Lifestyle

Personalised Plates – Naff or Cool?

Love ’em or hate ’em, personalised cars can either make you feel like the queen of the road or have you being heaped in scorn by other road users. Choose well and it’ll add some bling to your wheels.

By
21 May 2021

Love ‘em or hate ‘em there are certainly a lot of them about.  With number plates that make up someone’s name using numbers for letters to ones that need no explanation like AMS 1 (Alan Sugar’s number plate), personalised plates are everywhere.  

One of the most expensive plates ever sold was 25 O, which back in 2014, sold for an unbelievable £400,000. There have been other eye-watering registration plate purchases too, KR15 HNA and K1 NGS both cost their new owners £200,000.  We mentioned Alan Sugar’s AMS 1, Her Majesty the Queen is not to be outdone either with her plate A7 being one of the first personalised plates ever issued in London.  That was back in 1903 so this is not a new thing and at that time, Earl Russell had to camp out overnight to make sure he bagged A1! 

Bling it up with personalised plates

Of the people in the UK who do not have a personalised plate, not all covet this very ostentatious way of showing that you can afford one (a good one). It could be that they’re not on the hunt for one because they think they are, dare we say it – naff.  Whatever the reason that you don’t have yours yet, one thing is sure – the personalised plate is very big business. And you don’t need a supercar or luxury vehicle to be attracted to a bit of registration plate bling!

#Delighted DVLA! #Treasury tickled pink!

The DVLA have been keeping a tally of the personalised plates that they first started to sell for the Treasury in 1989.  In  2017 a record number, 374,968 private plates were sold and that was a twelve per cent rise over just one year.  More than four and a half millions plates have been sold since 1989 and that has meant almost two and half a billion pounds for the lucky old treasury.

No-no number plates!

The Treasury site that sells the personalised number plates gets one million hits every month so the clamour for the personalised plate is obviously something that is not going to go away.  But beware of getting too carried away!  There are some plates that are a definite no-no!  These are some that will not go get the blessing of the DVLA:  

P15 OFF

WE11 GAY

BO11 OOX

UP15 BUM

FU11 SHT 

WA15 TED 

Naff or cool?

It is quite difficult to say what is naff and what’s not these days.  Everyone would love expensive wheels and it can be a matter of taste as to what that is.  But one thing that most people agree on is that adding the wrong registration plate, even if you are adding it to an Aston Martin, can ruin everything.

Think of it a bit like having a wonderful Stately Country Home then filling the garden with gnomes or carpeting your bathroom.  But pick the right plate and put it on the right car and that car instantly becomes cool — and so will you!  According to those in the know, the most popular number plates are the ones that spell people’s names or that have the fewest number of digits (A7 and AMS 1 strike again!). It’s simple to check which plates are available with the DVLA’s online service.

Smoke Screen?

These days there are many personalised plates being offered by many different companies.  They are no longer the preserve of the rich slapping them on their Bentley convertibles; even your modest Skoda can be the queen of the road as you nip around town with a personalised plate.

Amongst the many companies that offer personalised plate prices can start surprisingly low. It might mean you trawling through a lot of registrations to find one that you think fits, but it can certainly be found and be affordable.  A personalised number plate can show off your personality and it will also, as a bonus, disguise the age of the car. A personalised plate is also a really neat gift to give someone, but just be careful of what you choose.  M1 B8BE might be what you think about your loved one but remember he’s got to drive into the company car park with it on his car. 

Love them or hate them, it looks like the personalised plate revolution is only getting stronger.  We are on the hunt now for our very own personalised registration plate 0W0 1!