Private plate transfers...

[oktapod]

Hi folks.

Car A, which is my old car, has a private plate.
Car B, which is my new car*, has a standard plate.

• Assuming I can find a car that I want to buy

What's the best process for transferring the plate from A to B? I will likely have to sell A privately, so I need to have it registered, but I don't want to sell the private plate with it.

I know this sounds like a noddy question, but I've always had the plate transferred as part of the trade-in of old-car to newer-car, but this time I am looking at possibly selling the old car privately.

Thanks,

John

[Zead]

You have to release your private plate by registering car A on it's original number. Sending Mot and logbook to DVLA. It goes on to retention owned by you. You buy new car and register it in your name. When you get the log book back you then go through the process of putting your private plate on it.

Time consuming I know, costs you twice for transfer. But if you are selling you need to get car A sorted quick or you wont have the log book and mot for the potential buyer if you get a quick sale.

Z

[rfn]

Assuming you need to sell car A, before you purchase car B (which is what I took from your post), then you need to do the following:

Place the Cherished Plate from Car A onto a Retention Certificate ( application form here ). Cost of £105. Either take to your local DVLA office ( list here ) or post it there instead (will take an additional couple of days).

Wait approx 2 weeks for MOT, Tax Disc and new V5 to come through for Car A, along with Retention Certificate for your Cherished plate.

Sell Car A.

Buy Car B.

Complete Retention Certificate (information is on the certificate) and either Visit, or Post to your DVLA Local office. There is no Fee for this as your initial £105 Retention Fee placed the plate on Retention for up to 12 months.

Wait for new V5, MOT and Tax Disc to come through for Car B.

Job's a Good'un.

[M5Dave]

Take the plate off the old car and put it on retention prior to selling it, this costs £105 and takes a week or two to complete, you will get the forms to do this at your local DVLA office.

Failure to do this, and selling the car with the plate still on it will result in entitlement to the plate transferring to the new owner of the car, which then leaves you reliant on them being a decent sort and transferring entitlement back to you.

When the plate is on retention, you will recieve a retention certificate which is valid for one year, and also an age related no to put on your old car.

When you have a new car, you fill in the retention certificate with the details of the new car and take it, along with the cars registration certificate and MOT if applicable, back to the DVLA office and they will, in most cases, transfer your plate to the new car there and then. The fee for this is included in your original £105.

[oktapod]

Thanks guys - might be a moot question as I've put a deposit down on this:

http://tinyurl.com/okta330

...which I reckon is a very keen price for a pretty decent motor. I go to see it tomorrow, but I've put a small deposit down on it to ensure I don't lose it. 330Ci with tiptronic auto... upshoot is that if I buy it they'll transfer the plate for me (though I'll pay for it of course).