Advice Regarding Personalised Number Plate

[ahmed24]

i've got a normal number plate at the moment on my IS 250 SE-L. I've always been wanting to get a personalised plate. But everytime i google it i get companies that offer so-called new style and old style personal plates but it still follows the number plate format. I am interested in getting a plate that doesnt follow any format.

Can anyone please guide me in the right direction as to how i go about doing this. And if i get it, what do i need to do? let lexus know? my insurance company know etc.? and what happens to my original plate that i will replace?

Any advice on this issue would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks in advance

[T7RY B]

Firstly you will need to know if the plate you want is available?

Check out the Letters / numbers you need are on the DVLA cherished numbers site.

If and when you get your plate paperwork you need to take it to your local taxation office with your log book and insurance certificate and MOT (iF APPLICABLE) They will then change your present reg No. for your cherished No. You then take your car to MOT station where they will put your new No. on the MOT and rubber stamp it. You then notify your insurance company, by telephone will do.

If you come to sell the car and want to keep your cherished plate then go back to the Tax office and they will put your cherished No. on a retention certificate which you can then put on your new car. Usually they will put the original number (the one you have on now) back on the car.

Sounds a bit complicated but it really is only a couple of forms and they do the rest.

It's a lot easier if you can buy the plate you require from DVLA BECAUSE ALL TRANSFER FEES ARE INCLUDED ALREADY WHEN YOU PURCHASE IT. oTHERWISE THE TRANSFER FEE IS £80

Hope this helps

Terry

[Bazza]

Firstly you will need to know if the plate you want is available?

Check out the Letters / numbers you need are on the DVLA cherished numbers site.

If and when you get your plate paperwork you need to take it to your local taxation office with your log book and insurance certificate and MOT (iF APPLICABLE) They will then change your present reg No. for your cherished No. You then take your car to MOT station where they will put your new No. on the MOT and rubber stamp it. You then notify your insurance company, by telephone will do.

If you come to sell the car and want to keep your cherished plate then go back to the Tax office and they will put your cherished No. on a retention certificate which you can then put on your new car. Usually they will put the original number (the one you have on now) back on the car.

Sounds a bit complicated but it really is only a couple of forms and they do the rest.

It's a lot easier if you can buy the plate you require from DVLA BECAUSE ALL TRANSFER FEES ARE INCLUDED ALREADY WHEN YOU PURCHASE IT. oTHERWISE THE TRANSFER FEE IS £80

Hope this helps

Terry

you take it to the local DVLA office or you can send it off, they will stamp the MOT as well

on changing back it needs to be sent off to be put on retention, as the DVLA offices dont handle that side any more :)

[boddamloon]

Firstly you will need to know if the plate you want is available?

Check out the Letters / numbers you need are on the DVLA cherished numbers site.

If and when you get your plate paperwork you need to take it to your local taxation office with your log book and insurance certificate and MOT (iF APPLICABLE) They will then change your present reg No. for your cherished No. You then take your car to MOT station where they will put your new No. on the MOT and rubber stamp it. You then notify your insurance company, by telephone will do.

If you come to sell the car and want to keep your cherished plate then go back to the Tax office and they will put your cherished No. on a retention certificate which you can then put on your new car. Usually they will put the original number (the one you have on now) back on the car.

Sounds a bit complicated but it really is only a couple of forms and they do the rest.

It's a lot easier if you can buy the plate you require from DVLA BECAUSE ALL TRANSFER FEES ARE INCLUDED ALREADY WHEN YOU PURCHASE IT. oTHERWISE THE TRANSFER FEE IS £80

Hope this helps

Terry

you take it to the local DVLA office or you can send it off, they will stamp the MOT as well

on changing back it needs to be sent off to be put on retention, as the DVLA offices dont handle that side any more :)

....................and the tax disc

[Whoosh]

Two weeks ago I changed from my old 1923 Devon issued plate to one that was more Lexus related. I purchased it though a private firm not DVLA and they handled everything, including arranging to keep my old number on retention. It was all handled seamlessly and was a painless experience.

Look around as several firms had the number I wanted at various prices. Defiantly haggle on the price as they all seem to drop when asked, competing against each other I guess.

I hope this helps.

[T7RY B]

Firstly you will need to know if the plate you want is available?

