Number Plate as an investment?

Number Plate as an investment?

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Discussion

jdw1234

6,021 posts

221 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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arun1uk said:
jdw1234 said:
Are those offers to buy it outright or just what they say they will list it for?
2 x buy outright (£3k and £100), 1 x how much they would list it for and hence would take a cut (£2k)
Good work!

jdw1234

6,021 posts

221 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
Blown2CV said:
MuZiZZle said:
jdw1234 said:
RegTransfer outbid me on a plate at a DVLA auction. They have confirmed to me they own it and have repeatedly contacted me since the auction about buying it from them.

I won't buy it out of principle.

They have now been trying to sell it for over 9 years.
I like you!
surely if you know what you bid, why not offer a price lower than that? They may reluctantly accept after having it on sale for so long (not sure what their business model is, maybe they don't give a fk), in which case you've not only paid less than you would have, even if you don't adjust for inflation, but you've also made them drop a loss. You could even do it on the 10 year anniversary of being outbid!
I like your style!!

From memory, my underbid was £1300 and they paid 1400. They are asking £9k for it.

It just isn't worth that to me. I have since bought 5 other plates (3 on cars, 2 on retention for my kids) so I wouldn't want it unless it was at the price I bid.

Actually, I just extended the retention in those 2. It is now free for 10 years!

As far as investment goes, I once bought a moped off a student with C3 LEB (he bought it from DVLA for a few hundred) and flogged the plate to some agent in London who put it on a Bentley.

MiltonBaines

1,267 posts

258 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
jdw1234 said:
Actually, I just extended the retention in those 2. Its now free for 10 years!
The dvla says it is 80quid for ten years, not free. Used to be 90 for year 1 I think then 25 per year after. Annoyingly I put my plate on retention in january so next year I will have to pay 80 rather than 25 for the second year.

MiltonBaines

1,267 posts

258 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
g7jhp said:
Which reg plate dealer did you use, if you don't mind me asking?
Regtransfers and new reg. Amazingly both called me about a buyer within a day of each other, after 4 years of silence. I thought it must be same buyer as the offer price was the same but after agreeing the sale with newreg and them saying they had buyers money, regtransfers still kept trying to contact me for a sale.

newreg were ok, but they dont answer the phone for hours, never before 11am and once I had sent them theretention certificate there was a nervous wait as they went silent and didnt answer calls. Cheque took about 6 weeks to arrive.

Regtransfers were agressive on the phone and a guy called phil there sent me a rude email after I told him plate was sold. Then after that for a couple of weeks they would call late in the evening, often after 9pm wanting to do a deal even though I had said it had sold. They may be the biggest but their service is rude.

dunning

169 posts

192 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
MiltonBaines said:
The dvla says it is 80quid for ten years, not free. Used to be 90 for year 1 I think then 25 per year after. Annoyingly I put my plate on retention in january so next year I will have to pay 80 rather than 25 for the second year.
The fee is only if your removing it from a car to put it onto retention, if your plate is already on retention, next time you renew it it will be free and will renew for 10 years, no fees to pay unless you put it on a car and then remove it again

sue20

1,092 posts

153 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Regtransfers have outbid me 3 times on plates at auction and then tried to sell them to me at up to twenty times what they paid. One was 13 years ago. They paid £1500 for it and it's still for sale with them for £19,995.
They've been both rude and aggressive to me on the phone trying to sell me this plate.
I wouldn't buy it either, on principle. I've bought 4 other plates since. All, in my opinion, are better and all cost less.

justanotherJC

390 posts

158 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Just had a look through the list for the DVLA auction in May. There could be a few 'investment' plates in there...

RUF 911S anyone?

zedstar

1,754 posts

182 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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One of the bigger reg plate retailers mentioned earlier were selling a plate for 12k. I've seen it for sale since I was like 20 and it was about 4k then, that was 15 years ago. I rung and spoke to them, they weren't willing to do any sort of a deal. Fair enough. I point out its been on sale for as long as I can remember and its trebled in price. Lady on the phone was like 'ofcourse, they do go up in value you know'.

I point it wasn't sold then, and not looking like selling now, i'm just about to make an offer..... and she put the phone down.

