DVLA Number Plates | Personal Number Plates UK | DVLA Auction Prices

DVLA Swansea Contact Telephone Numbers

2011-07-06T14:31:00.000+01:00

One of the most common questions we are asked at the Personal Number Plates Blog is:

“What is the contact telephone number for DVLA?”

We also receive a lot of enquiries from motorists who want to contact their DVLA Local Office. The telephone numbers for the DVLA Local Offices are not made public. There is a central telephone number which connects to the Local Office Support Team in Swansea. They will deal with your enquiry and ask one of their colleagues from the DVLA Local Office to contact you if necessary.

DVLA Swansea Contact Telephone Numbers:

Vehicle enquiries: 0300 790 6802
(Textphone minicom users 0300 123 1279)

Driving Licence enquiries: 0300 790 6801
(Textphone minicom users 0300 123 1278)

If you prefer, you can visit a DVLA Local Office in person.

Click here for a list of DVLA Local Offices

Important note:
DVLA is a registered trade mark of the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency. The Personal Number Plates Blog is in no way affiliated to the DVLA or DVLA Personalised Registrations.

Personal Number Plates Video

2011-06-22T00:20:00.002+01:00

Auction of Personalised Registrations - Results May 2011

2011-06-15T20:40:00.000+01:00

The third auction of personalised registrations for 2011 took place a couple of weeks ago at the Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire.

Highest prices:

888 A - £39,500
WA11 ACE - £26,000
15 O - £25,500
1000 OO - £21,500
7 OOO - £21,000
MCL 12C - £18,500
50 NU - £17,500
PO11 ARD - £16,600
1 TWB - £14,500
99 C - £13,300
241 NA - £10,300
83 M - £10,000
UTD 80Y - £10,000
92 S - £9,500
96 P - £9,400

Prices above are hammer prices and do not include transfer fees, the buyer's premium or v.a.t.

1500 registrations were offered for sale over the three days of the auction. 228 registrations failed to get a bid and remained unsold, whilst 360 personalised registrations sold at the reserve price or opening bid.

The highest prices were particularly strong at this latest auction of personalised registrations. Before the auction I would never have picked out MCL 12C or 50 NU to be amongst the top ten. DVLA again switched the days for this latest auction of personalised number plates by starting on a Thursday and ending on a Saturday. There are clearly some experiemnts taking place to try and increase the number of visitors to the auction venues.

The next auction switches back to the normal Wednesday, Thursday, Friday format and will be held at the Williams Formula 1 Conference Centre in Oxfordshire. The auction of personalised registrations takes place the last week of July right in the middle of the school summer holiday period. Will there be bargains to be had? We will have to wait and see.

Personal Number Plates - Auction Results March 2011

2011-04-13T16:27:00.000+01:00

The second auction of personalised number plates for 2011 took place a few weeks ago in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

Highest prices:

108 AL - £26,000

1 HGH - £14,600

90 S - £13,000

82 M - £11,700

13 O - £11,500

99 AM - £11,200

AAM 4N - £11,000

72 Y - £10,600

99 B - £10,500

1 FJL - £10,300

88 H - £10,100

1111 V - £9,800

BAD 114L - £9,800

111 JCH - £9,200

98 C - £9,200

Prices shown are hammer prices and do not include buyer's premium, v.a.t. or the DVLA transfer fee.

Of the 1500 registrations offered for sale over the three days of the auction, 187 failed to get a bid and remained unsold. 359 registrations were sold at the opening bid or reserve price.

108 AL, a resemblance of the name IQBAL was the star of the show achieving a hammer price of £26,000. Those with good memories may recall 108 AL being offered at auction back in August 2008. A quick look back at the auction results post on the Personal Number Plates Blog shows that the hammer came down at £31,000 nearly three years ago. We can only presume that the winning bidder at the August 2008 auction failed to make payment for the registration.

The auctions generally take place over three days; Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. This latest auction began on a Tuesday which caught at least one dealer out. He arrived at Rudding Park, Harrogate on the Tuesday afternoon to check-in to the hotel for a three day stay. He was surprised to learn so many fellow dealers had already arrived and checked-in 'early' when he walked in to the hotel bar on the Tuesday evening. Hopefully he didn't have too many important client bids for the first five-hundred lots that were offered on the first day of the auction!

There is another change at the next auction of personalised number plates which takes place at the Heritage Motor Museum, Warwickshire in May. The auction runs Thursday to Saturday. The aim is to attract more visitors in person to the auction, hence the reason for one of the auction days being a Saturday.

Visitors to the auction in person are noticebly lower since the introduction of the internet bidding facility alongside written bids and telephone bids. It is our opinion at the Personal Number Plates Blog, that it is only a matter of time until the auctions become 'virtual' altogether. The cost savings would surely be very attractive to a government which is looking to save money wherever there is an opportunity to do so.

Personal Number Plates Auction - Results for February 2011

2011-02-25T14:43:00.001Z

The first auction of personal number plates for 2011 took place in Manchester earlier this month.

Highest prices:

12 O - £49,000
5 OOO - £17,700
1 TWA - £14,000
81 M - £13,000
1 HNC - £12,200
1 LWT - £12,100
KHA 1N - £12,000
1 FJK - £11,400
110 RSE - £10,500
89 S - £10,200
DHE 51G - £10,100
83 N - £9,300
ETH 5N - £9,000
97 J - £9,000
F458 FER - £8,600

Prices shown are hammer prices and do not include buyer's premium, v.a.t. or the DVLA transfer fee.

In total 1500 registrations were offered for sale over a three day period. 118 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid and may be re-offered for sale at some stage in the future. 388 registrations were sold at the reserve price or opening bid price.

There were definitely bargains to be had especially if you happened to be in the bidding hall. At several stages during the three days of the auction technical problems prevented the online bidders being able to take part in the auction. At Simply Registrations we were actively buying for stock and missed out on several personalised registrations due to the internet bidding problems.

We were eager to buy 97 ST for stock having previously done very well with two-digit ST registrations. 97 ST sold for a hammer price of £3,300 which happens to be the lowest price for a two-digit ST registration for over five years. If the internet bidders had been able to participate I am sure that price would have been much higher.

Some of the selling prices at auction highlighted how compeitively priced our own stock registrations are. The personalised registration 96 SG sold for a hammer price of £7,000 which equates to £9,110 including v.a.t. and auction fees. At Simply Registrations we have the private number plate 97 SG available at £7,800 plus v.a.t. which equates to £8,880. It may be time to review some of the prices of our stock registrations bearing in mind that similar combinations are making more money at auction than we are asking in the retail market.

There is not long to wait until the next auction of personalised number plates which will take place at Rudding Park, Harrogate during March 2011. Rudding Park is a fantastic venue for the auction and is a favourite of many of the number plate dealers.

