Cherished plates
I don’t have a personalised numberplate, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t like one if a suitable plate came up for sale.
I mention this because the DVLA announced recently that, over the past 30 years, it has sold close to six million personalised registrations to the general public, generating about £2 billion for the Treasury. Great to hear, but where is all the money going?
The popularity of a personalised plate isn’t diminishing either. At the DVLA’S 30th Anniversary Personalised Registration auction in July, it set a new record with a 100% sale success rate. Shortly before close of play on the Friday evening, just one numberplate (registration ‘34 Y0L’) of the 1250 lots on offer remained unsold. However, that was bought for its £1200 reserve over the weekend.
During this three-day auction held near Cardiff and online, the third-highest-selling personalised registration of all time was sold to a retired businessman, who bought ‘IG 1’ for £222,000 which, with fees, totalled £287,792 – that’s nearly £66,000 in fees alone! Crazy to think the original reserve price was £2400!
I couldn’t get my head around the huge buyer’s fee, so did some calculating. The buyer of ‘IG 1’ paid: VAT on hammer price @ 20% £44,400 Buyer’s premium @ 8% £17,760 VAT on buyer’s premium @ 20% £3552 Assignment fee (not Vatable) £80 At the other end of the scale, just four numberplates sold for £250 during the anniversary sale.
As we all know, the DVLA stipulates that it is illegal to misrepresent a vehicle registration on a numberplate. The rules governing their correct display can be found at direct.gov.uk in the Q&A section. However, on my travels around the UK this month, I’ve seen more than 50 vehicles that haven’t adhered to the above rulings.
These were displaying illegal numberplates where the spacing is wrong or the letter/numbers have been joined up. Many illegally presented plates were attached to newer vehicles – those not old enough for an MOT test.
Certain motorists are making their vehicles illegal by getting the original plates made up to look like a cherished plate – a name or initials, perhaps?
There’s not enough law-enforcement officers on our roads these days to pull them up on this. I’m not sure who is producing these plates in the first place, as I thought it was illegal to make plates that don’t conform to the law.
I’ve seen plates with no spacing whatsoever. I’ve seen plates that are tinted front and back, so they aren’t really white or yellow. I’ve seen black numberplates with silver lettering on modern vehicles – it’s OK for vehicles pre-1975, but not after. I’ve seen cars with the front plate ranged to the left – which is fine for an Alfa Romeo, but on a Fiesta? – and one with a yellow screw-head positioned to turn a ‘6’ into an ‘S’. I’ve even seen a few cars without any front numberplate whatsoever!
I’m sure you have seen your fair share of these illegal plates, but why is nothing being done about them?