Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

Are you a cat lover with a few hundred quid to spare? How about a huge Dennis the Menace fan keen to show your appreciation via the medium of your motor? Well you’re in luck as the DVLA – the body in charge of car registrations in the UK – is holding 2017’s first live auction of registration numbers this week and among the plates on offer are WH15 KER ( yours for a starting price of £700) and BE11 ANO (a mere £400). The event – which starts on Wednesday – will see a total of 1,500 personalised registrations being auctioned to members of the public. The registrations on offer have been chosen by DVLA to suit all tastes, styles and budgets and range from plates that reflect names such as EL17 OTT, HA15 RRY and PA14 ULA through to quirkier offerings such as OUR 848Y, OLD 800K and YOU 105E. And fans of Harry Potter could find themselves spellbound by POT 110N which carries a reserve of £250. The agency will be aiming to build on the success of its live auction programme in 2016, which raised £25.6 million through five sales – setting a new record for a second consecutive year. Last year, the total sales of personalised registrations by the DVLA surpassed £147m, taking the total amount raised since the sales began in September 1989 to £2.4 billion. Sales by the agency suggest that interest in personalised plates has soared in recent years with a 150 per cent increase of registered bidders for its live sales since 2011. On average 9,500 customers com[pete for lots per auction. Adam Griffiths, of DVLA Personalised Registrations, said: “It’s been nearly three months since our last live sale, and I am really excited by our first sale of 2017 where some really great registrations are available to bid for. We have experienced two successive record-breaking years and, when you look through the catalogue at the registrations we have compiled for this sale, I am very hopeful that this success will continue.” He added: “Bidding in person is by far the most popular way to buy a registration and it is at the auction where you will find the real atmosphere – it’s a great day out and we make the experience as enjoyable and friendly as possible. If you can’t make it to the auction we offer free telephone, internet and absent bidding facilities”.

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Acrylic Number Plates

Acrylic number plates sigify the registration mark of a vehicle.

They can be made of different materials, but more commonly seen are metals and acrylics. But as to how the standard specifications on the use, make and display guidelines of number plates are, it would vary with every city and country. There are some who would prefer to have their number plates more personalized. As long as how it is obtained abides with the regulations, such is possible. In fact, motorists of today are starting to appreciate better the value of vanity plates.

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Drivers have been warned that they can be stripped of their car’s number plate if they break the law.

Devon and Cornwall Police revealed the circumstances in which plates can be seized as they revealed how many motorists had been stopped for having dodgy plates.

The force said three drivers a week were stopped, on average, in the last 12 months for having illegal plates.

So-called “non conforming” number plates include those that have been mis-spaced and those with italics.

In response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act, a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: “The force will also contact DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) in cases where the number plate has been mis-spaced.

“Purchasers of the registration mark do not own the plate, they own the right to place it on their vehicle, subject to conditions. Mis-spacing is one of them.

“On receipt of two reports of the same mark being mis-spaced they will remove it from the owner, who may have paid several thousand pounds for it. Often the illegal number plates are purchased on the internet and specified not for road use.”

On its website the DVLA also warned that you could be fined up to £1,000, and that your car “will fail its MOT test if you drive with incorrectly displayed number plates”.

THESE ARE THE DVLA’S RULES
For vehicles with new or replacement number plates fitted from 1 September 2001, registration numbers can no longer be shown over three lines (unless the vehicle was first registered before 1 January 1973) or if a vehicle is constructed before 1 January 1976 and is registered in the historic tax class and is exempt from vehicle tax.

Also, the letters and numbers (characters) on number plates bought since 1 September 2001 will need to meet the following standards.

Characters must be 79mm tall

Characters (except the number 1 or letter I) must be 50mm wide

The character stroke (the thickness of the black print) must be 14mm

The space between characters must be 11mm

The space between the age identifier and the random letters must be 33mm

The margins at the top, bottom and side of the plate must be 11mm

Vertical space between the age identifier and the random numbers must be 19mm

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As a company we sponsor sporting events such as the 'White Gold Cup', and many local events for clubs, charities and schools.