Personal Number Plates Auction Results - December 2010

2011-01-14T23:17:00.002Z

The final auction of DVLA Personalised Registrations for 2010 took place in Warwickshire last month.

Highest Prices:

75 M - £39,000
11 O - £33,800
1 VEC - £16,000
1 TDW - £15,800
GTO 599F - £15,700
1 NSW - £15,500
24 YD - £15,300
11 GUN - £15,200
BAH 7A - £15,000
91 V - £15,000
99 G - £14,200

Prices shown are actual hammer prices. These do not include the transfer fee, v.a.t. or buyers premium.

Of the 1500 registrations offered for sale over the three days of the auction, 209 failed to get a bid and remained unsold. 384 registrations were sold at the opening bid or reserve price.

The personal number plate 4 OOO was supposed to be one of the stars of the show but it only managed to get a rather average sales price of £8,000. 75 M was the surprise of the show after it was bid up to £39,000. Someone appears to have paid a high price when you consider 79 M sold at the previous auction for a hammer price of £12,000.

The dealers continued to buy heavily taking a large percentage of the registrations on offer in for their own stock. It is only three weeks until the next auction where after a quiet December and a slow start to January on the sales side, there could be bargains to be had. Will this finally be the auction that prices start to soften a little?

Standby for the next after-sales report from the DVLA Auction of Personalised Registrations which will be held in Manchester during the first week of February 2011. If you can't wait until then have a browse of the private number plates available for sale at the main simplyreg.com website.

Auction of Personal Number Plates - October 2010

2010-10-20T10:44:00.003+01:00

The penultimate auction of personal number plates for 2010 took place at Rudding Park in Harrogate two weeks ago.

Highest Prices:

10 O - £73,500
3 OOO - £23,000
99 A - £20,900
99 JR - £17,500
11 MYS - £16,000
1 PLK - £13,400
MA55 SEY - £12,700
G60 RGE - £12,000
79 M - £12,000
4 ONE - £12,000
LAM 80S - £11,400
1 OJB - £11,100
88 W - £11,000
1 WWB - £11,000
1 PNH - £11,000

Prices shown are the actual hammer prices on the day and do not include the buyer's premium, v.a.t. or the DVLA transfer fee.

There were 1500 registrations for sale over the three days of the auction. 91 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid, whilst 312 registrations were sold at the reserve or opening bid price.

Every time we approach an auction, I wonder will this be the one where personal number plates prices weaken to reflect what is happening in the wider economy. We are sitting on large cash reserves at Simply Registrations, patiently waiting for the right number plates at the right prices. Once again we did not manage to pick up the quantity of registrations we would have liked.

The very first registration to be offered, 99 A, gave us a clue that this wasn't a bargain hunters auction when it sold for £20,900. I spoke to some of the other dealers who are happily buying stock number plates at current prices. The general opinion is we may not see real bargain prices any time soon. The softening in the market happened nearly two years ago and prices have been on the up ever since.

The next auction of personal number plates will be held in the first week of December. I keep saying it, but maybe it really is time to jump in and pay the market price required to get some quality number plates for our own stock.

Bossy Katie Price a.k.a. Jordan & Personal Number Plates

2010-09-21T22:47:00.006+01:00

In a recent post we clarified the law on the correct display of number plates. Having watched a recent episode of the BBC television programme Traffic Cops, it seems poplar celebrity Jordan, a.k.a. Katie Price hasn't yet found time to read the information.

In the programme we saw Katie being pulled over by traffic cops for the incorrect display of her personal number plate and also as the vehicle was flagged as being not insured. Later checks showed the vehicle was actually insured, however the number plate was clearly mis-spaced.

The actual vehicle registration is BO55 YKT. To get the desired effect is had been misrepresented as BO55Y KT, bossy Katie if you hadn't managed to work it out. Like many other motorists Katie risks being fined and having her personal number plate confiscated if she continues to display her number plate illegally.

She explained to the traffic cops that she had now obtained a legal set of number plates for her vehicle having previously been pulled over for the same offence. Unfortunately for Katie her brother had not yet got round to fixing the new plates onto the car for her. Poor Katie.

The law is clear and it applies to celebrities as well as everyone else. Display your personalised number plates correctly and you won't attract the wrong kind of attention from the traffic cops.

Personal Number Plates - Auction Results August 2010

2010-08-19T12:16:00.010+01:00

The Summer auction of personal number plates took place at The Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire a couple of weeks ago

Highest prices:

8 O - £55,000
1 TSD - £50,000
1 ORD - £26,500
HYD 3R - £15,100
1 LGP £14,000
1 SOT - £13,100
78 M - £13,000
1 KHH - £12,600
97 G - £12,500
180 SS - £12,200
85 S - £11,600
ELO 115E - £11,500
LYO 1A - £11,000
1 LFJ - £11,000
1 WWG - £10,200
1 NJL - £10,200

All prices are hammer prices and do not include buyers premium, v.a.t. or the £80 DVLA transfer fee.

Of the 1500 registrations available, 340 sold at the reserve or opening bid price. 120 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid.

August is supposed to be a quiet month with lots of people choosing to go on holiday to coincide with the school break. It is also traditionally a good time to pick up a few bargains at number plate auctions. However the bargain hunters will have been very disappointed as registrations continue to sell for very good prices.

Just to emphasise how strong the market is at the moment, we did not manage to buy any personal number plates from this auction for our own stock. I accept that we do not pay over the odds for our stock registrations, but even at Simply Registrations we generally manage to spend between £15,000 to £50,000 at each auction.

The good news for anyone who already owns a personal number plate is that whilst prices continue to be so strong, your investment as just as good (if not better) than money in the bank. If you are interested in browsing a selection of cherished number plates click over to the main Simply Registrations website. If you have any questions, why not see if they are already covered in our personalised number plates information and frequently asked questions section.

How to Sell a Personal Number Plate Quickly

2010-07-13T16:16:00.007+01:00

Today we are going to cover how to sell a personal number plate when the owner is looking for a fast or outright sale. Just for the purpose of clarification, the alternative is to sell a number plate on a commission basis. You ask a number plate dealer to advertise your private number plates and you receive payment when a buyer is located and completes the purchase.

It is important to understand that number plate dealers are offered a good selection of attractive personal number plates to buy every day. Obviously the dealer is going to want to make a profit on any personal number plate that he or she buys in for stock. For this reason most dealers will not give you ‘retail’ money for your number plate. However, if you are looking for a fast completion and need to raise the money quickly, selling to a number plate dealer is your best option.

There are other avenues available if the idea of selling to a number plate dealer does not appeal to you. Several national newspapers publish good motoring sections which carry personal number plate advertisements. Some of the dedicated motoring magazines also give you the opportunity to advertise in their classified sections.

