Private Registrations

I wish we'd just adopt the US or Australian way of having plates - random selection of characters, perhaps registered to your county or something. This bizarre obsession with shaping peoples attitudes and the entire used car market based on the registration plate is just completely odd.

Only in the UK can a car registered on 31st August be worth potentially thousands less than one registered on 1st September despite the fact they probably rolled down the production line together. Infact as a case in point my '58 plate 335i was worth thousands and thousands less than an '09 plate 335i even though almost all of the 09 plates were physically older than mine was - they must have been produced before September 2008 as they had the old iDrive.

More money, older car.. its all about the stupid bit of perspex when in reality it should be all about the physical build date of the car - because thats how old it is!
 
No problem with private plates (provided the format is right, LN LLL), it's a great way to hide a cars age, for example my car is a 2001 but it's identical (bar some chrome door strips and mirror shape) to those made all the way up to 2005. I could buy a plate for £250 and to all intents and purposes wipe 4 years off the age of the car.
 
[TW]Fox;20102643 said:
I see a lot of M3 XXX threads on recent model 118d/318d's. I always feel a bit sorry for them as they obviously used to have an M3 and now have a 118d :p
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There is some sort of low end white 3 series (M Sport kit, but only a single exhaust) that lives in Bournemouth that has an M3 XXX plate and an M3 badge stuck on the boot!
 
You see 3 types of plates usually, the chavvy ones that spell stuff like "YEH BOI" are a tad...well, chavvy. Then you see ons that are pretty funny like that Tesla Roadster that had "LOL O1L". Lastly there are the sensible ones that mean something, like the Op's chosen one!

But as above, it only applies to that car so depending on how long you will keep the car... :p

Mine spells my first and last name in short form, it is win! It also cost £250 which was a bargain.
 
paradigm said:
For me, the reason was 3-fold.

Firstly, I had deemed that the car was "good enough" to warrant a personalised plate.

Secondly, I wanted to own a plate that would "follow" me for life, and have personal meaning (an important date and my initials). I never need remember another registration again.

Thirdly (and I suppose as a benefit, rather than something I bought it for initially), it hides the fact that it's a 57 plate (even though the car is an '08 build).
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Fair enough - that sounds perfectly reasonable to me... not that you have to justify your purchase, of course :)

alchemistkevin said:
It's the same as changing the wallpaper on your desktop or putting a picture of your loved ones on your work desk.

It's just another way to personalize your immediate environment ... :)
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I don't particularly like that analogy... I can understand changing your wallpaper as you generally have to stare at it quite a bit when you don't have windows flooding the immediate area in front of it & you can always find free wallpapers / make your own.

With numberplates, you barely ever have to stare at them and I see them as a government body identifier... why would I want to pay them to have my identifier personalised. That's where my confusion comes from... especially the silly-expensive plates! Even £250 seems like a rip-off and I'm on a perfectly reasonable salary, but then I suppose supply/demand sets the prices, so there must be quite the market for them.

As for masking the age of the car... why? My '99 Impreza looks sooo much better than most up to ~2005 (and some newer)... it's almost a badge of honour that it's a '99... but then I don't really think about it that much as I don't particularly care what people think about the age of my car... I like my car.

VinceB1 said:
You see this is what I think the old style LN LLL plates just look better... It just so happens that my surname is 5 letters and can be spelt on the plate... only the absolutly correct spelling is going for 15k+ so my one is close enough and will have to do, at least until I have a spare 15-20k... might be a long time if ever tbh.
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Is this kind of thing that I just don't comprehend... why would anyone want to pay £15k to have their name emblazened on the car? It doesn't matter how rich you are, still illogical... £15k could buy something rather nice :confused:

Firestar_3x said:
No problem with private plates (provided the format is right, LN LLL), it's a great way to hide a cars age, for example my car is a 2001 but it's identical (bar some chrome door strips and mirror shape) to those made all the way up to 2005. I could buy a plate for £250 and to all intents and purposes wipe 4 years off the age of the car.
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But it's "birth" date would still be the same... so you wouldn't really :confused:
 
crinkleshoes said:
But it's "birth" date would still be the same... so you wouldn't really :confused:
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What other identifying mark does a car have which informs the public about how old a car is?

To any member of the public who knows about cars it could be as new as 2005.

markyp23 said:
They're not that much! They're just not really for sale often.

It was between £3-4k. It's a 9 plate though which are more popular than some of the others (4s on the other hand are not so popular). The "3" plate went for £1800 in the October auction last year and is now for sale from one of the sales websites at £8k. Aye, right....
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Interesting, i always put a much higher value on such a plate, quite supprised they can be had for that cheap.
 
Firestar_3x said:
What other identifying mark does a car have which informs the public about how old a car is?

To any member of the public who knows about cars it could be as new as 2005.
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And you enjoy projecting a false image / care what other people think about the age of your car.... why?

paradigm said:
Really? I can see someone preferring a particular shape, but to anyone beyond a devout enthusiast of the classic Impreza, it just looks old and tired.
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You clearly haven't seen mine ;)

Most do look as you've described, of course...
 
I've had a private plate for 10 years now, it's costly to swap over, so calculate that in your thoughts, I think it makes the car look smoother mine is x1 xxx, the only chavvy plates I see are expensive cars with clearly illegal plates mucking about with spacing, that looks really tacky, the hiding the age also works against you, my 54 plate Volvo could be mistaken for a 1999 as well
 
I know it might seem a bit weird, but I'll be keeping my numberplate I have now. Its a bog standard R reg from my first car I ever owned. I might be driving around in 2030 with a plate from '97 :) On a related note, I still have my very first mobile number in active use too, thats dating back what must be 14 maybe 15 years now.


I really do like the idea of a private plate, but it really is that, private for the person who owns it because I see a lot of small combo plates such as C1 RGS for example and while it means nothing to me, it does for the person owning it. What I really don't understand is the ones that try to make up words using numbers AND having to have extra numbers in there that just makes it fail anyway. Thats just my view on it.

Nothing chavvy about it IMO.
 
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