Still not seen my first 73 plate

[Boxster5]

As the title suggests, I’ve yet to see my first 73 plate. Not sure if that’s just the general malaise in the car buying public but surprised I’ve not seen one. Dealers must be panicking.

[Turkish91]

I saw my first today on a BMW X3 I think it was, possibly an X3M

[Earthdweller]

Saw two on Saturday ( 2nd sept ) in a dealership, registered and on sale as 2nd hand cars!

Must admit I was rather surprised

The only other one I can recall seeing was an MG small hatchback with a pair of pensioners in it

[dave123456]

M3 estate in green

[MrGTI6]

I've only seen two so far and I've been on the road a lot over the last few days. A grey Focus ST estate and a white Suzuki SUV (probably a Vitara).

[Down on the Farm]

I saw a very nice Magnetite Grey Toyota GR86 6MT first thing this morning and it now looks great on my drive!

[exelero]

I saw like 4 already. 1 was a Maritime truck, one was something on a flatbed and then two cars, not sure about make and model

[C69]

Saw my first two today in quick succession. First was an electric Audi SUV (Q4 I think?), second was a Ford Puma.

Customers driving their new-plate cars off dealers' forecourts at a second after midnight on the 1st of the month used to be a big thing. Does that still happen?

[bolidemichael]

That’s a good point. I haven’t seen any either.

Last year when we collected our ‘72 plate in early September, someone actually commented ‘a ‘72 plate, lucky you’

[edc]

I saw my first one on Monday in Calais returning to the UK.

[Aunty Pasty]

Picked mine up on Monday. It's a Niro EV in green. It's a bit spearmint green or lichen green to me.

[South tdf]

Have noticed a few on the road but more due to the cars being really clean rather than the plate, there were even two new 73 cars in the work car park Monday but for some reason new plates just blend in now.

[soad]

Saw one in a car park yesterday. Stopped commuting on a motorway, so harder to spot now.

[paradigital]

I saw a Yaris GR-four yesterday. They still look great.

Only 73 plate I’ve spotted thus far though.

[glennjamin]

My neighbour has got a Yaris GR sport Hybrid I n dark grey didn't have to look hard to see my first 73 plate. Cracking looking car.

[HTP99]

Boxster5 said:

As the title suggests, I’ve yet to see my first 73 plate. Not sure if that’s just the general malaise in the car buying public but surprised I’ve not seen one. Dealers must be panicking .

Not really, over the years it has become less and less of a thing, people just want their cars ASAP and are happy to take them whenever as opposed to waiting for the new plate, obviously you get the odd one or two who want to wait but nowhere near as many in years gone by.

[fatjon]

I have, my shiny new 73 was delivered on 1st, broke down on 3rd and I now have a stty loaner.

[Condi]

HTP99 said:

Not really, over the years it has become less and less of a thing, people just want their cars ASAP and are happy to take them whenever as opposed to waiting for the new plate, obviously you get the odd one or two who want to wait but nowhere near as many in years gone by.

Having 2 new plates a year did that, and with cars lasting a lot longer it's not as if the car will be rusted away by "10" (plate) years old like in the past. Much of the reason you wanted the newer car was because they were considered to be on a finite life span,

EDIT - Also cars used to start with the year (S/T/V etc) whereas now you need to look at the 3rd or 4th digit of the plate to see what year it is. Doesn't stand out anywhere near so much.

Edited by Condi on Wednesday 6th September 09:01

[Sheepshanks]

South tdf said:

Have noticed a few on the road but more due to the cars being really clean rather than the plate, there were even two new 73 cars in the work car park Monday but for some reason new plates just blend in now.

Wife just got an 18mth old car that’s 22 reg and it’s the only car in our family ‘fleet’ that isn’t 6x or 7x and somehow its age really jumps out, whereas I imagine most people have no idea on the others.

[croyde]

fatjon said:

I have, my shiny new 73 was delivered on 1st, broke down on 3rd and I now have a stty loaner.

Oh no! what was it?

There was a time you'd see loads of new plates at the start of a new reg period.

I've been on the road a lot since Sept 1st and I've not seen a single one. Especially odd considering that I have been driving/riding around the SE of England and SW London.