To have such pig ignorant and arrogant staff the industry must be booming!

R1gtr

3,432 posts

160 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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A plate for sale at auction near me is 'FST3' I am tempted by it but no idea how much it is worth, hoping to get it for a bargain price. I have a Focus ST-3 so it would suit the car.
Anyone got an idea on what would be a reasonable price to pay?

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

132 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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R1gtr said:
A plate for sale at auction near me is 'FST3' I am tempted by it but no idea how much it is worth, hoping to get it for a bargain price. I have a Focus ST-3 so it would suit the car.
Anyone got an idea on what would be a reasonable price to pay?
It's an auction. Unless it goes up to more than you are prepared to pay - and only you know how much that is - then you'll pay slightly more than anybody else wanted to pay. That's how auctions work.

Monty Python

4,813 posts

203 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Flicking through a copy of Autocar today, and in the back were adverts for registration plates, and in some cases they had written underneath what they were mean to be - some of them I'd never have guessed.

It got me thinking about the 25 O plate that someone paid half a million for to put on a Ferrari GTO, and it got me wondering. I know it's a 250GTO - there's probably a badge somewhere that say so, so why do I need a number plate to tell me as well? I'd prefer to have the original plate that the car was built with - that means more to me than one of these "personalised" plates. Waste of money if you ask me.

R1gtr

3,432 posts

160 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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I kinda guessed that! What I was hoping for was maybe someone who knew a bit about Plate values, would buying it for say 500 or 1000 be a total waste of money or would that be a bargain for a plate like that. Not looking to make a great profit but would not like to throw money away if it is worth very little.

And, yes I know something is only worth what people are willing to pay!

raceboy

13,266 posts

286 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
quotequote all
R1gtr said:
would buying it for say 500 or 1000 be a total waste of money or would that be a bargain for a plate like that.
Under a grand would be very cheap for a 3 letter 1 number plate, values at Reg Transfers for similar plates start at about £6k, for example FSJ 3 is up at £6,995
I'd be surprised at anyone paying that for a plate that links to a hatchback in a vague way it'll mostly appeal to someone based on their initials.

R1gtr

3,432 posts

160 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
quotequote all
raceboy said:
R1gtr said:
would buying it for say 500 or 1000 be a total waste of money or would that be a bargain for a plate like that.
Under a grand would be very cheap for a 3 letter 1 number plate, values at Reg Transfers for similar plates start at about £6k, for example FSJ 3 is up at £6,995
I'd be surprised at anyone paying that for a plate that links to a hatchback in a vague way it'll mostly appeal to someone based on their initials.
Thank you for that, I very much doubt I will get it for my max of 1k but will pop along and hope for the best!

olivebrown

137 posts

116 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Looking at the DVLA reg auction results will give you an idea of the price people are willing to pay for different styles of plate.

Claudia Skies

1,098 posts

122 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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olivebrown said:
Looking at the DVLA reg auction results will give you an idea of the price people are willing to pay for different styles of plate.
^^^^ This

22Rgt

3,575 posts

133 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
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Nothing 'private' about personal plates as theyre there for all to see. Only thing theyre useful for is covering up the age of a vehicle other than that only fit for bellends..

Claudia Skies

1,098 posts

122 months

Tuesday 17th March 2015
quotequote all
22Rgt said:
other than that only fit for bellends.
Guess you've probably got several.

Martin_M

2,071 posts

233 months

Wednesday 18th March 2015
quotequote all
R1gtr said:
I kinda guessed that! What I was hoping for was maybe someone who knew a bit about Plate values, would buying it for say 500 or 1000 be a total waste of money or would that be a bargain for a plate like that. Not looking to make a great profit but would not like to throw money away if it is worth very little.

And, yes I know something is only worth what people are willing to pay!
My guess would be £3k upwards.

Capt Bravz

344 posts

166 months

Wednesday 18th March 2015
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I bought a car for the plate that was on it once.
Saw a battered looking Peugeot 205 CTi on ebay that sported the mark E205 PUG.
Figured I'd bid on the car and see what happened. Ended up winning it, taking the plate off, selling it for more than I won the car for then selling the car too.
Pure fluke but a nice little profit out of it.