Selling number plates?

Author
Discussion

cj2013

Original Poster:

1,353 posts

126 months

Friday 16th November 2018
quotequote all
I can't quite find an answer on this, but I guess one of you lovely lot would know (and/or have done it before).

I can get how retention works, but how does it work if the plate is on the car? If someone or a company bought it, would the £80 or so fee also cover putting the original reg back on the donor??

Thanks in advance.

Wooda80

1,743 posts

75 months

Friday 16th November 2018
quotequote all
Yes, that's correct

DickyC

49,676 posts

198 months

Friday 16th November 2018
quotequote all
IIRC the fee for putting the original plate back on the car was paid when that plate was retained.

It's two plates, both with their retention paid: the original paid when it was retained and the cherished number as it is being retained now.

cj2013

Original Poster:

1,353 posts

126 months

Friday 16th November 2018
quotequote all
DickyC said:
IIRC the fee for putting the original plate back on the car was paid when that plate was retained.

It's two plates, both with their retention paid: the original paid when it was retained and the cherished number as it is being retained now.
I don't quite follow?

So the original registration is paid for retention when the private plate is put on - but how does it work when someone (company or individual) buys a plate that is currently on a car, driving about?

DickyC

49,676 posts

198 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
The transfer fee and the retention fee are effectively the same thing. You either transfer the registration to another vehicle or to a retention certificate. I think. If you want to guarantee getting back the original (or previous) registration on a vehicle, you have to pay to retain it; it doesn't go back on automatically.

/feeling slightly out of my depth

V8LM

5,173 posts

209 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
Yes.. when the registration is transferred off the vehicle the original number is transferred back, unless it has been reassigned to a different vehicle, in which case it will be given a new number of the same year. It is also worth remembering that some registrations can’t be transferred.

DickyC

49,676 posts

198 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
Yeah, but, no, but...

Long time ago, but when I put 4826 PE on my 72 Range Rover the car's original number, TJT 700L, was displaced. When I took 4826 PE off again, TJT 700L wasn't reassigned to the car, another L reg was given by DVLA. Surely the safest way to guarantee the original plate goes back on is to pay the fee to retain it.

V8LM

5,173 posts

209 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
Yes, if you can. As said, some registrations can’t be transferred/retained. These are normally the registration given to a vehicle when one as transferred off and the original unavailable. This was to stop the situation when a registration was taken off an old car to be sold, the DVLA would assign a new reg of the same date, which was then taken off and sold, and this repeated.

Maybe in your case the original registration was assigned to a different vehicle.

DickyC

49,676 posts

198 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
I just looked and DVLA have no record of TJT 700L.

Shame I took it off, it's a nice plate. Pretentious young eejit that I was.

cj2013

Original Poster:

1,353 posts

126 months

Saturday 17th November 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies.

I've had non-transferrable two-number prefix style plates before, which I believe are plates the DVLA have essential given away (when reissuing or from new) that might have some value, so they stop people selling their freebie.

This particular one isn't none-transferrable, but simply a plate that probably meant something to someone else. HPI shows it's been on for a while.

It's not a particularly valuable plate (it's prefix, and not dateless), but I'm not really a fan of driving about with someone else's personalised plate. If I can sell it for a reasonably minimal price, I've seen a few other cheapies I could stick on in its place that were a bit more meaningful (nothing obvious, but more of a case of 'swapping out' the initials in theory).

cj2013

Original Poster:

1,353 posts

126 months

Monday 7th January 2019
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Hoping to get some advice on following up on this...

I've potentially found a buyer for the private plate that is on my car, and a TP company is handling the sale and transfer. It's mostly done by post, so will take a week or so to complete, apparently.

I was thinking of buying a more-relevant-to-me replacement for a similar price - has anyone any idea of the process with this?

I'm basically wondering how I would get it so that when the current plate is removed, the new one is put on, and I don't end up with the car off the road in registration limbo. I can get a replacement plate cheaper direct from the DVLA, so would it be a case of getting that prior, giving the TP the details, then they would be able to manage the swap?