The internet also gives you options when it comes to selling a personalised number plate. There are lots of free listings available on websites such as Gumtree, Preloved and Free Ads. Whilst it is not for free, the Cherished Numbers Section on Ebay also has a very good following and could get you a quick sale.

The only final thing to mention when it comes to selling your personal number plate is to be realistic with your expectations. All too often the owner has a wildly optimistic figure in mind and is disappointed when the offers start coming in. If you are looking to sell your car registration and it came free when you bought the car, it is unlikely to be worth thousands of pounds.

If you did manage to get a personal number plate that came with a car when you bought it, you may want to read this number plate blog post.

Auction of Personal Number Plates - June 2010

2010-06-09T00:15:00.004+01:00

The third major number plate auction of 2010 took place last week at Whittlebury Hall in Towcester, Northamptonshire.

Highest prices paid:

7 O - £65,500
10 OOO - £42,200
77 M - £24,500
1 KMW - £17,200
1 EPS - £15,000
1 TWN - £14,400
786 CH - £13,000
81 H - £12,200
SHG 1 - £12,000
84 S - £11,100
1 HSN - £11,000
VSB 1 - £10,600
88 P - £9,700

All prices are hammer prices and do not include buyers premium, v.a.t. or the £80 DVLA transfer fee.

Of the 1500 registrations available, 356 sold at the reserve or opening bid price. 111 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid.

Again we witnessed that it only takes two determined bidders to make an auction successful. The personal number plate 10 OOO could have sold for £14,000. A telephone bidder clearly intent on securing this particular number plate continued to bid against a written bid which had been submitted prior to the sale. Eventually the written bid was taken out and the anonymous telephone bidder now has the pleasure of displaying 10 OOO on his or her car for a hammer price of £42,200.

At Simply Registrations we also managed to secure some very attractive registrations for our clients and also for our own stock. Have a look at the cherished number plates we have available and see if anything catches your eye. Hopefully we can then include a photograph of your car in our number plates gallery having transformed its appearance.

BBC TV Documentary - Personal Number Plates

2010-06-04T20:34:00.003+01:00

The BBC is making a TV documentary about personal number plates. It is a one off episode for the Inside Out Series which will be broadcast in the East Midlands region.

Presenter Des Coleman went along to the DVLA Auction at Whittlebury Hall in Towcester today. The film crew accompanied him and they recorded footage which will be included in the documentary.

Des assisted the auctioneers by joining them on the rostrum to offer the number plate R34 DES. Des did a great job and one of the auctioneers said after watching Des's performance on the rostrum, he now feared for his job!

The special episode of Inside Out will be broadcast in the Autumn of 2010.

Gunman Flees West Cumbria - Number Plate ND55 ZFC

2010-06-02T14:29:00.004+01:00

A crazed gunman is on the loose in West Cumbria having shot and killed several people. Police have released details of the car he is believed to be driving, a grey Citroen Picasso with the number plate ND55 ZFC.

Due to the vast network of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, police should be able to track his every move whilst ever he travels in his car. The gunman is believed to be Derrick Bird, a 52 year old taxi driver from the Cumbria area. He is said to be armed with a shotgun.

Most people only ever think of ANPR cameras being in place to catch speeding motorists. Hopefully on this occasion the cameras will enable police to catch their suspect as quickly as possible.

Anyone who sees Bird, who is armed with a shotgun, should dial 999 immediately.

Are Your Number Plates Legal?

2010-05-31T00:27:00.019+01:00

The purpose of this post is to clear up any confusion surrounding the display of number plates.

There are lots of personalised registration plates advertised in the classifieds and on various websites where the seller suggests a cleverly placed bolt will give the desired effect. This is generally followed by something like 'I have had the plates displayed like this and have never been stopped by the police'. The reason for the plates being offered for sale is probably because the owner is sick of being stopped by the Police.

The following information is taken from the DVLA information leaflet INF79:

Motorists who persistently mis-represent their vehicle registration numbers making their vehicle difficult to trace, risk having them withdrawn altogether.

The Police and DVLA have become very concerned at the increase in number plates which are so seriously mis-represented that the vehicle is hard to identify. Examples include the the mis-spacing and mis-representation of characters, and the use of decorative styles of character fonts.

Mis-representation of registration numbers is an offence. Those who re-offend despite warnings can expect to have their numbers withdrawn permanently and without compensation.

If your number plate complies with the law, there will be no need for action on the part of the Police and DVLA.

If you want a personal number plate and want to stay on the correct side of the law, my advice is to buy a proper plate that doesn't need to be altered to have the desired effect. You shouldn't have to explain to people what your registration is supposed to say. The most common response I hear is that the person can't afford to buy the genuine article. If that is the case, any money spent on a registration that has to be mis-spaced is wasted if it is withdrawn by the Police.

Anyone selling a personal number plate which includes a photo should depict their number plates exactly as they should be displayed on a vehicle. This way the buyer doesn't get tricked into handing over hard earned money for a number plate that when spaced correctly, looks nothing like the one that was advertised.

One of the hidden benefits of buying a great registration that doesn't need to be altered is that it is likely to be a sound investment. Own something of value, get pleasure from seeing it every day and relax safe in the knowledge that it is steadily gaining in value.

I cringe when I hear someone say 'If you put a bolt through here, move this letter slightly to the left and look at it from the other side of the car park with one eye closed, it looks like Douglas'.

I have included a few examples of private number plates where the owner is breaking the law and risking having their registration confiscated.

The actual registration marks are: S7 EHE, G12 LFT, S55 XXX, TSO 110R

Auction of Personal Number Plates - March 2010

2010-05-30T00:29:00.002+01:00

The second major auction of personal number plates for 2010 took place at the end of March.

Highest prices paid:

9 O - £74,500
OFF 1 - £30,000
2 OOO - £25,200
1 RRH - £20,500
75 M - £17,700
1 SVB - £14,700
1 CVV - £14,100
1 KLP - £13,400
81 S - £13,200
VDS 1 - £11,600
LAM 80S - £11,500
1 MLV - £10,800
59 H - £10,500

All prices are hammer prices and do not include buyers premium, v.a.t. or the £80 DVLA transfer fee.

Of the 1500 registrations available, 306 sold at the reserve or opening bid price. 103 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid.

One dealer in particular was back in buying mode having sat on the sidelines for the past twelve months. This limited the number of bargains available over the three days of the auction. At Simply Registrations we had bids for over a hundred and fifty lots but only managed to acquire three personal number plates to add to our stock. Our bids will certainly need to be revised upwards for the next auction.