We also sponsor the Generation FMX freestlye motocross team.

So let the experts take the stress out of buying or selling your registration mark. Why not browse this site, and if you need any further assistance, we are on hand from 9am until 7pm Monday - Saturday, 10am - 4pm Sunday.

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Are you a cat lover with a few hundred quid to spare? How about a huge Dennis the Menace fan keen to show your appreciation via the medium of your motor?

Well you’re in luck as the DVLA – the body in charge of car registrations in the UK – is holding 2017’s first live auction of registration numbers this week and among the plates on offer are WH15 KER ( yours for a starting price of £700) and BE11 ANO (a mere £400).

The event – which starts on Wednesday – will see a total of 1,500 personalised registrations being auctioned to members of the public.

The registrations on offer have been chosen by DVLA to suit all tastes, styles and budgets and range from plates that reflect names such as EL17 OTT, HA15 RRY and PA14 ULA through to quirkier offerings such as OUR 848Y, OLD 800K and YOU 105E.

And fans of Harry Potter could find themselves spellbound by POT 110N which carries a reserve of £250.

The agency will be aiming to build on the success of its live auction programme in 2016, which raised £25.6 million through five sales – setting a new record for a second consecutive year. Last year, the total sales of personalised registrations by the DVLA surpassed £147m, taking the total amount raised since the sales began in September 1989 to £2.4 billion.

Sales by the agency suggest that interest in personalised plates has soared in recent years with a 150 per cent increase of registered bidders for its live sales since 2011. On average 9,500 customers com[pete for lots per auction.

Adam Griffiths, of DVLA Personalised Registrations, said: “It’s been nearly three months since our last live sale, and I am really excited by our first sale of 2017 where some really great registrations are available to bid for. We have experienced two successive record-breaking years and, when you look through the catalogue at the registrations we have compiled for this sale, I am very hopeful that this success will continue.”

He added: “Bidding in person is by far the most popular way to buy a registration and it is at the auction where you will find the real atmosphere – it’s a great day out and we make the experience as enjoyable and friendly as possible. If you can’t make it to the auction we offer free telephone, internet and absent bidding facilities”.

Just some of the 1,500 personalised registrations included in the forthcoming sale include:

115 A (reserve – £2,500), ABY 641L (£250), AMB 2R (£350), ARO 88IE (£250), AUS 111E (£250), 350 B (£2,500), B111 NDS (£250), B111 NKY (£250), BA11 DGE (£400), BE11 ANO (£400), BOS 551E (£250), BUB 4 (£1,200), 105 C (£2,500), CA17 RLY (£400), 888 CM (£2,200), 8111 D (£2,500), 247 DR (£2,200), 845 E (£2,500), ENS 20 (£1,200), FAS 70 (£1,200), FEZ 488 (£300), 458 FUN (£1,200), 111 G (£2,500), GA13 BBY (£400), GET 81G (£300), GTR 2R (£350), 120 H (£2,500), HGV 81G (£300), HOT 911A (£250), IG 111 (£2,200), 1000 J (£2,500), JOS 55H (£300), KAR 4H (£350), LE66 OTT (£700), 811 LS (£2,500), 500 M (£2,500), MAX 80W (£300), NAZ 5 (£500), NER 111S (£250), 72 O (£2,500), (£400), POT 110N (£250), RO13 BYS (£700), SMY 17H (£300), 801 T (£2,500), 812 TH (£2,200), TW15 TER (£700), UV51 NGH (£700), VAZ 110 (£300), W42 DLE (£250), W166 LES (£250), WH15 KER (£700), 222 X (£2,500).

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The UK's most expensive number plate to date is the F1 registration number purchased by a British businessman for £440,625 in 2008, though that's just small change compared to the £7m spent by Abu Dhabi-based Saeed Khouri on the 1 number plate - officially the largest sum of money ever spent on a registration number.

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Parking firms are buying details of more than 19,000 vehicles a day from the DVLA to chase unpaid fines.

