Move It Or Lose It

Posted on 21st Dec 2017 by CarTakeBack Posted in: In The Know

How to retain your personalised number plate

To some, a car’s registration number is just part and parcel of owning a car, but to others, it can mean more. If you’ve got a personalised reg and you want to retain your private plate when you sell your car, here’s what you need to do to assign your number plate to your new car with the DVLA; otherwise, when you sell your car, your number plate will go with it, whether you’ve personalised it or not.

How to retain your personalised reg online >

How to retain your personalised reg by post >

What is a private registration number?

Private number plates on your car are a great way to personalise your vehicle and can help you and your car stand out from the crowd. You can simply buy a new number plate from the DVLA’s registered list and, as long as you follow the process of legally transferring your number plate (detailed below), your car will be registered under your new, chosen number plate.

You can’t use this as a way to make your car appear younger or newer, but personalised registration plates come in a range of formats; these are for example:

Current Style – NC56 ABC
Prefix Style – N456 ABC
Suffix Style – ABC 123N
Dateless Style – 1 ABC or ABC 1

Whilst the DVLA has loosened up the restrictions on privatised number plates, there are still limitations. These include cars that were registered overseas and cars that have the letter Q in their prefix.

Yellow car registration plate saying YOUR REG

Transferring personalised number plate online

Step by step guide to transferring your personalised registration using the online DVLA form.

Getting started

You’ll need:

  • Your vehicle registration certificate V5C (that’s the logbook) for your old car (and for your new car if you’ve got one)
  • A credit or debit card to pay the £80 fee
  • Your certificate reference number – if you’re putting your personalised number plate onto your new car from your old car

Taking your registration number off your old car

Go to the ‘Take a registration number off a vehicle’ page on the gov.uk website and select the green button: ‘Take off a number online’.
Next, fill in the details of your car, including the registration number, 11-digit V5C document reference number, and postcode.

Finish by adding in your payment details.

The DVLA will then assign the old car with a replacement registration and send you a new registration document (V5C) within five days.

Putting your registration number onto your new car

If you have a new car and want to transfer your private plate to it, go to the ‘Put a registration number on a vehicle’ page on the gov.uk website and select the green button: ‘Assign a number online’.

Next, fill in your private registration number and tick ‘yes’ to show that you are the grantee/purchaser.
Complete the form with the details of your new car, including the registration number, 11 digit V5C document reference number, and postcode.

Finally, enter the certificate reference number that you were given when you were registering to remove the number plate from your previous car above.

The DVLA will send you a new registration document (V5C) within three to five days

White car registration plate saying NEW

Transferring personalised number plate via post

Step by step guide to transferring your personalised registration using the postal DVLA form.

Getting started

You’ll need:

  • To download DVLA form V317.
  • The vehicle registration certificate V5C (that’s the logbook) for your old car (and for your new car if you’ve got one).
  • A cheque, banker’s draft or postal order made payable to DVLA Swansea to pay the £80 fee.

When you have completed these steps, choose from the following:

Transferring your plate to a new car

Tick the green ‘Option A’ box to show that you’d like to transfer the plate to a different car and then fill out Sections 1 to 5 below with the details of your old and new car.

You will then need to post the form to DVLA along with the £80 fee and the registration documents (V5C) for both cars.

If you don’t have a new car to transfer your personalised number plate to:

Tick the grey ‘Option B’ box to show that you’d like to keep the plate on a retention certificate, then fill out Sections 1 to 4 below.

Finally, post the form back to DVLA along with the £80 fee and the registration document (V5C) for your old car.

What happens next?

The DVLA will assign the old car with a replacement registration and send you a new registration document (V5C) within two weeks.

As it could take up to two weeks, it’s advised not to begin the process of part exchanging your car or selling your current car with your number plate as if the sale goes through, you could still lose your number plates.

As long as you follow the above steps and tell the DVLA before you sell your old car, your private plate will be safe.
Don’t forget to call your insurance company and inform them of any changes to your policy so they can update their records.

To find out more about switching your personalised number plate, check out gov.uk.

If you’re looking to personalise your car’s reg, ensure that wherever you buy the plate from has followed the DVLA’s rules and regulations. If you’re buying a car with a personalised number plate already on the vehicle, ensure that you have all the paperwork that was required to obtain the reg and that the current owner has followed the correct procedure for allocating the personalised number plate to the car.

Finding you the
best price...

Working on it...

Refreshing your quote...

Accepting your quote...

Loading your account...

Official Partner to:

Aston Martin logo
DFSK logo
Dacia logo
Ford logo
Infiniti logo
Volvo logo
Polestar logo
Iveco logo
Jaguar logo
Lotus logo
Skywell logo
Peugeot logo
DS logo
Land Rover logo
Mazda logo
Tesla logo
MG logo
Renault logo
SsangYong logo
Mitsubishi logo
Citroen logo
Seres logo
Nissan logo
Alpine logo
smart logo