Chipped Security Number Plates

VEHICLES in the country can look forward to using number plates that come with security features in the near future.

That is an innovation which Penang-based name plate manufacturer Volcano Name Plate Sdn Bhd is planning to introduce to the local and regional market with the help of its European partner.

“Vehicle number plates with QR Code, hologram, UV prints or radio frequency identification (RFID) chips are very popular in Europe as these innovative security features protect the vehicle plates against falsification.

“The RFID chip, for example, allows the number plates to be tracked when they are stolen,” shares Volcano managing director Nelson Ch’ng.

Ch’ng says the company is currently looking into an appropriate business strategy to grow this new segment.

“We will need to inject about RM30mil for a fully automated production line to produce the new number plates,” he says.

You might notice one while sitting at a red light or tailing someone too closely on the highway.

Often, they’re straightforward enough. Other times, they act as short cryptograms, sparking debate among drivers and passengers: What in tarnation does that vanity license plate mean?

The personalized plates are used to convey all kinds of messages with just a handful of letters -- jokes about a family surname, a tongue-in-cheek reference to a profession or an ode to a favorite sports team.

But some vanity plate requests are made in vain. State departments of motor vehicles have a license to kill any plate they deem inappropriate. In 2016, 1,302 plates were rejected in Virginia. In the same year, Tennessee rejected just 18.

How close a series of letters or numbers are to a real name of word: if the match quality is high (and the numbers and letters are very convincing in making a popular word), the value of the registration plate will be higher. This means that a match like 5IMON, for the name Simon, will be worth a lot more than a more obscure set of letters and numbers that are not as convincing a match, such as S17 MMM for the name Sam.

The style of the plate: this means establishing if it is a new-style plate, an older-style format or if it is dateless or Irish, for instance. Other options are that it is a prefix-style plate or a suffix-style plate. New-style number plates, which have been produced since 2001, tend to be the least valuable because they are a bit less appealing to some collectors, plus the rule about not having plates that are newer than your car can also come into play, putting people off from buying a newer-style plate for their older car. Prefix-style number plates, which were in production between 1983 and 2001 can be more popular as more vehicles are entitled to have those licence numbers, and they may have fewer characters in total. Suffix-style plates, issued from 1963 to 1983 are relatively rare, which means they can attract higher prices than prefix-style plates and newer designs. Dateless number plates, also known as cherished number plates, were produced between 1903 and 1963 and are nearly always the most valuable number plate configurations; they have fewer digits and their dateless nature means that people can hide the age of their car. Irish number plates are similar to dateless number plates, especially because they don’t have a year identifier. They also tend to be cheaper than other types of vehicle registration plates.

number plates reg transfers