Personalised Plate assigning and fitting

[PMCMM12]

Hi, I'm hoping some of you may have assigned personalised plates and can help advise.

I've been gifted a personalised plate by my husband and have the V750 Certificate of entitlement. I aim to assign the number plate online and am confused on the next bit as it says to fit plates immediately following assignment. I was going to book an appointment for Halfords to make and fit the new plates, so my question is: can I drive down to Halfords after assigning the new reg (I.e. about half an hour between assigning and arriving at Halfords) or will I need to sit in Halfords car park, assign them through my phone and then have them fitted? ... is there no overlap at all? I realise insurance will need to be changed immediately too so will probably just need to time this around appt time.

Any experience and info appreciated 🙂

[Raptor7000r]

Yeah you'll be fine to drive on the old ones the same day until you get them fitted. Never had an issue, just call up your insurance prior and your car will likely still be on insurance on the old plate for that day

[Jordie Barretts sock]

If you take the law as black and white, you need to do it all at rhe same time!

In reality, assign the plate, print the entitlement thing that Halfords will require - not the 750. Change your insurance then drive to Halfords. Drive home with your new plates fitted.

In the unlikely event you are pulled over, it would be a heartless plod that would fine you £100 for failure to display correct registration plates (not an endorsement offence, so no points).

There you go. Get online, get it done. Your road tax and MOT automatically transfer.

Edited by Jordie Barretts sock on Wednesday 3rd April 14:09

[Robertb]

There are plenty of places online that will make up UK-legal plates for you now, ready to fit as soon as you've made the transfer, with no requirement to submit ID etc. Will likely be cheaper than Halfords too.

I used this lot:
https://www.platesforcars.co.uk/designer.php?gad_s...

[MrBen.911]

Alternatively just order a set of plates online via ebay etc, and then do it all at home when they arrive. Most online providers say they want docs to make the plates, but usually they don't actually ask for them.

[Cloudy147]

Pretty sure there is an overlap period where both plates are valid for your car from a registration perspective. Reason I say that is that if you take a plate off that came with a car you purchased, you wouldn’t know what dvla is going to assign you as a new plate so it’s impossible to do it immediately.

Additionally, it was only a few years ago that this was all done by post, so there was an inevitable week or two period in between.

So you’ll be fine - but you need to do insurance straight away when you physically attach a new plate to the car I believe.

Edited by Cloudy147 on Wednesday 3rd April 14:12

[WelshRich]

Just an extra thing - If you have any outstanding finance on the car, you probably need to let the finance company know that you’ve changed the reg. I didn’t realise that I was supposed to but the change got back to them somehow and they got quite snotty that I hadn’t told them at the time (and then charged me £25 as an admin fee to amend their contract)

[Jordie Barretts sock]

I imagine the lady just wants the plates fitted.

Nothing wrong with driving to Halfords. Otherwise you're messing about with sticky pads/drilling and screws, etc.

Eta: Sorry, just assumed gender there. OP, no offence meant.

[Ussrcossack]

I might be talking non sense here but would you need to do something with VED too, as its a plate change?

[Riff Raff]

Ussrcossack said:

I might be talking non sense here but would you need to do something with VED too, as its a plate change?

No. VED and MOTs transfer over when you assign the new number. All happens automatically. All you have to do after assigning the plate is tell your insurance co.

[MrBen.911]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

I imagine the lady just wants the plates fitted.

I guess that might well be the case. Didn't even occur to me, as I'd rather do it myself and ensure they are actually mounted straight! But I guess some people are not very practically minded!

[Ussrcossack]

Riff Raff said:

No. VED and MOTs transfer over when you assign the new number. All happens automatically. All you have to do after assigning the plate is tell your insurance co.

Thanks for that info

[PMCMM12]

Fab thanks - all sounds easier than I thought.

Yes I'm taking the easier option of having them fitted as my old arthritic knees aren't up to the task of kneeling on the ground trying to fit them myself. Hubby might have ordered the retention certificate but fitting them would be another matter

Edited by PMCMM12 on Wednesday 3rd April 14:30

[PMCMM12]

Jordie Barretts sock said:

I imagine the lady just wants the plates fitted.

Nothing wrong with driving to Halfords. Otherwise you're messing about with sticky pads/drilling and screws, etc.

Eta: Sorry, just assumed gender there. OP, no offence meant.

No offence taken you assumed correctly

[-Lummox-]

Just another point to note, once you've done the transfer check your new reg with the emissions police if you drive in the ULEZ zone as you may find (if you're unlucky, like my other half was) that once you assign your new reg to the vehicle, TFL want to slap you with ULEZ fines even though your car is compliant...

It was fine with the old reg but because some numpty at the DVLA put the wrong info on the V5, once the number plate was changed over, the car was indicated as non-compliant even though it was a Euro 6 diesel. Eventually sorted out but a PITA which only cropped up after the number plate transfer for some reason.