New Simply Registrations Website Launched

2010-04-30T21:31:00.011+01:00

It's been a busy few months here at Simply Registrations. The one project that has taken a lot of time and effort recently is the re-designed simplyreg website.

The old website was fine. It did the job and helped a lot of people acquire the personalised number plate they always wanted. The one area where the old website did fall short of expectations however was in its design and visual appeal. Hopefully visitors will now find the simplyreg website much more pleasing to the eye and more interactive.

The new website has a Gallery which features photographs of private number plates on our happy customers' cars.

There is also lots of personalised registrations information on the FAQs or frequently asked questions page.

We have even included a little bit of our company history on the About Simply Registrations page. This explains the original reason why we started buying and selling cherished number plates and how the private number plates company in Wakefield came into existence.

Why not click over to to the new www.simplyregistrations.co.uk website and let us know what you think.

Auction of Personalised Number Plates - January 2010

2010-02-09T16:40:00.003Z

The first personalised number plates auction of 2010 took place a couple of weeks ago.

Highest prices paid:

1 OOO - £63,500
1 LFD - £16,000
TCW 1 - £15,200
AMJ 111D - £13,200
61 S - £12,400
1 WHM - £12,400
VJM 1 - £12,200
1 KRP - 11,800
91 J - £11,000
1 NSJ - 10,600
1 WSF - £10,400
1 TEO - £10,400
NFF 1 - £10,200
1 HGK - 10,200
98 AB - £10,000
90 H - £10,000

All prices are hammer prices and do not include buyers premium, v.a.t. or the £80 DVLA transfer fee.

The headline registration 1 OOO looked like it was going to sell for less than £20,000 at one point. After a slow start the reclusive bidders became involved in a three way battle which resulted in the hammer coming down at £63,500.

Of the 1500 personalised registration plates available, 356 sold at the reserve or opening bid price. 160 registrations remained unsold after failing to get a bid.

With interest rates at historic lows it seems that money invested in number plates is possibly better than money in the bank. After a slight wobble just over a year ago when everyone thought that capitalism had come to an end, number plates prices are strong and investors continue to be rewarded.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - December 2009

2009-12-18T16:51:00.008Z

The DVLA held its final number plates auction of 2009 at Tankersley Manor in Barnsley a couple of weeks ago.

Top prices achieved (hammer price):

6 O - £81,000
458 FER - £17,500
1 EHS - £15,200
1 WRM - £14,100
1 OMG - £13,000
88 L - £12,100
JOE 1H - 12,000
SUR 1S - £11,800
1 NMR - £11,800
1 MKF - £11,800
73 M - £11,600
52 H - £11,500
90 J - £11,100
4 SLS - £11,100

As expected the headline registration 6 O sold for the highest amount making £81,000. There was a battle for the number plate 458 FER between two Ferrari fanatics, both having placed orders for the latest model due for release in Spring/Summer 2010. 458 FER went for £17,500 a tenth of the price of a brand new 458 Italia at £175,000.

Of the 1498 registrations on offer only 102 registrations remained unsold. 327 personalised number plates sold at the opening bid or reserve price.

That completes the auction calendar for 2009 and with over £15m raised for the treasury it has been a very successful year. The auction calendar for 2010 has already been drawn up with the registration 1 OOO being the star of the show at The Haycock Hotel in Cambridgeshire in late January.

If you can't wait until then to get the number plate of your dreams, we have some fantastic registrations at very attractive prices here at Simply Registrations. Browse the many cherished number plates available and see if anything catches your eye.

New DVLA Leeds Local Office is Now Open

2009-12-17T15:14:00.004Z

The new DVLA Local Office in Leeds is now open for business. We had a couple of number plate transfers to complete earlier this week and decided to pay the new office a visit.

The office is located on the East side of Leeds at Temple Point in Colton. There is plenty of free parking and being just off junction 46 of the M1 motorway it is very easy to find. As you walk in you join a queue to be seen at the ‘check in’ desk. This allows your application and accompanying documents to be checked before you proceed to the ‘check out’ desks.

At the ‘check out’ desk the number plate transfers were completed quickly and efficiently and replacement MOT Certificates and tax discs were printed. “Everything is running smoothly” I was informed. “Nothing much has changed other than we are in a brand new building”. The only complaint from the DVLA employees was that now that they are based outside Leeds City Centre, shopping at lunch time was no longer an option. Poor things!

The new DVLA Leeds Local Office address is:

DVLA, Unit 9, Temple Point, Finch Drive, Leeds LS15 9JQ

DVLA Number Plates Auction - October 2009

2009-10-21T13:51:00.008+01:00

The DVLA held its penultimate number plates auction of 2009 at Dormy House in Worcestershire a couple of weeks ago.

Top Hammer Prices:

5 O - £71,000
2 X - £44,000
1 LJE - £25,400
RON 4K - £21,000
161 LL - £20,000
1 TJL - £16,900
1 PWF - £15,000
1 KKD - £13,500
1 RRN - £13,100
1 WSH - £12,100
1 KLK - £12,000
1 GNC - £12,000
1 CVG - £11,700
91 H - £11,200
68 M - £11,000
2 SLO - £10,500

There is a clear pattern emerging with demand for 'number ones' pushing prices higher and higher.

Only one hundred and forty one registrations remained unsold. Compare that to the three hundred and eleven registrations that failed to receive an opening bid at Tankersley Manor around this time last year.

Again, there were bargains to be had with three hundred and forty nine registrations selling at the opening bid or reserve price. The dealers were happy to pick up any unwanted personal number plates for their own stock and took full advantage of any opportunities that were presented to them.

With interest rates at historic lows and no sign of any upturn in the coming months, the investment appeal of prestigious personalised number plates remains as strong as ever. What else can you own, get pleasure from seeing on your car everyday and then sell on for a tidy profit in the future?

Is there a personalised number plate waiting for you?

New DVLA Local Office for Leeds

2009-08-31T16:31:00.005+01:00

The DVLA Local Office in Leeds will be relocating to new premises in November 2009. Construction work is in progress at the new building located at Temple Point in the Colton district on the east side of Leeds. The move will bring the Leeds Local Office into line with the majority of the other DVLA Local Offices; being situated outside of the city centre.

Anyone who has ever had to visit the DVLA Local Office, currently situated on the first floor of 42 Eastgate, Leeds, will be aware of the problems associated with the current location. Being sited slap bang in the middle of the city centre is not necessarily advantageous.

The large number of vehicles travelling in and out of Leeds city centre on a daily basis creates the first problem. When you have managed to fight your way through the high volume of traffic, you then have the challenge of parking your car. Public transport is often the better option when heading into the city centre. However, if you are taking a vehicle along to the DVLA Local Office to be inspected prior to a number plate transfer being authorised, driving can not be avoided.

