[Solved] BUYING PRIVATE CAR NUMBER PLATES

If they are from Northern Ireland it should be okay. You do need to do a bit of paperwork, or you can go through a company which deals with it all for you. NI is part of the UK and the registration goes through the DVLA.

Southern Ireland would be a lot more complicated, if allowed at all, as it is a separate country.

Hope this helps.

Good Morning

Many thanks for your reply. I live in the UK and the car is also registered in the UK. I have been on the DVLA website to see what NI plates are available. However, a lot of them are up for auction and only a handful can be bought directly. Another thing is that they only renew the plates available without having to bid at an auction on the 27th of each month. This gives me 12 chances of buying my desired plate.

Would you suggest that I stick with DVLA and hope my desired plate comes up for sale or shall I go to another dealer? If I go to another dealer, how can I find out that they are legitimate?

Thanks in advance for your response.

Hello geek84,

Years ago you could transfer a number plate by getting in touch with the D.V.L.A. if you had the log book and if the vehicle it was being transferred from was under a certain tonnage, it did not even have to be road worthy, it could be a wreck or possibly ceased to exist.

I believe the rules then changed where the vehicle it was transferred from did have to be registered as being road worthy and you were required to take it to a D.V.L.A. office as proof of it's existence.

If you purchased privately I expect you would need to do a thorough check on the log book, M.O.T., insurance and that the vehicle it was being transferred from was not leased or had any financial liabilities attached to it otherwise you could possibly find yourself parting with money and having no number plate to show for it.

N.B. The above recollections have been dragged from the back of my mind so please check that any relevant points which I have made are correct.

As it became fashionable to have a personalized number plate the D.V.L.A. realized there was an opportunity to increase their revenue and consequently began selling number plates themselves. Dealing with them is the safest way to buy.

Hi There,
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There are lots of companies on line offering a full service for plate transfers you choose your plate and I think it's then around £80 admin fee for the transfer.
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I would look outside of dvla and find another company, you could buy a plate and have all the admin done for as little as £179 from memory depending on what you wanted on the plate.
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I know that regtransfers have been around a long time, but look at companies that have been around a while as if they weren't legit they wouldn't be trading any more, also read reviews from the sites as that is a good tell as to whether they are any good.
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GTTS

Thanks folks.

Hi. All above advice is good. I bought a plate of dvla site and the transfer fee of £85 is already paid so when I want to put it on a car I just fill in papers. Iv noticed and a few friends have mentioned that some plates are for sale on dvla site and then you will find the same plate on plate dealer s listing for more money I.e they sneakily listing it with a mark up. Not illegal but means I would try dvla site first and cut out the big players plate dealers

Hi. All above advice is good. I bought a plate of dvla site and the transfer fee of £85 is already paid so when I want to put it on a car I just fill in papers. Iv noticed and a few friends have mentioned that some plates are for sale on dvla site and then you will find the same plate on a plate dealer site listing for more money I.e they sneakily listing it with a mark up. Not illegal but means I would try dvla site first and cut out the big plate dealers

Thanks.

I have looked on the DVLA NI section - I want a plate with 3 letters followed by 3 digits. However, they only renew the plates up for sale on the 27th f each month. That only gives me 12 chances in a year to try and find a plate which I would like.

I am looking for alternatives to increase my chances. Any advice greatly appreciated,.