Question Regarding Private Number Plates

[mikensam]

Hey,
Looking to buy a used car, it has 0 previous owners, the current reg is a private plate which is fine but when asked what the old registration was the dealer has said its also another private plate and didnt get registered in the normal way of getting a plate with the year it was manufactuered/registered.

I've been delving into this and can see its possible to register a vehicle from new on a private plate so therefore no standard year plate was ever assigned but then to change that already private plate to another private plate on the same day the vehicle was first registered smells fishy.

Anyone ever heard of this and have a sensible reason why someone would want to do it?

Thanks

[CanAm]

mikensam said:

Hey,
Looking to buy a used car, it has 0 previous owners, the current reg is a private plate which is fine but when asked what the old registration was the dealer has said its also another private plate and didnt get registered in the normal way of getting a plate with the year it was manufactuered/registered.

I've been delving into this and can see its possible to register a vehicle from new on a private plate so therefore no standard year plate was ever assigned but then to change that already private plate to another private plate on the same day the vehicle was first registered smells fishy.

Anyone ever heard of this and have a sensible reason why someone would want to do it?

Thanks

Nothing in your first para says that the change was done on the date of purchase; are you just assuming that? If you look up the current reg number on the DVLA and MoT websites, it will give the full history of any vehicle, not just for the period it was carrying the current number.

[mikensam]

it says the date of registration was 02/05/17 and the date of the number plate change was 02/05/17

[ArmaghMan]

Nothing fishy as far as I'm concerned.
My car has had several numbers over the years, mine being just the latest.
Every MOT present and all the service invoices. Car is 20 years old.
Some cars are more likely to have a personal plate than others.
My 2 M5s also had multiple different plates too.

[mikensam]

We've worked it out. The chap had a previous vehicle with the private plate on which released that vehicles plate. He then bought this vehicle brand new and instead of letting it have a 17 plate reg put on it, he registered it with the unused plate from the old car!

Once he received the new vehicle he then put his private plate on it so it looks like this vehicle was registered with a private plate (which is wasnt, it was just the free plate from his previous vehicle) and then immediately changed to his proper private plate.

Weird way of doing it but I dont think anything untoward is going on.

Thanks for your help but mystery solved