Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

It was 1980 when legislation was passed to allow Illinois drivers to order vanity and personalized license plates. As defined then, vanity plates contained up to six letters or the numbers 1 to 999. Personalized plates had a combination of desired letters and numbers. In the very first year, 24,000 state residents decided they wanted to pay extra to show off their vanity to fellow motorists.

Drivers were displaying personalized plates long before 1980 however.

There was no law that he could find before 1980 authorizing such plates. Instead, he figures it likely was a typical case of not what you knew being important, but who you knew.

There’s no question, however, that it was 1907 when the Motor Vehicle Act, which required motorists to register with the secretary of state’s office, became law. For a one-time $2 fee per vehicle, motorists received a round aluminum disk with a registration number to affix to their vehicles. (Drivers had to furnish their own plates until 1911. The disks were dropped in 1917.) From July 1, 1907, to June 30, 1909, the state registered 20,224 vehicles. Sidney S. Gorham, of LaGrange, was issued license plate number 1.

As you might guess, that “one-time fee” didn’t last long. Probably realizing they had a cash cow on their hands, the state began charging an annual fee in 1909 and re-registered all vehicles.

More interesting plate trivia: In 1912, front plates were perforated so more air could flow through a car’s radiator. Aluminum license plates were issued for the first time in 1950. The slogan “Land of Lincoln” debuted in 1954, although a requirement for showing Lincoln’s image was dropped because it was deemed impractical at the time.

Purple and white plates were issued in 1964 to honor both McKendree College and Rockford College (as they were known then). In 1966, for the first time in 30 years, fees were increased 50 cents to pay for a new reflective coating. In 1977, drivers were able to complain about lousy photos on their licenses for the first time. The discontinuation of annual plates in 1979 ended a 67-year run, the longest in the United States. In 1985, all vehicles were charged the same fee ($48) rather than one based on horsepower.

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DE51YRE private number plate for sale

DE51 YRE registration available through Image Marks with £500 discount available in January only. Call 01482 627 628 and speak to one of our team.

More great offers available at www.regplates.com

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When you key in the vehicle number there is an immediate response which shows its make, model, age, colour, insurance status and owner. Databases know all that for every vehicle, instantly.

It’s amazing how law-abiding everyone becomes when the whole lot is known, and joined up. Without exception. In a blink. And with very little time cost or inconvenience.

So why can’t your PIN be like your number plate, holding an interconnected record of everything anyone has a right to know about you. No more forms and questionnaires and endless administrative complication and time cost-for a bank account, a mobile phone, a car log book, a licence, a permit, a title deed, service utilities, passport renewal or whatever.

Just key in your PIN and a password that gives your permission, and any supplier will have instant and complete access to the (selective) information the law entitles them to.

Computers do all the crunching and privacy categorising, and keep a permanent digital record to guarantee an audit trail that will keep everybody honest-including the administrators.

And if things can be joined up per person, they can also be joined up for all the people and provide a treasure chest of national statistics for planners and the general public.

As a non-contentious example, we could know the total number of vehicles, their class proportions, age - and anything else about them of use, interest or importance at the push of a button.

There are lots of reasons why we need to know more about our national fleet of vehicles with four wheels or more. But robust data is somewhere between scant, inconsistent and non-existent.

We have to resort to extrapolation, a bit like this: In the past decade, all Kenya’s main motor companies have sold about 140,000 new vehicles of every shape and size from town runabouts to prime mover trucks.

That figure represents about 10 per cent (maybe) of today’s total national road-going fleet of things with four wheels or more. The average age of that portion is about 5 years.

Over the same period, there have been about 860,000 used imports mostly aged about 8 years on arrival.

The average age of that contingent today is therefore around 13 years. Put both groups together and you have a million vehicles with an average age of about 12 years.

The rest of the fleet about 400,000 - was already here 10 years ago, having arrived in much the same new-used proportions. So that segment’s average age was also around 12, and is therefore now around 22.

With some slightly trickier arithmetic, we can therefore estimate that the overall average age of all the vehicles in Kenya today is about 15 years. That’s not a precise fact, but it is a strongly indicative probability.

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Number Plate Suppliers, do they have to be registered?

The short answer to the question is YES.

If you are buying a cherished plate through a registered (MIRAD) dealer who is also a registered number plate supplier (RNPS) with the DVLA then they can supply the plates for you.

Sales manager at Image Registrations Bruno Morris said if we are supplying the cherished number to the client and transferring it onto the vehicle for them then we already have established proof of ownership and identity during the transfer procedure. It saves the customer a lot of hassle by enabling us to supply the registration plates with the completed paperwork"."

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The Licensing Agency, Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) is all set to offer 250 licensing plates comprising 3, 4 and 5 digits in its forthcoming 51st online auction. Plates on offer bear the Codes (H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, and T). Registration of bidders starts on Sunday 21st January. The bidding will start at 08:00 am on 28th Jan 2018 and continue for five days.

"The wide participation of the public in online or open auctions and the positive competition to grab such numbers underscore the importance of holding these auctions in bringing happiness & satisfaction to number plate enthusiasts," Sultan Al Marzouqi, Director of Vehicles licensing, RTA Licensing Agency.

Al Marzouqi highlighted the importance of online auctions to a large segment of community members who prefer such particular auctions as they find the liberty of selecting their fancied numbers in a hassle-free environment. "These auctions also contribute to enhancing the online services of the RTA under its annual plan aimed at improving the quality and standard of processing public transactions," he commented.

"Participation in the auction requires the client to have an account opened through RTA's website (www.rta.ae) or use the 'New User' link to obtain a Username and Password. For a new registration, the user is required to have either a vehicle registered in Dubai or a driver license issued from Dubai. For participating in the auction, the bidder is required to issue a security cheque to the order of the RTA amounting to AED5,000 and deposit it to one of RTA's Customers Happiness Centers at Umm Al Ramool, Bur Dubai, Deira or Al Tawar Municipal Centre. In the case of payment by a credit card, the client must also deposit five thousand dirhams as security. Clients have also to pay 120 dirhams as participation fees through the website (www.rta.ae)" explained Al Marzouqi.

"The successful bidder has to clear the due amount within ten working days from the Auction Closing Date by cash or credit card through centres of service providers or RTA's Customer Happiness Centers. Cash payments are acceptable up to AED 50,000. For higher amounts, customers can make payment by a certified check or credit card, or pay online using a credit card too. Failure to clear due payments will result in entering the bidder in the list of defaulters," he added.

"A dedicated team at RTA's Call Center has been furnished with all information related to the auction, and stands ready to respond to any public inquiries relating to procedures of participation or payment through the toll-free number 8009090," concluded Al Marzouqi.

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