Finding a parking space in the centre of Leeds during working hours is not an easy task. You then have to buy a ticket from the pay & display machine having remembered to bring plenty of coins with you. Trying to predict how long it will take to be served at the DVLA counter is not as straightforward as it sounds. You must take a guess and buy a ticket for the length of time you feel is required for your visit.

Parking is not cheap either, one hour costs £2.50 and depending on the time of the month, one hour may not be long enough. On a couple of occasions I waited one hour and forty minutes to be served. Running back to the pay & display machine to buy extra time, narrowly avoiding missing your turn when your queuing number is called is best avoided.

Thankfully there are plenty of free parking spaces at the new Temple Point Business Park. You could also tie in your trip to the DVLA with the weekly grocery shop. There is a big supermarket with a huge car park just a short walk away.

More good news is that you can kiss those city centre traffic jams goodbye. The new DVLA Leeds Office is two minutes away from junction 46 of the M1, just off the A63 Selby Road on the east side of Leeds. This makes it so much easier for anyone travelling by car, whilst also being convenient for those who prefer public transport. The area is well served by local buses with a regular service running along Selby Road.

There are bound to be opponents to the relocation of the Leeds DVLA Local Office. As someone somewhere once said, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. However, at Simply Registrations we think the move can’t come soon enough and we look forward to making our regular trips when the new DVLA Local Office opens for business at Temple Point in November.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - August 2009

2009-08-12T11:07:00.004+01:00

DVLA held its Summer number plates auction last week.

Top Hammer Prices:

1 PNE - £70,000
6 W - £55,000
4 O - £51,000
ST08 ART - £35,000
1 NWS - £17,000
1 RRG - £16,200
PAL 4S - £16,600
11 TCS - £15,100
L1 CKS - £15,000
1 MFR - £14,600
1 RNB - £14,500
1 HRP - £14,000
TSL 1 - £13,100
1 WRJ - £13,000
TUR 80D - £13,000
1 ESB - £12,300

Once again 'number ones' are very well represented in the list of highest sale prices achieved. I ask myself are we underselling 1 JWU which is available at £6,400 plus v.a.t. direct from our own stock?

The £70,000 hammer price paid for 1 PNE shows what can happen when two people are determined to own a particular number plate. The next highest price paid for a 'number one' was £17,000 for 1 NWS. I wonder if the new owner of the personal number plate1 PNE had a limit in mind before the auction began?

Two hundred and three registrations remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. That is a big improvement on the large number of unsold lots at the previous auction. Three hundred and ninety one registrations were purchased at the opening bid or reserve price, showing once again there were selected bargains to be had.

There was a very obvious difference at the auction last week. Dealers who have been reluctant to buy number plates for stock during the past twelve months were back in attendance and they weren't just there to make up the numbers. Personal number plate prices are definitely on the up and I am sure a few dealers will be revising their prices upwards in the next few weeks.

DVLA Number Plates Auction - June 2009

2009-06-22T16:20:00.004+01:00

DVLA held its third auction of personal number plates of 2009 earlier this month.

The top hammer prices were:

7 T - £65,600
3 O - £51,000
MRV 1P - £20,500
80 TR - £19,000
1 RSF - £13,600
1 RHP - £13,000
1 KRG - £12,600
1 TDF - £12,000
1 FEF - £11,800
46 S - £11,500
1 GGL - £11,500
1 EHP - £11,500
1 HRJ - £11,200
WSJ 1 - £11,000
85 L - £11,000
52 P - £11,000

Looking at the top prices paid it is clear to see that number ones are still very much sought after. At Simply Registrations we have 1 JWU for sale at a very reasonable £6400 plus v.a.t.

The buyer of 3 O looks to have got a bargain at £51,000. 2 O sold in March for £115,000 which just goes to show that there are always opportunities for shrewd buyers.

Two hundred and seventy eight registrations remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. Looking at some of the ambitious starting prices for certain number plates it is hardly surprising that there were so many unsold lots. Three hundred and eighty nine registrations were purchased at the opening bid or reserve price.

The majority of dealers in attendance were fairly upbeat with some stating the worst is definitely over. One or two also regretted not being prepared to buy more stock when some personal number plates were being sold at bargain prices at the end of 2008. A time when some thought the world was going to end. "We are not yet back at full speed, but we are certainly moving up through the gears" one dealer commented.

Number Plates for Ben, Lucy, Ray, Emy & Nev

2009-04-10T12:39:00.010+01:00

If you are looking to add the finishing touch to your car, one of these fantastic personal number plates could be for you. All of the number plates featured are our own stock registrations and there is a chance any one of them could be on your car in as little as seven days.

6 NEV - £8,000
997 EMY - £1,800
RAY 919 - £3,500
L111 UCY - £6,000
BEN 962 - £4,000

All registrations are offered on a first come first served basis, so please act quickly to avoid disappointment. The prices shown are fully inclusive of all DVLA costs and transfer fees. Please tell James you have seen the blog to qualify for this offer.

Call James on 01924 823781 to see if we can get your personal number plates on your car in the next seven days.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - March 2009

2009-04-01T14:07:00.006+01:00

The second DVLA Auction of personal number plates of 2009 was held last week.

The top hammer prices were:

1 D - £285,000
2 O - £115,000
HU57 LER - £30,000
11 MRN - £20,400
11 SSS - £17,000
84 SH - £15,000
1 KLD - £13,200
G80 RGE - £13,100
90 A - £12,500
1 PFF - £12,200
PHF 1 - £12,200
82 S - £12,000
151 S - £12,000
LUC 1Y - £11,500
1 TCP - £11,200
1 WRH - £11,100

The record hammer price at a DVLA Auction was smashed as 1 D sold for £285,000. 51 NGH now sits quite a way back in second place at £201,000.

HU57 LER which sold in June 2008 was re-offered due to the original winning bidder not completing the purchase. This time it sold for an amazing £30,000 a real sign of how number plates are increasingly being seen as a fantastic investment.

It was great to see LUC 1Y making £11,500. At Simply Registrations we have L111 UCY for sale at a very reasonable £6,000.

One hundred and ninety five registrations remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. That is a big improvement on the two hundred and seventy two registrations that failed to receive a bid at the last DVLA auction in January. Once again three hundred and eighty three registrations were snapped up at the opening bid or reserve price.

The number of unsold registrations at each auction is a good indicator of the strength of the industry. This number has drastically reduced over the past two auctions indicating that we are definitely in an upward trend. With the stock market also showing early signs of recovery a few people are being brave enough to suggest that the worst may be over. Time will tell.

1 D Sets New Number Plate Record

2009-03-25T14:23:00.005Z

A new record was set at The DVLA Number Plate Auction today. The attractive registration 1 D sold for a staggering (hammer) price of £285,000. This beats the record of £201,000 set by 51 NGH which sold in April 2006.

