Reverting UK private reg plate

[mshah]

I'm toying with the idea of getting a private reg plate for my car. What happens to the original plate if I go ahead with this? Does it stay reserved for the car for when I eventually move the private plate to another car? If not, and it goes back to an unassigned pool, is there a chance (although a very small chance) that it could get re-allocated to another car?

Thanks in advance

[Big Al.]

When you place a new registration on the vehicle the original number is then held for that vehicle.

[mshah]

Big Al. said:

When you place a new registration on the vehicle the original number is then held for that vehicle.

Ah okay.

A few other questions:
1. Is it okay to buy a private plate and not put it on the car right away? How long can it be left unassigned?
2. Is it true that you can't buy a private plate (in a format that indicates the age) and put it on an older car? E.g. can't put AA68AAA on a car that was produced in 2010?
3. As I understand it, the cost to transfer a plate is £80. If my current car has my private plate, and I want to move the plate to a new car, will that cost £80 for each vehicle (i.e. counts as two transfers) or will that count as a single transfer and thus be £80?
4. Does changing the vehicle registration plate look bad on the history of the vehicle when it comes to a future prospective buyer? Will it get flagged on a HPI check?
5. Given, a vehicle may have had multiple registration plates in its history. How do web services work that request a registration plate to get vehicle information e.g. DVLA, MOT, HPI checks etc?

Thank you in advance :-D

[orangesrule]

A few other questions:
1. Is it okay to buy a private plate and not put it on the car right away? How long can it be left unassigned?10 years on retention

2. Is it true that you can't buy a private plate (in a format that indicates the age) and put it on an older car? E.g. can't put AA68AAA on a car that was produced in 2010?
You cant put a plate on a car to make it look newer than it is.

3. As I understand it, the cost to transfer a plate is £80. If my current car has my private plate, and I want to move the plate to a new car, will that cost £80 for each vehicle (i.e. counts as two transfers) or will that count as a single transfer and thus be £80?
Putting the plate on retention costs £80, its then free to assign it to a vehicle.

4. Does changing the vehicle registration plate look bad on the history of the vehicle when it comes to a future prospective buyer? Will it get flagged on a HPI check? No.
Looking through the history of my old bmw, it had around 6 or 7 different plates in its life. Looks a bit odd, but it all added up.


5. Given, a vehicle may have had multiple registration plates in its history. How do web services work that request a registration plate to get vehicle information e.g. DVLA, MOT, HPI checks etc?
Dont really know, but it works, just update your insurance with the new plate when its assigned. (Usually free to do this)

Edited by orangesrule on Monday 17th February 19:42

[blueacid]

orangesrule said:

A few other questions:
1. Is it okay to buy a private plate and not put it on the car right away? How long can it be left unassigned?10 years on retention

2. Is it true that you can't buy a private plate (in a format that indicates the age) and put it on an older car? E.g. can't put AA68AAA on a car that was produced in 2010?
You cant put a plate on a car to make it look newer than it is.

3. As I understand it, the cost to transfer a plate is £80. If my current car has my private plate, and I want to move the plate to a new car, will that cost £80 for each vehicle (i.e. counts as two transfers) or will that count as a single transfer and thus be £80?
Putting the plate on retention costs £80, its then free to assign it to a vehicle.

4. Does changing the vehicle registration plate look bad on the history of the vehicle when it comes to a future prospective buyer? Will it get flagged on a HPI check? No.
Looking through the history of my old bmw, it had around 6 or 7 different plates in its life. Looks a bit odd, but it all added up.


5. Given, a vehicle may have had multiple registration plates in its history. How do web services work that request a registration plate to get vehicle information e.g. DVLA, MOT, HPI checks etc?
Dont really know, but it works, just update your insurance with the new plate when its assigned. (Usually free to do this)

Edited by orangesrule on Monday 17th February 19:42

For the last two, I used to work at a vehicle data company so feel reasonably placed to answer!
Certainly the vehicle checking companies know about the Cherished Transfer (that is, personal plate) history for a vehicle. When the details of a Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) change are supplied they're linked with the VIN of the vehicle. So the data from the DVLA would be sort of along the lines of:
For VIN 12345, VRM RD12GFF was taken OFF the vehicle in May 2019
For VIN 12345, VRM BO55WKR was put ON the vehicle in May 2019

then in a later datafile:
For VIN 12345, VRM BO55WKR was taken OFF the vehicle in Nov 2019
For VIN 12345, VRM RD12GFF was put ON the vehicle in Nov 2019
For VIN 98765, VRM S224NFF was taken OFF the vehicle in Nov 2019
For VIN 98765, VRM BO55WKR was put ON the vehicle in Nov 2019


If we then, separately had received in two data files a piece of mileage data with just the number plate (say, a tyre fitter who noted the mileage and supplied it to us.. for a fee!):
August 2019 - VRM BO55WKR had mileage of 45221
(then later)
December 2019 - VRM BO55WKR had mileage of 28422

A dumb reading of the mileage data on its own would imply that a vehicle had been clocked, but when viewed alongside the cherished transfer history of which vehicle that VRM was on, someone checking for the mileage history of RD12GFF in January 2020 ought to be told that back in August we had a record of it on 45221 miles, and all should be fine.


Assembling all of this and making sense of it is a fun challenge! But yes, it absolutely does get flagged, or, it did where I worked!

[Jaguar steve]

All the cars I've taken my own registration off have reverted back to the one originally allocated to that car by the DVLA on first registration.

Lesson here is don't bin the old plates then...

[mshah]

orangesrule said:

3. As I understand it, the cost to transfer a plate is £80. If my current car has my private plate, and I want to move the plate to a new car, will that cost £80 for each vehicle (i.e. counts as two transfers) or will that count as a single transfer and thus be £80?
Putting the plate on retention costs £80, its then free to assign it to a vehicle.

I'm a little confused (sorry, I'm probably being thick). Could you correct the following example (if it is wrong):
1) I have a car (Car A) which has the original registered number plate on it.
2) I purchase a private plate and immediately assign it to Car A. This will cost £80 to assign the private plate.
3) Sometime in the future, I will purchase a new car (Car B).
4) I revert Car A to it's originally registered plate. This costs £0.
5) I assign my private plate to Car B. This costs £80.

And as a completely separate example:
1) I have a car (Car A) which has the original registered number plate on it.
2) I purchase a private plate but do not assign it to a vehicle immediately. This costs £80.
3) Sometime in the future, I will purchase a new car (Car B).
4) Sometime after purchase of Car B, I assign the private plate to Car B. This costs £0.

Are these two examples correct or did I screw something up.