Personalized number plate sales soar: ‘I 220’

In the last decade, the sales of individual number plates have exceeded double, the figures obtained by the BBC.

According to data from the driver and vehicle licensing agency (DVLA), in 2014 there were more than 500,000 transactions.

This includes plates purchased directly from DVLA, as well as which change their hands in private. Plates can be purchased for less than £ 50 – but can get the most attractive combination Hundreds of thousand pounds,

Experts reported that BBC private plates were being seen as fast investment – often never used on the car.

The value of private number plates depends on the number of numbers and the popularity of the combination of letters.

DVLA raised £ 276M for the government with personal registration in the last financial year.

Exeter’s Rob Nichols has a number plate featuring his beginner on his BMW, and recently bought another two plates, which he did not use, instead sold them for profit.

“They look fast popular,” he explained the BBC Radio 4’s U & Your Program.

Rob, who worked as a finance director, says the trading plates were a “fun sideline” with their day job.

“I know they bother some people, some do not like them,” they say.

“Is there any value? Yes. Can it increase the price? Yes. I am probably going to buy more because it is an interesting, tangible property.”

Rob feels that people partially buy plates because they have emotional value, but many people see them purely as property.

Another development area is one of the young people, Noor Dar feels.

A 17 -year -old man from Manchester enjoys reducing the messages behind the plates – a 105T -like phrases are popular – and Facebook affects groups where various combinations are shared.

“It’s all about the image,” they say.

“There are two sides, I think. Yes, you have collectors, people who buy nutritious plates. Then there are young generations, who are not disturbed about plates that are valuable – they want plates with meaning.

“On social media, people in the car scene are often known by their number plates.”

Individual number plates that have never been used before can be purchased directly from DVLA through their website or online auction.

According to the data received by the BBC through information request by the BBC, the number of plates being planted on the car for the first time has almost doubled since 2014.

The agency says it has a bank of over 60 million registrations. It also has a team that analyzes market trends to identify attractive registrations that can release it to make the most money.

But it does not include a combination of numbers and letters that DVLA thinks that “crime, embarrassment or poor taste”, Who are taking back,

Meanwhile, the plates that are already in vogue can be purchased through third-party dealers, which sell in private auction and on their websites.

The plates are also traded on Facebook groups and eBay.

The market for these earlier used plates is the area that saw the biggest growth potentially.

According to DVLA data, the number of these transactions has been around 800,000 since 2014.

Plates are being sold in the data, and either vehicles are closed or taken. This may also include applications to change the owner’s details, such as their address.

One of several private dealers, Plate Hunter’s sales manager, Mark Reynolds says that he sold the number plate for Christmas for £ 285,000 just before Christmas, an anonymous buyer with the same initials.

“I think there was an element of pretense for the number plates at a time, which I think it has gone, because you can correct a number plate as £ 25 thousands,” they say Are.

“So I think the market is very accessible to everyone.”

The Neil Birth, who describes themselves as the “number plate nerd”, is assembled to their entire adult life and are in the process of writing a book on the subject.

Also a current collection of approximately 220, most of which are for sale, Neil has its first and second names representing plates, as well as GL05 for Glosterushair, County where he was born.

He says that in a distant past, DVLA saw individual plates as an inconvenience, but changed their minds in the 1990s and chose to join the business, making the public’s own huge pool of unused registrations available to the public. became.

DVLA figures show transactions in 2021, which puts down for lifestyle changes brought by Neil Kovid.

“It was probably time on the hands of many people and due to leaving money that they were not spent on commuting, socializing and holidays,” they say.

“The speed continued throughout the covid period and even today, interest has only reduced slightly.”

But, despite the popularity of private plates, Neil has warned that making money from them is not always easy.

“A lot of people dub,” they say.

“I would urge anyone to go with a little caution, because I have seen many examples of ‘Gosh, it’s easy’ and then buy a hoard of plates and perhaps they are not all selling.”