All the top prices acheived at this auction will be added shortly.

Interest Rates Cut Again

2009-03-05T12:08:00.005Z

The Bank of England has reduced the interest rate today to just 0.5%. Okay, what has this got to do with personal number plates you may ask?

If you have money in a savings account with a bank or building society, the amount of interest you receive is generally determined by the base rate. The base rate is set by the Bank of England. Interest rates are used to either encourage you to spend money, or save money. The idea being that if you are getting a poor return on your savings, you are more likely to think about buying that new car, new house, or whatever else it is that takes your fancy.

If you have a meaningful amount of money on deposit and rely on the return from your investment, the cut in interest rates may cause you to look at alternatives. The three main options are property, equities (stocks and shares) or some form of savings scheme. However, it now seems people are willing to look at other options outside the traditional three with fine art, collectible watches and gold receiving higher levels of attention since interest rates began to tumble.

So I will now present the investment case for personalised number plates. You may see an attractive number plate on a nice car and think the owner has more money than sense. In some cases you would be absolutely right, but not in every case. I could pick any one of thousands of registrations as an example, but it is the 5th day of March so lets use the registration 5 M.

The registration 5 M was sold in May 1995 at auction for a hammer price of £13,700. The price would have been subject to v.a.t. and various other costs, so in the interest of fairness let's round it up to £20,000. If 5 M was offered for sale today and the buyer was looking for a fast completion, £60,000 would probably get the job done. If the seller was in no particular rush to sell, he or she could easily slap a price tag of £100,000 on it. Just to show I have not been over optimistic with my estimates, I note that M 2 is currently being offered for sale at £150,000+.

I am not going to do the sums for you, but if you had put £20,000 into property, equities or a savings account in 1996 I am sure you would be happy to walk away in the next month with £60,000 in your pocket. Do consider that you would also have had the pleasure of displaying a fine personal number plate on your car for the past fourteen years.

The choice is yours of course and whatever you decide will be right for you. I can only make you aware of what others, including myself are choosing to invest in right now.

Have a look at our current cherished number plate stock.

DVLA Number Plates Auction - January 2009

2009-02-11T14:18:00.004Z

DVLA held the first of six scheduled number plate auctions for 2009 in Northamptonshire last month.

The top hammer prices were:

1 O - £170,000
1 HRH - £92,000
3 S - £76,000
18 OY - £15,000
11 MCR - £14,000
85 J - £13,200
1 RGF - £12,600
11 FTY - £12,500
64 SH - £11,300
1 TWG - £11,000
888 M - £10,800
321 G - £10,200
MAL 1X - £10,100

The record hammer price of £201,000 the highest ever at a DVLA auction, still belongs to 51 NGH which sold in April 2006. It was suggested that either 1 O or 1 HRH could challenge the record, but the £170,000 achieved for 1 O only ranks fourth in the top prices ever paid at DVLA auction.

Two hundred and seventy two registrations remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. That is quite a lot less than the three hundred and eleven that failed to receive a bid at the final DVLA auction of 2008 in Barnsley. Three hundred and eighty three registrations were snapped up at the opening bid or reserve price.

Whilst some commentators were telling us last year that the bottom could fall out of the market, money continues to flow into personalised number plates. When you consider the alternatives it isn't too surprising. Cash on deposit is giving a very low return and The Bank of England cut interest rates again last week. Property prices are not expected to recover any time soon and the stock market is incredibly volatile with huge swings up and down on a daily basis.

Okay, a personal number plate may be seen as a bit of a flash purchase to the uneducated, but consider it this way. You buy something which gives you pleasure every day when you look at it. Your only ongoing cost or maintenance fee is £80 to transfer your number plate from your old car to your new car. Even better, providing you bought well you should see the value of your investment increase as the years go by! Compare that to your car which needs fuel, servicing, insurance, road tax etc.

In our biased opinion, there has never been a better time to invest in a personal number plate.

More Money, More Problems

2008-12-03T15:18:00.010Z

The media is full of doom and gloom with stories of houses being repossessed, people being made redundant and well known retailers calling in the receivers. That probably explains why people are so surprised to learn that at Simply Registrations we have just had the best three months in the history of the company. I can assure you that it is not all doom and gloom out there. Some people are facing problems of a very different kind, like finding somewhere safe to keep their vast sums of money or trying to get it away from troubled Icelandic Banks.

I was reading the other day that savers are being warned by insurance companies following a surge in the sale of home safes to worried investors. People are now resorting to keeping their cash at home having understandably lost faith in banks and financial institutions. Apparently most home insurance policies only cover a maximum of £500 of cash in the home.

The stock market is extremely volatile at the moment and even if you do trust the banks, the interest you are likely to receive is getting lower, with some predicting that rates are headed for 1%. Property is the other commonly favoured asset but again the outlook for the housing market is as weak as I have ever known. Whilst you may not feel too much sympathy for the wealthy families faced with the problem of where to keep their money, you have to accept it is still a problem.

Here at Simply Registrations we are pleased to offer a possible solution to the plight of the wealthy. Take a look at the list of personal number plates below, or view our full collection of cherished number plates. If there is a registration that you feel would look far better on your car than on our website give me a call on 01924 823781. There is still time to get a new set of number plates on your car before 2009. Rest assured the pioneers have already made their decisions, why not join them? I hope to speak to you soon, James.

92 BM - £4,600 plus v.a.t.
81 CW - £7,800 plus v.a.t.
72 GT - £7,200 plus v.a.t.
59 JD - £8,800 no v.a.t.
77 VS - £6,200 plus v.a.t.

9 ANS - £5,400 plus v.a.t.
3 DJN - £5,200 no v.a.t
9 HAN - £7,800 plus v.a.t.
9 JGR - £6,200 plus v.a.t.
8 JLR - £ 6,200 plus v.a.t.
6 MAK - £7,800 plus v.a.t.
6 MBS - £ 6,200 plus v.a.t.
1 MBU - £7,800 plus v.a.t.
9 MPS - £7,200 plus v.a.t.
6 NEV - £8,000 no v.a.t.
6 SAA - £6,200 plus v.a.t.
8 SMJ - £5,600 plus v.a.t.

BEN 962 - £4,800 no v.a.t.
DJS 737 - £4,000 no v.a.t.
111 JJJ - £6,000 no v.a.t.
OOO3 LEE - £2,000 no v.a.t.
L111 UCY - £6,000 no v.a.t.
RAY 919 - £3,800 no v.a.t.
TOY 350 - £5,000 no v.a.t.

Money invested in a quality personal number plate may well be better than money in the bank!