Check out the Letters / numbers you need are on the DVLA cherished numbers site.

If and when you get your plate paperwork you need to take it to your local taxation office with your log book and insurance certificate and MOT (iF APPLICABLE) They will then change your present reg No. for your cherished No. You then take your car to MOT station where they will put your new No. on the MOT and rubber stamp it. You then notify your insurance company, by telephone will do.

If you come to sell the car and want to keep your cherished plate then go back to the Tax office and they will put your cherished No. on a retention certificate which you can then put on your new car. Usually they will put the original number (the one you have on now) back on the car.

Sounds a bit complicated but it really is only a couple of forms and they do the rest.

It's a lot easier if you can buy the plate you require from DVLA BECAUSE ALL TRANSFER FEES ARE INCLUDED ALREADY WHEN YOU PURCHASE IT. oTHERWISE THE TRANSFER FEE IS £80

Hope this helps

Terry

you take it to the local DVLA office or you can send it off, they will stamp the MOT as well

on changing back it needs to be sent off to be put on retention, as the DVLA offices dont handle that side any more :)

....................and the tax disc

They issue you with the new tax disc

[ahmed24]

thanks everyone for all your advice so far. I've found an available plate i want and a firm that deals with transfering it aswell.

I do have one question though. The firm that are going to do the transfer require that I send them My Log Book and a photocopy of my tax disc so that they can have ammended tax disc issued to me and a ammended logbook (no MOT required as the car is still under 3 years old)

My question is, when i send them my logbook, my current number plate stays on the car right? until i receive my new log book and then i just get my cars plates changed? but what happens to my current plate? like during the transfer process will there be a time where my current number plate will no longer be on the system and if so then if i drive around with my current plate and if its not on the system then i can get pulled over by the police.

How would i go about keeping my new plate just incase i want to sell my car in the future?

[T7RY B]

thanks everyone for all your advice so far. I've found an available plate i want and a firm that deals with transfering it aswell.

I do have one question though. The firm that are going to do the transfer require that I send them My Log Book and a photocopy of my tax disc so that they can have ammended tax disc issued to me and a ammended logbook (no MOT required as the car is still under 3 years old)

My question is, when i send them my logbook, my current number plate stays on the car right? until i receive my new log book and then i just get my cars plates changed? but what happens to my current plate? like during the transfer process will there be a time where my current number plate will no longer be on the system and if so then if i drive around with my current plate and if its not on the system then i can get pulled over by the police.

How would i go about keeping my new plate just incase i want to sell my car in the future?

You drive on your current plate. ( If you did get pulled by the police they would know it is in the system so don't worry.

If you plan to sell the car and keep your "cherished" number then let DVLA know and they will either transfer your plate to your new vehicle (if you already have it) or they will put your cherished plate on a retention certificate (which lasts 12 months) Which you can then use to put on your new vehicle.

Retention certificate is £25 which is an annual fee if you don't put it on a vehicle.

If you put the plate on a vehicle from the retention certificate then you don't pay an annual fee.

[Giblet]

when you come to transfer the plate to another car, the DVLA puts the old number back on the vehicle, so it all matches up for history etc.

[boddamloon]

when you come to transfer the plate to another car, the DVLA puts the old number back on the vehicle, so it all matches up for history etc.

This is not the case as i found out this week.

I put a private plate on my car 6 months ago and my insurance called me this week to tell someone was trying to insure a car with my old plate and was wondering if i had sold it but i told them it was the origional plate for the car then they called back to say that the plate had been transfered by DVLA to another vehicle so i guess when i take my plate off i will get another of the same year.

[Giblet]

i've done it twice now and each time the car got the old plate back at the end, even years later.

[boddamloon]

must be running out of X registrations but you would think there would be plenty spare with all the ones scrapped etc or its new that there doing this

[Giblet]

was the number you changed it to, a personalised version of same year, with an X? Just wondering if it is to do with whether the car loses the year designation and they reserve the number, or whether it is just random. My first one was an X as well, but they kept it and put back on 3 years later.

[boddamloon]

no i changed it to a M prefix

[mgarvey]

I've changed my personal plate over twice. The first time the old car got a different reg, the second it got its old reg back. The difference, I suspect is that the first was a brand new car first registered with my personal plate, and the one I was told it was going to have was different to what it ended up with when I sold it on.

