Clean Number Plates Save Money
Reg Plates ArticleClean Number Plates Save Money
Cars are inveitably going to get dirty and dusty while on the roads but if cars aren't kept clean drivers can face a hefty fine.
If this dirt or grime builds up so much on the car’s number plate, to the point where it becomes unreadable, you are committing a driving offence.
The Government clarifies the legal position as follows: "Number plates (also known as licence plates) should show your vehicle registration number correctly.
“You can't rearrange letters or numbers, or alter them so that they're hard to read."
The fine for driving a car with an unreadable number plate is up to £1,000.
In addition, it is enough of an offence for a car to fail its MOT.
A DVLA spokesman explained the rules in a statement to the Burton Mail: "There is a specific offence under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 of obscuring or allowing a registration mark to be not easily distinguishable.
Motorcycles and motor tricycles registered on or after 1 September 2001 must only display a number plate at the rear of the vehicle.
If you ride a motorbike or motor tricycle registered before 1 September 2001 you can also display a number plate at the front, but you don’t have to.
Motorcycle and motor tricycle number plate numbers should be on 2 lines.
Your trailer must display the same number plate as the car you’re towing it with.
If you’re towing more than one trailer, the number plate must be fixed to the trailer at the back.
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.
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