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - November 2008

2008-11-27T14:58:00.005Z

DVLA held its final auction of personal number plates for 2008 at Tankersley Manor, Barnsley last week.

The top prices were:

1 RH - £196,000
87 A - £14,800
1 MND - £12,200
80 T - £11,600
1 MWA - £11,000
49 M - £11,000
CHR 151S - £11,000
833 TLE - £10,700
1 SNG - £10,300
87 SB - £10,100
SC07 LND - £10,000
8055 S - £9,600
87 MS - £9,200
39 S - £9,000
JAC 1K - £8,700

1 RH was widely tipped to be the registration to watch, but I think quite a few people were surprised by how much money it actually sold for. Three hundred and eleven registrations remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. Again nearly four hundred registrations sold at reserve price to keep the bargain hunters happy.

There was no disputing the bargain of the auction though. 47 P was offered at 8:50am on the Thursday morning and sold for £3,900 hammer price to a lucky bidder in the auction hall. Unfortunately there was a technical problem which prevented the internet bidders from joining in for this special number. To avoid offending any readers we will not print the comments made by certain dealers when they realised how much 47 P sold for.

The first auction of 2009 will once again be popular with the inclusion of 1 HRH, 3 S and 1 O. There may well be new records set for prices of personal number plates judging by the interest shown already.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - September 2008

2008-10-07T15:33:00.007+01:00

DVLA held its penulimate number plates auction of 2008 at The Haycock Hotel in Cambridgeshire.

The top prices were:

6 B - £102,200
OWN 1T - £26,200
SYR 1A - £20,500
77 S - £14,300
47 M - £12,200
1 LRH - £12,100
1 RNE - £12,000
1 RHL - £11,500
NJM 4 - £11,400
1 WCH - £10,800

Once again we saw the smart money come out to play. Looking at the prices paid, the very best personal number plates continue to capture the interest of the buying public. Two hundred and thirty-nine lots remained unsold after failing to receive an opening bid. Almost four hundred lots were sold at the reserve price, so there were bargains to be had.

Banks are in trouble, house prices are falling, but quality personal plates continue to achieve fantastic prices at auction. I know where my money is going!

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - August 2008

2008-08-16T19:52:00.004+01:00

DVLA held its fourth number plates auction of the year at Legoland in Berkshire earlier this month.

The top prices were:

1 RAN - £51,500
108 AL - £31,000
88 M - £20,900
81 ACK - £18,000
88 A - £12,800
1 USY - £12,500
1 EVB - £11,000
351 NGH - £10,900
NAW 4B - £10,500
1 KFR - £10,500
F3 RNE - £10,500

Credit crunch or not, people are still prepared to pay large amounts of money for that unique personal number plate. This doesn't however tell the full story, as many registrations didn't even get a bid at the starting price. Compare the last DVLA auction where 151 lots remained unsold due to lack of interest, to this latest auction where 261 registrations didn't get a single bid at the opening price.

What should we read into this? Our opinion is the dealers who generally soak up a lot of the non-desirable registrations at auction and simply take them into stock, have become a little more choosy about what they actually buy. There was no shortage of interest in the names and popular two and three letter initial combinations. However, the not so popular combinations featured in the registrations 4 BEJ, 2 CJY and 67 WG led to them being not sold.

Just as in the stock market right now, stock selection is as crucial as it has ever been. The last thing you want to be doing is sinking a few thousand pounds into a personalised number plate that stays with you for many years, if the intention in to sell it on for a profit. If you are buying for keeps however, this could be the perfect time to pick up a bargain.

Our Opinion Doesn't Matter

2008-08-10T13:18:00.005+01:00

It doesn't really matter what we have to say, it is what our clients have to say that really matters.

It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with you - Tony Benson

Very attentive, friendly service.Thank you - Jo Jo Rae

A job well done. Hassle free! - Michael Ward

I appreciated the speedy service and reliability of Simply Registrations. I would have no hesitation in recommending you. Many Thanks - Ivan Billyack

Thank you for the number plate, it looks great - Ian Cockram

Outstanding. Everything done in a professional manner - Peter Swan

Thanks again for all your help, couldn’t have done it without you – Sue Mills

A pleasure to do business with, many thanks – Jeff Howcroft

I’d just like to say a very big thank you for sorting the transfer of my private plate to my new car. I wish you well and will spread the word, the best customer service! – Sara Williamson

It's great that we get to deal with so many fantastic clients. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to each and every one of you. Quite simply, without you, we wouldn't be in business.

James

A Selection from Our Current Stock

2008-07-27T18:45:00.003+01:00

Personalised number plates currently available.

Names:

BEN 962 - £5,400
36 CEL - £2,200
997 EMY - £2,200
OO03 LEE - £2,000
L111 UCY - £10,000
6 NEV - £10,000
RAY 520 - £4,200
RAY 919 - £4,200
ROB 161M - £1,800

Premium:

3 DJN - £ 6,000
6 LPM - £4,200 (plus v.a.t.)
6 NJA - £5,600 (plus v.a.t.)
76 PG - £10,000
74 RF - £8,000
5 RLS - £5,200 (plus v.a.t.)
53 RT - £5,600

Bargain:

M1 CPM - £1,200
W8 JPC - £500
RIJ 448 - £750
336 RPG - £1,200

If you are ready to make your purchase or have any questions, speak to James - 01924 823781.

111 JJJ - Stand Out from the Crowd

2008-06-16T14:35:00.006+01:00

We are pleased to be able to offer for sale the very attractive private number plate 111 JJJ. You don't often get a to see a more eye catching plate than this one.

111 JJJ is available for purchase exclusively via Simply Registrations.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - June 2008

2008-06-16T14:11:00.006+01:00

DVLA held its third auction of personal number plates of the year at Wychwood Park, Crewe a couple of weeks ago.

The top prices were:

HU57 LER - £19,500
CLA 51C - £15,500
8 PJS - £13,700
1 LGS - £13,600
8 DSS - £13,500
1 NEP - £13,400
49 J - £13,000
888 P - £11,200
48 M - £11,000
72 S - £11,000

Many industries are predicting tough times ahead and certain sectors of the stock market, namely Banks and House Builders have seen their share prices plummet. Whilst there has been a slight softening in the personalised plates market, most of the dealers I spoke to at the Crewe Auction were upbeat and happy with current levels of sales and enquiries.

The big test will be the coming summer months. A good indicator will be prices achieved at the next DVLA auction to be held at Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire in August.

If you can't wait until August, click over to simplyregistrations.co.uk and see if we already have what you are waiting for!

DVLA Number Plates Auction - April 2008

2008-06-16T13:58:00.006+01:00

The DVLA held its second auction of 2008 at the Celtic Manor Hotel, Newport, Gwent in April.

