK plate made headlines for its desirability: PEN I 5

[Rahul]

Allegedly "RR 1" sold for over £500k,  which makes "RR 100" look great value! Given the weight of international money that enjoys cruising around Mayfair/Knightsbridge/Chelsea etc in the latest Phantom, what's an additional £230k for the extra bragging rights?!

On a similar vein I believe Simon Kidston still owns the infamous "FU 2" plate (pictured) which must be worth a fortune given its notoriety.

"F 1" was offered for £20mm+ (by the owner of the garish automotive tuning outfit Project Kahn)... I guess he was benching to the auction values for the namesake from Woking.

[Cees Klumper]

So here is the million dollar (or million pound!  ) question:
How do you know which number plate has any value, and how much?
Using the examples I culled from the reseller, how would you know that S3 ARC may be worth £2,500, or that RR 100 nearly ten times that? How do you go about discerning a value for these things?

In The Netherlands we/they have a saying in response to this question: "Wat de gek ervoor geeft". Loosely translated: "What a fool is willing to pay".
That seems to sum up, for me at least, the UK numberplate 'value craze'.

[MikeSimon]

I somewhat understand the desire (value?) of the "RR" plates, if you have a classic Rolls Royce. But the question is still open what makes "S3 ARC" so expensive?
Maybe a UK member can shed some light on it?

[BobH]

In England when you buy a new vehicle the DVLA (licensing authority) assigns a number plate, currently this consists of 2 letters, the region in the country where the car is registered, 2 numbers, currently 72 representing the second half of 2022, and 3 randomly generated letters, ie XX72XXX for a vehicle registered on 1st sept 2022 but before March 2023.  In March 23 the numbers change to 23

Sometimes, depending on the numbers and letters with a stretch of the imagination, a name or car and model can be spelt out and the DVLA will auction these off to make some money

If the combination of letters and numbers may spell out a rude or swear word, then these are not assigned

In the 60's and 70's the plate consisted of 3 letters and 3 numbers, followed by a final letter, which represented the year of registration, ie A 1963, B, 64, C, 65 etc etc

There are strict rules regarding the size, font and colour, and the vehicle could be stopped if these are not adhered to, apart from Historic vehicles which are allowed a different set of criteria

If an owner wants a cherished plate, then there are various dealers or auctions, and the price will depend on whether the plate spells out a name, or again, a car make and model.  Generally the fewer the characters the dearer the plate, hence RR and F1 were probably the most valuable plates ever sold.  Not sure why S3 ARC demands such a price, few people are called ARC, and the overall plate doesn't seem to spell out a particular word, sometimes numbers can be interpreted as letters, ie 3 could represent E, but then SEARC still makes no sense.  Might be valuable to a company called ARC, or perhaps Noah would be interested for his boat

I can imagine plates 230SL, 250SL or 280SL would command a higher price than the actual car, if they ever came on the market

If an owner wants to fit a cherished or personalised plate, they have to register that plate to that vehicle, so that the vehicle and registered owner can be identified in the case of a motoring or criminal offence.  Plates need to be fitted front and rear for the same reason, so the vehicle can be identified if caught on a speed camera, by traffic police, by a dash cam, or anyone who wants to report the vehicle for an offence

On some occasions the numbers of letters can be "modified" by adding an additional fixing screw in a certain position, such as these on Ebay at the moment for an Audi S3, nothing to do with me i might add:

Audi S3 Number Plate - S3 0UAT - Private Plate - S3 QUAT.

Hello for sale I have number plate S3 0UAT

The sale is for the documentation and ownership of S30UAT

I have used these plates spaced out and a added black dot with zero issues for years

Adding a dot or screw to make the "0" look like a "Q" is illegal and the Police would pull the driver up for this

Personally, personalised or cherished plates have never interested me, but there's clearly a market for them

[Todd]

That's really interesting about the UK plating system, and that your DLMV can auction their own plates.

[BobH]

Results from their August auction, nice little earner!

https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk/auction/online.html

look at lot number 2059, £ 10,000 would you pay that?

[JamesL]

Down in Chelsea on the riverside  there's a house that used to be owned by a couple, one of whom owned(?) the Old Vic Theatre
They had two cars that often parked next to eachother in their (very valuable) offstreet parking. A Range Rover and an Aston last I saw.

The plates were "2B" and "Not 2B"

[BobH]

Very good, but think of the stress of always having to park in the right order

And there they are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmC230X0Mqs

[JamesL]

Good find (but I got the plates wrong!)

[BobH]

Like most personal plates, it's the intention rather than the actual spelling.  The difference between 2B and 2BE is probably a few hundred thousand pounds

[AdelaidePagoda]

Big fan of historic low digit plates. I do try to get the numerical order correct!

[ScouseJames]

"Vanity" plates are a big thing now in the UK, these are our two:

I bought the plate for my 230SL, MBZ230 after I bought the car, which had been registered in the UK with "D" registration for a 1966 car.

The plate on my Thai wife's 2015 GLA, W999EAD includes her nickname "EAD", and "9" is a lucky number in Thailand (999 is also the UK version of 911 lol).  It was a Xmas present for her and cost a lot less than she thinks it did (win/win )

The only thing you're not allowed to do is have a number plate showing the car is newer/younger than it actually is.

[Mike Hughes]

Very good, but think of the stress of always having to park in the right order

And there they are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmC230X0Mqs

Back in the 1970's I knew a lady who drove a Black Triumph Herald with a plate that read "HARK."  I asked her about it when I saw her at an event at Summit Point Raceway and she told me her car's name was "Hark the Herald." Once her whole family came and lined up their Heralds side by side in the Triumph class at our local British Car Day auto show. Her husband drove a white one with a plate that read "ANGELS."  Their son had a red one whose plate read "SING."