Having said that, my personal plate was a surprise gift from the wife so the reg I 'chose' with the new car may have been fictitious. The wife arranged with the dealer to take me through the rigmarole of choosing a plate for my car, and getting insurance cover so the car could be taxed. Behind my back the wife had bought me a private plate, arranged for it to go on the car, and even got my insurer (Elephant at the time) to send me a dummy cover note based on the reg I thought I was getting, and the real cover note in an unmarked envelope sent to her. I've no chance if she ever has an affair - I'll never know about it as she can be so sneaky!

[spikes]

I've changed my personal plate over twice. The first time the old car got a different reg, the second it got its old reg back. The difference, I suspect is that the first was a brand new car first registered with my personal plate, and the one I was told it was going to have was different to what it ended up with when I sold it on.

Having said that, my personal plate was a surprise gift from the wife so the reg I 'chose' with the new car may have been fictitious. The wife arranged with the dealer to take me through the rigmarole of choosing a plate for my car, and getting insurance cover so the car could be taxed. Behind my back the wife had bought me a private plate, arranged for it to go on the car, and even got my insurer (Elephant at the time) to send me a dummy cover note based on the reg I thought I was getting, and the real cover note in an unmarked envelope sent to her. I've no chance if she ever has an affair - I'll never know about it as she can be so sneaky!

like it, good of the insurance to help out

[ahmed24]

if i wanted to put either my old plate back or get another plate issued to the car so that i can keep my cherished plate. what form do i need to fill in from DVLA? and straight forward is the process?

[ahmed24]

the plate i want to get has a letter followed by a number, then a space and then 3 letters like e.g. X1 ABC. when it comes to having the plates made can i not put the space after the first letter and remove the space after the number so it looks like X 1ABC instead?

[Ian M]

That would be illegal. Plenty of folks do similar, mind………..

When I sold my Accord last May, it got given its original W registration back again. Since I’d kept the old plates lying around in the back of the garage (with all the other stuff that’ll come in hand one day), I simply re-used them. Cheapskate, me?

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Try here before you buy anywhere else!!

DVLA Sale of Marques

My cousin shopped with non government companies for a specific plate, most quoted him £499+vat+Transfer fee, which was bumping the price up to £650ish.

He managed to get the same plate for £499, Incl VAT and the fee (i.e. all in)....

Just beware....

[ahmed24]

thanx jamboo, i came across that site aswell before but for some strange reason when i looked at the price for my plate it was more expensive than other sites, but now that you mentioned it i just realised the price quoted includes VAT and transfer fee which is great. Thanks

In regards to spacing out the letters, i see alot of cars out there that have a letter and then a space and then the remaining part of their registration number. Even if its spaced out, the number is still the same at the end of the day so police etc can still look up the reg on the system

[TigerFish]

Even if its spaced out, the number is still the same at the end of the day so police etc can still look up the reg on the system

True, but unfortunately the law still has specific sizes and spacings. Just luck of the draw if you get pulled for it. That's why the companies that will produce plates with incorrect fonts and spacings sell them under the caviat that they are show plates (i.e. not for road use).

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

No worries - be careful with the spacing. You can, or course, have "show" plates whyich you can use for track days, or at concourse shows etc.

I never bought plates that needed to be "twiddled" in any way. My friend did. The police man who stopped her got out a measuring device which showed that her digits were too close (!) by 5mm and she was fined!

You can also fail your MOT, believe it or not, just for having incorrectly spaced digits, let alone "11" that looks like a "1", or "7" which looks like a "T" or "I", etc or even strategically placed dots to make "11" into an "H"...

....the colour of the screw cap must be the same as the backing (yellow or white), and it can be black only if it goes through a digit, or is on a pre 1972 (I think) mark which can be silver lettering on black backing....

Like I say, you can get done, normally the police will leave you alone, unless they really are on the prowl. My advice is to leave 'em as is...

[spikes]

whatever you do non standard plates are illegal but people do it. i have my letters shorter,closer together but nothing else on the plate,i always keep them clean and in 2 years have had no probs.........yet!!! :)

[eXOBeX]

You may find that when the new plate goes on they've clocked up another former keeper. If they do, I'd recommend playing hell with them, because they don't have to do that (when my plate was changed the number of former keepers stayed the same).