Private Plate Rules

[cobra kid]

On Saturday, I saw a very early Octavia, with a 58 plate on it. It was one of the first shape ones, maybe around 2000? The format of the plate was exactly how you see a 58 plate.

Surely it can't be right?

[Truckosaurus]

Are you sure it wasn't a W- or Y- reg that just happened to have '58' as the numbers?

[cobra kid]

Positive, I checked it twice, front and back. definite two letters, then 58.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Maybe, for some reason, it was never registered until after September 2008.

[cobra kid]

Maybe, I've not seen one done maybe 4 years after it was made though.....

[lufbramatt]

Maybe been imported after kicking around in another country for a few years? strange car to go to the hassle of importing though.

[TooMany2cvs]

cobra kid said:

Positive, I checked it twice, front and back. definite two letters, then 58.

The second letter wasn't a B, by any chance?

Y858ABC
YB58ABC

[sebhaque]

I seem to recall that Mk1 Octavias werre being offered to "trade" buyers (more specifically minicab/taxi drivers) much later than the model had been discontinued and replaced with the Mk2 for the general public. Happy to be corrected, though.

[Raman Kandola]

sebhaque said:

I seem to recall that Mk1 Octavias werre being offered to "trade" buyers (more specifically minicab/taxi drivers) much later than the model had been discontinued and replaced with the Mk2 for the general public. Happy to be corrected, though.

Wouldnt be surprise if this is true as majority of taxis we have around here are octavias, atleast 70% of them and majority tend to be of that age or similiar

[Jakg]

lufbramatt said:

Maybe been imported after kicking around in another country for a few years? strange car to go to the hassle of importing though.

It's possible that there was a large shipment which would make it worthwhile.

A bunch of MK1 Rover 75's went out to Bermuda in 2003 but the dealership went bust / never got sold or something. Got imported back by a dealer and ended up on 08 plates - even though the MK1 75 had been out of production for 4 years at this point.

[B'stard Child]

TooMany2cvs said:

cobra kid said:

Positive, I checked it twice, front and back. definite two letters, then 58.

The second letter wasn't a B, by any chance?

Y858ABC
YB58ABC

Or a 5

Y558 ABC
YS58 ABC

[lufbramatt]

Apparently the mk1 was still being made as late as 2011 under the name "Octavia Tour", looks like it was a base spec 1.6 petrol or 1.9tdi intended for the Eastern European market, maybe it was one of these?

[amusingduck]

sebhaque said:

I seem to recall that Mk1 Octavias werre being offered to "trade" buyers (more specifically minicab/taxi drivers) much later than the model had been discontinued and replaced with the Mk2 for the general public. Happy to be corrected, though.

Correct. Example here

[cobra kid]

amusingduck said:

Correct. Example here

I knew my eyes weren't deceiving me.