Illegal registration plates.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:30

I saw a website advertised on facebook selling the rights to registration plates, some costing £30,000.

Naturally, out of interest, I clicked on it to see what type of scam site it would be, and clearly it is because nearly every plate listed for sale was illegal.

So my question is, does anyone know what would happen if someone paid the extortionate prices for a plate that they charge, and a traffic officer stopped them and ticketed them, and requested the DVLA revoke the plate, would you end up just simply losing out on your money?

I mean I can imagine there would be some pretty furious people up and down the country if they bought a plate then found out it was illegal. (who would even be stupid enough to pay 30k for a plate apart from overpaid footballers anyway???)

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:32

http://www.10registrations.com/

^ website. Doesn't look very trustworthy or legit in fairness.

Jokester · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:34

You're not buying the plate per se, your buying the registration number. Whether you display the number in an illegal manner or not is ultimately upto you.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:34

ok, so you don't have to have it positioned the way that they've advertised on the site?

Jokester · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:35

Smigly said:
ok, so you don't have to have it positioned the way that they've advertised on the site?

No, it may lose some of it's obviousness, but ultimately the plate itself costs peanuts, it's the registration number that's worth the money.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:36

I used the mycarchecker app on my phone to search for the reg plates which say sold next to them but only one of them is actually registered to a car and it's a peugeot 206 :S.

Cleeecooo · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:38

Smigly said:
I used the mycarchecker app on my phone to search for the reg plates which say sold next to them but not one of them is actually registered to a car.

Maybe they bought it for later?

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:38

Of course not. E.g. WI11 IAM is perfectly legal, but squishing the digits together is illegal.

UncleRuckus · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:39

Smigly said:
I used the mycarchecker app on my phone to search for the reg plates which say sold next to them but only one of them is actually registered to a car and it's a peugeot 206 :S.

Me thinks people buy them to sell them on.

Bennie-Mac · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:39

Smigly said:
I used the mycarchecker app on my phone to search for the reg plates which say sold next to them but only one of them is actually registered to a car and it's a peugeot 206 :S.

The plates may be sold but it takes time to transfer over to the vehicle.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:40

Ah okay. So say for example, you buy one of the ones from that site and have it printed the same as it's advertised, and the plate gets revoked, can you get the plate re-printed in the legal format or do you lose all rights to use it once the DVLA have revoked it?

Not planning on doing it, just worth while knowing

Jokester · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:41

They won't revoke a plate for illegal spacing, you'll be told to replace it with a correctly formatted one and given a producer I think to take it to the local police station within 7days to show you've done it.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:41

Cleeecooo said:
Maybe they bought it for later?

I can't imagine anyone paying a grand for a plate for a 2005 peugeot 206 though, but I guess some people really do have more money than sense.

Some of them are 30k though, which is crazy. Why wouldn't the DVLA just sell them in their official auction if they're "worth" so much?

Cleeecooo · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:44

Smigly said:
I can't imagine anyone paying a grand for a plate for a 2005 peugeot 206 though, but I guess some people really do have more money than sense.

Some of them are 30k though, which is crazy. Why wouldn't the DVLA just sell them in their official auction if they're "worth" so much?

Presumably these'll be novelty gifts or for those with too much money

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:44

Jokester said:
They won't revoke a plate for illegal spacing, you'll be told to replace it with a correctly formatted one and given a producer I think to take it to the local police station within 7days to show you've done it.

A producer is for insurance/license purposes.
They would be given a VDRS to have it changed and 14 days to do so, then they'd have to pay for a registered MOT garage to check it has actually been done and then stamp it and sign it before going to the station for the police to check.

But I know the DVLA have been having a bit of a crackdown recently in which they're revoking illegally spaced plates or those with illegal fonts if they're reported to them from the police directly.

I just wondered if they would retain the rights to the actual reg though and would be able to get it re-printed in a legal font/format?

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:45

Cleeecooo said:
Presumably these'll be novelty gifts or for those with too much money

IE overpaid footballers?

placeholder · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:51

Smigly said:
I can't imagine anyone paying a grand for a plate for a 2005 peugeot 206 though, but I guess some people really do have more money than sense.

Some of them are 30k though, which is crazy. Why wouldn't the DVLA just sell them in their official auction if they're "worth" so much?

An expensive number plate will hold its value more than the car it's put on 9 times out of 10.

Jokester · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:51

Smigly said:
A producer is for insurance/license purposes.
They would be given a VDRS to have it changed and 14 days to do so, then they'd have to pay for a registered MOT garage to check it has actually been done and then stamp it and sign it before going to the station for the police to check.

But I know the DVLA have been having a bit of a crackdown recently in which they're revoking illegally spaced plates or those with illegal fonts if they're reported to them from the police directly.

I just wondered if they would retain the rights to the actual reg though and would be able to get it re-printed in a legal font/format?

Well as far as I'm aware you don't ever own the plate, just the right to use it. I would be amazed if they took the registration off you after a first offence and would instead give you the oppurtunity to correct it.

Smigly · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:52

Jokester said:
Well as far as I'm aware you don't ever own the plate, just the right to use it. I would be amazed if they took the registration off you after a first offence and would instead give you the oppurtunity to correct it.

Thanks

Always nice to know.

dowie · 12 Jan 2013 at 22:53

Smigly said:
I can't imagine anyone paying a grand for a plate for a 2005 peugeot 206 though, but I guess some people really do have more money than sense.

Some of them are 30k though, which is crazy. Why wouldn't the DVLA just sell them in their official auction if they're "worth" so much?

they might well have - these things do change hands... not everyone who buys them does so to actually make use of them on a car... the fact that some people will pay 5 figures will attract speculators