Last night MPs warned that ‘bully boy’ firms are using the information to hound innocent motorists.

They called for a crackdown to protect drivers as it was revealed that the trade in information has reached record levels.

Between April and June the DVLA sold 1.74million vehicle keeper records, up from 1.06million in the same period last year. The DVLA, which sells the information for £2.50 a vehicle, is generating almost £1.5million a month.

The information is used by parking companies to chase drivers for fines of up to £100.

The most prolific of these is ParkingEye, owned by outsourcing firm Capita – which was exposed by the Daily Mail for using ruthless tactics to collect TV licence fees for the BBC.

It obtained 570,000 vehicle records in the three-month period, followed by Smart Parking with 125,000 and Euro Car Parks with 118,000.

The RAC Foundation said the industry is out of control, with the data suggesting a parking fine is issued every four and half seconds. It warned that the details of around seven million vehicles could be sold during the financial year, which would suggest that almost a quarter of motorists are being chased for a parking fine.

MPs are worried that the information is being widely misused, with motorists unfairly targeted while visiting hospitals and high street shops. Drivers have complained about being fined up to £100 for returning their cars a few minutes late, or after being unable to buy a ticket because of a faulty ticket machine.

Tory MP Sir Greg Knight said there appears to be a worrying rise in a practice known as ‘ghost ticketing’.

This is when a warden puts a ticket on a car and takes a photo. The warden then removes the ticket so the driver is unaware they were given one.

The firm waits 14 days, then hits the driver with an increased fine of up to £100 because they have not paid.

Sir Greg, who has tabled a private members’ Bill in the Commons to crack down on the self-regulated parking industry, said: ‘These figures are concerning. It is highly unlikely there has been a massive increase in bad parking.

‘Instead bully-boy parking firms are hounding innocent motorists and milking them for money. We need to put rogue firms out of business. There are many private parking companies who are playing fair. But others are clearly making a killing out of pursuing and persecuting motorists who have done nothing wrong.’

Fellow Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg said: ‘My concern is that some of these firms use the fines they levy as part of their business model.

‘This gives them a strong incentive to levy fines unjustly and aggressively. We would not need a new law if DVLA was more willing to strike off companies suspected of behaving badly.’

A ParkingEye spokesman said: ‘We operate with clear, standard and proportionate procedures which follow the British Parking Association’s code of practice. We encourage people who have received a parking charge to appeal if they think they should not have received a charge.’

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Located in the heart of East Yorkshire, Image Registrations offer a fast, friendly and efficient service for buying and selling cherished vehicle registration numbers. Our team of trained staff will professionally handle your transfer as swiftly as possible, with some transfers taking just 24 hours from receipt of documentation. We offer advice without technical 'jargon', and are always competitive on price. Our valuations department can give you an accurate market value on your registration number by post or by e-mail. Del Stanley
As well as having an internet presence, we also regularly advertise in many of the 'National' publications where we offer a selection of registrations owned by us for sale.

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Sharjah: Fierce bidding at a Sharjah Police licence plate online auction raked in Dh3.4 million for a single plate numbered “15”, said Sharjah Police.

In total, Dh9.8 million was raised from the auction of 100 unique number plates.

Organised by Sharjah Police in collaboration with Emirates Auction from March 27 till April 1, the auction attracted the attention of bidders from across the UAE and beyond.

The online auction witnessed intense bidding on 100 unique number plates, including a pair of two-digit plates: 15 and 66, nine three-digit plates: 120, 121, 200, 202, 221, 313, 660, 801, 888, and 44 four-digit plates, featuring unique combinations such as: 2222 and 5000, in addition to 45 five-digit plates.
The highest bid on two-digit number went to plate number 15, which recorded Dh3,4 million, while plate number 66 recorded Dh1,2 million. The highest price for three-digit numbers went to plate number 888, which recorded Dh700,000.

The four-digit plate number 2222 was sold for Dh600,000 and the highest paid for a five-digit plate (66666) was Dh559,000.

