Swapping number plates, not what you think
Swapping number plates, not what you think
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Discussion

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Wednesday 6th September 2023
quotequote all
What is the procedure please.
I have bought a new cheap number plate to put on our black car.
The number plate on the black car needs to go on the white car.
I have the V750/1 for the new number plate to go on the black car.
I have the latest V5 for each car.
What else do I need ?
Thanks

Sebring440

3,220 posts

126 months

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Hi all.
I am a bit confused.
So I went on-line and put my new number onto the black car.
But how do I put that removed plate off the black car, onto the white car?
When I get a new V5, will I get a retention for the old black plate, so I can pay the £80 and put it onto the white car?

Baldchap

9,629 posts

122 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
You put the old plate on retention first. If you have not done so you have probably lost it.

Google FTW.

MustangGT

13,841 posts

310 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
The plate you replaced on the black car (car one) is retained by DVLA to put back on the car if you remove your personal plate. If you wanted to use it on another car you should have paid the £80 to retain it before putting the cheap plate on. As soon as you applied the cheap plate you lost the right to use the original registration.

Cloudy147

3,161 posts

213 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Step 1: Request existing number plate from black car to be put on retention.

Step 2: Once you have a retention certificate for that plate, put this plate onto white car. (Aside, if you want to retain white car plate this should be put onto retention first. If you don't care about the plate, then it doesn't matter).

Step 3: Put newly purchased plate onto black car.

I think that is the order.

V8LM

5,560 posts

239 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
MustangGT said:
The plate you replaced on the black car (car one) is retained by DVLA to put back on the car if you remove your personal plate. If you wanted to use it on another car you should have paid the £80 to retain it before putting the cheap plate on. As soon as you applied the cheap plate you lost the right to use the original registration.
Won't the black car get its original number (assuming that was not a private one; a random date related reg if so)? The reg on the black car may be lost.

Edited by V8LM on Sunday 10th September 18:01

Cold

16,723 posts

120 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Register1 said:
Hi all.
I am a bit confused.
So I went on-line and put my new number onto the black car.
But how do I put that removed plate off the black car, onto the white car?
When I get a new V5, will I get a retention for the old black plate, so I can pay the £80 and put it onto the white car?
Too late. You've done it in the wrong order. You needed to put the reg of the black car onto retention first which would then have given you the required documentation to put that reg number onto the white car.

The original plate from the black car may well be dormant awaiting to be reunited with the black car at some point in the future as this is common practice from the DVLA, but it's not definitive.

If you really are determined to do this swap your best bet would be to wait until you have the updated V5C for the black car in hand and reverse the process by putting its new plate back onto retention, crossing your fingers hard that the original plate is reunited with the car, waiting for the updated V5C again and then putting that number onto retention which will allow its transfer onto the white car.
The black car will be issued with a generic age related plate as part of the process in the interim and once you have yet another updated V5C you can then put your desired reg number onto it.

Or something. laugh

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Ok,
So I need to phone dvla tomorrow.
I cant get it to work on-line.

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Baldchap said:
You put the old plate on retention first. If you have not done so you have probably lost it.

Google FTW.
How can you loose it?
I cant see how one can just lose it.

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Cloudy147 said:
Step 1: Request existing number plate from black car to be put on retention.

Step 2: Once you have a retention certificate for that plate, put this plate onto white car. (Aside, if you want to retain white car plate this should be put onto retention first. If you don't care about the plate, then it doesn't matter).

Step 3: Put newly purchased plate onto black car.

I think that is the order.
I will phone them Monday morning.
See where the system the private plate is that I took off .


robsco

7,875 posts

206 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
I don’t believe he has lost it. He will need to retain the plate that he has just incorrectly assigned to the black car, it should then return to its previous private plate. This then needs retaining and the process following correctly.

In other words, the error has cost £80 and some time.

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
robsco said:
I don’t believe he has lost it. He will need to retain the plate that he has just incorrectly assigned to the black car, it should then return to its previous private plate. This then needs retaining and the process following correctly.

In other words, the error has cost £80 and some time.
Thanks,
This makes more sense.
Take the new plate off the black car, (what I put on today) and it gets its previous plate back.
Then put that on retention.
Then put the new plate back on again.
I think is the way.
I hope I can get through to dvla tomorrow morning to confirm procedure.

Cold

16,723 posts

120 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Register1 said:
Baldchap said:
You put the old plate on retention first. If you have not done so you have probably lost it.

Google FTW.
How can you loose it?
I cant see how one can just lose it.
Because once it's off the car the DVLA can do whatever they want with it. Mostly it will remain in limbo waiting to go back on the car, but occasionally they go walkabout. If it's in any way desirable it could well already be earmarked to be sold on. After all, it's not and never has been yours, you've only ever borrowed it from the DVLA and just recently you gave it back to them.

V8LM

5,560 posts

239 months

Sunday 10th September 2023
quotequote all
Register1 said:
Thanks,
This makes more sense.
Take the new plate off the black car, (what I put on today) and it gets its previous plate back.
Then put that on retention.
Then put the new plate back on again.
I think is the way.
I hope I can get through to dvla tomorrow morning to confirm procedure.
Phone the DVLA first thing. You can't take the new reg off the black car until you get the new V5C. There is no guarantee that the previous reg will go back on the black car - if this was first registered under a different reg, it will get that.

Second Best

6,534 posts

211 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
I concur with ringing the DVLA to freeze the plate transfer. You need to take the previous plate off first to keep hold of it before slapping another one on.

For reference, and to those who may find this thread in future, if you put a private plate on a car, then double up and put a second one on, the original registration can get lost and the car ends up on the first private plate, but with a non-transferrable tag.

One of my old cars was registered XY12XYZ from the factory. It then had a private plate AB51CDE applied to it. The car was sold with the private plate still attached, but the next owner decided to apply their own private plate, let's say PN15FUN. Anyway when PN15FUN was taken off the car, it reverted to AB51CDE and the V5 had an extra line item, saying something like "registration mark is non-transferable" - essentially binding that private plate to that car for life.

I bought that car with AB51CDE attached to it and put my own plate on it, the dealer sorted the plates out so when I got my V5 it had my plate on it and just the one line item, "number of former keepers: 4" or whatever. When I took my plate off in preparation to sell the car, the V5 came back with a second line item as mentioned above.

I also understand that these days, 99% of cars that get put on private plates get their original plates reassigned. The remainder are cars that end up on Q-plates or exported - I'm told this is mainly for an Irish car that finds its way onto the mainland and is re-registered, but I don't know enough to say if this is true or not.

V8LM

5,560 posts

239 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
The non-transferable status is for the registration, meaning it cannot be put on retention or transferred to another car. It doesn’t mean a different reg cannot be assigned to the vehicle.

This was introduced as when a registration is taken off a vehicle and the original registration is has been reassigned or on retention, the car gets a new reg of the same date.

This became a source of valuable single single, double double, etc registrations. The DVLA introduced the non-transferable status to stop this practice and regain control.

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
Thanks everyone.
I will phone and try to get through to the dvla first thing

Register1

Original Poster:

2,279 posts

124 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
All sorted by the good folks at DVLA.

Spleen

5,453 posts

151 months

Monday 11th September 2023
quotequote all
Register1 said:
How can you loose it?
I cant see how one can just lose it.
I'm more intrigued by the use of the word loose/lose in the same sentence (almost). Still, at least you got it sorted.