Private number plate car history

[BeastieBoy73]

Our daughter has a private number plate on her car that we bought for her a few years ago.

It’s a pre 1963 plate and I’m wondering if you can find out what type of car it first appeared on, and those since.

I probably just need to get out more.

[Scrump]

Back in the ‘80s DVLA would provide car history for cherished plates upon request. I more recently read that they no longer provide this info.

[BeastieBoy73]

Scrump said:

Back in the 80s DVLA would provide car history for cherished plates upon request. I more recently read that they no longer provide this info.

Thanks

[smokey mow]

Did you buy the plate direct from the DVLA or from a plate trader?

If it came from the DVLA it would never have been assigned to another car before you purchased it.

[LightweightLouisDanvers]

Scrump said:

Back in the 80s DVLA would provide car history for cherished plates upon request. I more recently read that they no longer provide this info.

I got all the previous keeper history from DVLA for my 1963 Mini for £5, shortly before gdpr prevented them from offering the service.
Wrote to all the previous owners but either they had died, moved or didn't give a fk about old cars because I never got any replies.

[BeastieBoy73]

Thanks for all the replies!

We bought the plate from newreg, if I remember correctly.

[Hawkshaw]

The letters on the plate will tell you where it was first issued, and a very approximate period. If the records for that area have survived, and not all of them have, usually they will give just a make and a date. So you might be lucky, but it takes a bit of digging.

[smokey mow]

This site allows you to search for partial number plates.

If you replace two of the numbers with ?? You might then find other cars with very similar numbers and then be able to narrow it down to a make.

https://www.partialnumberplate.co.uk/

It works for my old Renault.

[THE 80Y]

I've often thought about this myself. You can easily do a 'car history check' to find out the history of a vehicle, this will tell you all the different number plates that have been assigned to a certain vehicle over the years.

However, I dont think you can do a 'number plate history check'. It would be great to find out all the vehicles that have been registered with a particular number.

With a bit of digging you can find out basic information like the year of release and which council originally issued the number.

[BeastieBoy73]

smokey mow said:

This site allows you to search for partial number plates.

If you replace two of the numbers with ?? You might then find other cars with very similar numbers and then be able to narrow it down to a make.

https://www.partialnumberplate.co.uk/

It works for my old Renault.

Thanks for your suggestion but I couldn’t get it to work with only 6 characters.

[TarquinMX5]

If you're happy to post just the three letters on here, and whether the format is ABC 123 or 123 ABC, we can probably advise approx date of issue and original registration office. It won't show the make / type of vehicle, though.

[BeastieBoy73]

TarquinMX5 said:

If you're happy to post just the three letters on here, and whether the format is ABC 123 or 123 ABC, we can probably advise approx date of issue and original registration office. It won't show the make / type of vehicle, though.

Thanks very much, that’s very kind, but I’ve looked into it and nowhere near as old as I thought it is…

Thanks to the info you’ve all provided it’s not a pre ‘63 plate after all. Still, it’s unique to our daughter so that’s what really matters.

D10, so issued in 1986 (which would account for it not costing much). I won’t do digging further in case it once adorned a Montego, or something.

Thanks again and best of luck if you try tracking down the car history of your plates.

[Fady]

BeastieBoy73 said:

TarquinMX5 said:

If you're happy to post just the three letters on here, and whether the format is ABC 123 or 123 ABC, we can probably advise approx date of issue and original registration office. It won't show the make / type of vehicle, though.

Thanks very much, that s very kind, but I ve looked into it and nowhere near as old as I thought it is

Thanks to the info you ve all provided it s not a pre 63 plate after all. Still, it s unique to our daughter so that s what really matters.

D10, so issued in 1986 (which would account for it not costing much). I won t do digging further in case it once adorned a Montego, or something.

Thanks again and best of luck if you try tracking down the car history of your plates.

Likely issued way after 1986 so really not that old at all. D1, D2, D10 etc. up to D20 were withheld so not on any car until the point when the DVLA began selling them specifically.

[smokey mow]

BeastieBoy73 said:

Thanks for your suggestion but I couldn t get it to work with only 6 characters.

You need to select “other” rather than “gb” for anything pre-2001

[spitfire-ian]

Fady said:

Likely issued way after 1986 so really not that old at all. D1, D2, D10 etc. up to D20 were withheld so not on any car until the point when the DVLA began selling them specifically.

I think my mum bought her D13 ### plate from the DVLA in about 2005. Up to around then she was always saying that it hadn’t been released for sale yet.

[Jasey_]

Maybe try searching the mot history

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

there's a section where you can download the test certs but you need the 11 digit no from the V5.

Long shot

Edited by Jasey_ on Monday 17th November 08:51

[Tam_Mullen]

spitfire-ian said:

I think my mum bought her D13 ### plate from the DVLA in about 2005. Up to around then she was always saying that it hadn t been released for sale yet.

I bought my C13 ### plate in 2010