Plate number 200 sold for Dh382,000, while the lowest bid went to plate number 89100 which sold for Dh6,000
The auction was viewed by 500,102 people via Emirate Auction’s mobile app and website.

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As popularity grows, the prices reached for the most expensive plates are always increasing. As of 2008, the record price for a number plate is £397,500 paid at auction in September by an anonymous buyer for the plate S 1. This was originally owned by Sir John H A MacDonald, the Lord Kingsburgh and was Edinburgh's first ever number plate. Car design entrepreneur Afzal Kahn paid £375,000 on 25 January 2008 for F 1 previously owned and sold by Essex County Council and affixed originally in 1904 to the Panhard et Levassor of the then County Surveyor. £330,000 was spent on M 1, sold at auction in Goodwood on 7 June 2006.

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Massive oil and natural gas reserves lie beyond shores that boast an expanding skyline of skyscrapers. Construction workers toil in the hot desert air to build stadiums for the 2020 World Cup. Qatari men, dressed in white, pressed robes, drive the streets in Bugattis, Bentleys, and Ferraris.

But designer brands and extravagant cars are the norm for citizens in the country with the world's highest per-capita GDP. What luxury item is more impressive to flaunt in the Persian Gulf? License plates.

"It's to show people that one is special, to reflect his situation," said Mohammed Saad, a Qatari national waiting at the valet outside of the Four Seasons Hotel in the country's capital of Doha. "Because the economical situation for the Qatari people is high." Plates in Qatar are a sign of status, and the annual turnover in the country's market is well within the tens of millions.

"The numbers three and seven are not as popular, not as nice," said Abdelrahman Moustafa, a sales consultant at Bentley Qatar. "Many people want four and zero. And one is the king of the numbers."

But opinions differ. Abdullah Ahmed, another Qatari waiting at the valet of the Four Seasons Hotel, maintained that zero, nine, and eight are best. Meanwhile, Hamid Alkaabi, a Qatari out for dinner at Doha's Shangri-La Hotel, said that most people like zero, two, and five.

What's indisputable is that plates with repeated digits, digits in sequences, or those containing few numbers—only the royal family is rumored to have two-digit plates—go for the highest prices. Saad pointed to a Rolls Royce outside the Four Seasons with a plate reading "158." Because it's only three digits, it'll go for around $412,000 USD, or maybe more, he said.

Saad laughed. "And the car is less than one million."

The pricy plates are sold via official auctions administered by Qatar's Ministry of Interior and private high-end auction houses. There's also a "black market" where plates are routinely peddled. At a private May 2016 auction at AlBahie Auction House, bidders shelled out a total of $4.1 million on 30 special plates, according to local media. Bidders were required to pay $13,700 front to participate.

A Qatari man paid more than $960,000 for a plate with the number 411. The number 9999 went for $851,000.

But the plate trend is a controversial topic in a country where the citizens have a reputation for excessively spending on superficial items. Comments in local online forums say the plate frenzy encourages narcissism and superficiality in Gulf society.

I don't like it because I don't like spending money for nothing," said Khalid Mohammed Alemadi, a Qatari who bought his five-digit plate six years ago for $137. When his friend asked to buy it off him for a 2,000 percent increase, he refused.

"I didn't want to sell it to him. I said, 'Why do you want this? It's only for show.'"

Others argue that plates aren't just signs of vanity, but are viable financial investments. Like high-end art, they can accrue value over time.

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Diplomatic Plates 'D' what are they?

Diplomatic plates

Since 1979 cars operated by foreign embassies, high commissions, consular staff, and various international organisations have been given plates with a distinguishing format of three numbers, one letter, three numbers. The letter is D for diplomats or X for accredited non-diplomatic staff. The first group of three numbers identifies the country or organisation to whom the plate has been issued, the second group of three numbers is a serial number, starting at 101 for diplomats (although some embassies were erroneously issued 100), 400 for non-diplomatic staff of international organisations, and 700 for consular staff. Thus, for example, 101 D 101 identifies the first plate allocated to the Afghanistan embassy, 900 X 400 is the first plate allocated to the Commonwealth Secretariat.

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