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 >
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.
Step by step guide to transferring your personalised registration using the online DVLA form.
You’ll need:
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.
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
Step by step guide to transferring your personalised registration using the postal DVLA form.
You’ll need:
When you have completed these steps, choose from the following:
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.
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.
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.
