How to Buy Number Plates

Personally, private number plates on cars were not something I was introduced to until probably the middle of the 2000s. My first car was a 1994 VW Polo which I must have got around 1998 and I just don’t remember specialist plates as being a thing.

Nowadays however they seem to be everywhere due to the fact you can not only buy them easily online from plate wholesalers and auction houses but there are also a number of finance options available to when it comes to purchasing one.

With all this in mind, I thought it might be good to walk you through the 3 ways you can buy number plates in the UK.

Buy number plates from the DVLA

Assume your desired number plate doesn’t already exist you can simply head on over to the DVLA Personalised Registration page and put your request in. You will then be given a price and you can buy the plate straight through the website.

Buy number plates direct from one of the DVLA auctions

You have a number of options here. You buy direct from the DVLA who hold auctions about 5 times a year. Thanks to the Internet you don’t need to actually attend the auction in person and can buy number plates just by bidding online, via the telephone or ever via letter There are more options when it comes to finding a CarReg number plate dealer than ever.

You are able to see a list of number plates that are going to be up for auction ahead of time and also their starting prices so you can have an idea of how much you will be looking to pay for your desired plate.

Once you have bought the plate from the DVLA you will be issued a V750 certificate of entitlement which means that you have the RIGHT to put it on your automobile.

Buy number plates from a Private Dealer

This concept used to be a bit of a nightmare many years ago but as I mentioned above, thanks to the Internet it is now one of the easiest ways to buy number plates for your car.

One thing that you need to remember however is that the DVLA doesn’t permit newer registration marks to be transferred to older vehicles. So this will mean that you can’t make an older car appear newer than it really is. So it’s important that you pick a plate that suits the car. There are a number of online age checkers you can use online to take a look at which plates will be suitable for you.

One major advantage of online private dealers when you are buying that New Reg is that they can offer a wide variety of finance deals. This means that if a plate runs in the thousands you can take one of the many 0% finance deals on offer and pay it off over 12 months meaning you aren’t paying any more than you would if you paid it off in one go at the start.

With number plates ranging in price from around £200 all the way to six figure sums it’s no surprise that the more finance options that exist the better. Even Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich reportedly paid £285,000 for ‘VIP 1’ so don’t be shocked if you see extremely desirable plates a little out of your price range

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