The registrations sold for the highest amounts are shown below:

WEL 5H - £27,200

1 HEL - £22,000

63 AC - £19,700

1 SLW - £18,000

42 E - £15,700

1 LCH - £15,500

1 NCW - £15,200

63 GC - £13,600

88 AM - £13,600

1 CFG - £13,000

There has been a lot of talk of a credit crunch, but people are still prepared to shell out large amounts of money for good personalised registration plates. Long may it continue!

DVLA Auctionof Personal Number Plates - February 2008

2008-03-01T23:30:00.005Z

DVLA held its first personal plates auction of 2008 in Claverdon, Warwickshire last month.

The Top Prices were:

4 DAM - £29,000
RUB 1Y - £21,000
SSS 9 - £18,400
1 EJG - £15,000
63 MB - £14,000
68 JM - £14,000

There are certain letter combinations that cannot be offered for sale by DVLA at auction. This is because the letter combination was issued naturally by a Local Licensing Authority. DVLA can only sell previously unissued registrations.

The JG combination is a good example. The JG combination was issued by Canterbury C.B.C. starting with JG 1 back in March 1929. It was November of 1937 by the time Canterbury had used up the JG combination followed by numbers, the final number to be issued was JG 9999.

Then in September 1963 Canterbury began using the JG combination again, this time with the numbers first, starting with 1 JG. The final number in the sequence to be issued was 1473 JG. Canterbury then began using the suffix letter system in 1963 in line with the rest of the country.

This means that DVLA cannot issue any JG registrations at auction followed by numbers. DVLA can however offer the numbers 1474 - 9999 followed by JG. Indeed a quick search shows that several attractive numerical sequences have been issued.

So what does this mean to anyone who wants a nice JG number plate? The bad news is that it will be an expensive registration as there are very few JG registrations still live in the system. The good news is that a JG registration should always hold its value as DVLA cannot flood the market with similar registrations.

DVLA Number Plate Auction - October 2007

2007-10-31T22:33:00.009Z

It seems West Ham supporters have deeper pockets than Arsenal fans.

At the DVLA Auction in Bishop's Stortford this week WE57 HAM was sold for an amazing £57,000. This beats the highest price previously paid for a football club registration which was £36,000 for AR53 NAL in 2004.

Damian Lawson, Marketing Manager for Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Personalised Registrations commented, "The atmosphere in the auction room was electric - it was like a cup final. The fans bidding showed the same passion they do on the terraces and we could only watch as the price kept on rising and rising".

The winning bidders identity is a mystery, as he or she placed their bid anonymously via the internet. If the winning bidder would like to contact us, we at Simply Registrations would love to know the story behind the purchase of this fantastic personal number plate.

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - September 2007

2007-09-11T22:51:00.002+01:00

DVLA held its fourth auction of personal number plates of 2007 last week at The Dormy House Hotel in Worcestershire. Prices again were very strong which is always a good sign for the number plate industry.

The Top Prices were:

111 S - £31,000
67 A - £17,800
551 KHS - £17,100
65 M - £14,900
51 NCH - £14,500
1 LHR - £13,700
32 RED - £13,400
1 PLA - £13,000
LVS 1 - £13,000
2 WBA - £12,200
1 LAH - £12,200

The prices achieved were even more remarkable when you consider the uncertainty surrounding the financial markets at present. The consumer debt situation is causing jitters across the globe and is affecting many different industries. It is amazing that personalised registration plates seem to be bucking the trend as people continue to pile thousands of pounds into cherished registrations.

The next DVLA Auction will be held at Down Hall in Bishop's Stortford on October 24th, 25th and 26th 2007. The list of registrations going under the hammer is now available to view.

I've Sold My Car - What About My Personalised Registration?

2007-08-16T22:29:00.005+01:00

One of the joys of processing lots of number plate transfers is spending many hours at The DVLA Local Office in Leeds. There is generally a good mix of motor dealers and general members of the public all with different questions and enquiries.

Often someone will approach the counter at their turn and advise that they have sold their car but they want to keep their personalised registration that is currently displayed on the vehicle. They are generally horrified to learn that it will mean a four week wait for a new V5c Registration Certificate, often called a logbook.
If you have a cherished registration that you intend to keep and are thinking of selling your car, it is a good idea to plan ahead. There are two options available to you, either transfer your registration to another vehicle or apply for retention. Transferring to another vehicle is fairly straightforward providing you have the V5c's for both vehicles, m.o.t. certificates (if applicable) and both vehicles are taxed. The fee is eighty pounds and it generally takes four weeks to complete.

If you do not want to transfer your cherished registration to another vehicle you can apply for retention. Your request to DVLA is to separate the registration from the car and hold it on an official DVLA document called a V778 Retention Document. Again you need the V5c, m.o.t. if the car is more than three years old and the car should be taxed. The fee is one hundred and five pounds which covers the eighty pounds transfer fee plus a twenty-five pounds administration fee. The retention document is valid for twelve months and can be extended every additional year for a fee of twenty-five pounds. Again you will have to wait about four weeks for the new V5c to come through for your car.

The moral of the story here is to take care of your number plate transfer at least four weeks before you plan to sell your car. Very few people are prepared to buy a car without a V5c Registration Certificate (logbook) unless they know you well.

Desperately Seeking Jan

2007-08-04T13:56:00.002+01:00

Someone out there is very interested in this registration. As mentioned in an earlier post, we circulate our stock list of number plates to all other active dealers in the trade on a monthly basis. This week three different dealers contacted us to confirm the availability of JAN 677.

There are two possibilities here. Firstly, it may be pure coincidence and three different individuals have all enquired about the same registration in a matter of days. Secondly and much more likely, the same person is ringing round the dealers to try and get this fantastic registration at the most competitive price.

As they say in all the best commercials, come to us and buy direct. Cut out the middleman and you could save hundreds of pounds. JAN 677 is still available, but for how much longer?

If you would like to be first to find out about new registrations that we take into stock, any deletions or price changes, please send us a quick message using the contact form (link shown below) on our website. We circulate a list which generally goes out by email at the start of the month. We promise not to bombard you with junk, you will only receive twelve emails a year.

Link to Simply Registrations ontact form

Happy Birthday - 36 CEL

2007-07-27T00:19:00.001+01:00

How long does it normally take to sell a registration? If you tried to figure it out you would probably go crazy.

This week one of our stock number plates will celebrate its fifth birthday. Forgive me if I choose not to raise a glass to 36 CEL on its anniversary. It puzzles me why after five years we still own it! I do not think it is unreasonably priced at £2600 and it is ideal for the names Celina, Celia, Cecilia, as well as Toyota Celica owners, Celtic fans or even Chris Edward Lewis.

This industry is great for proving you wrong. You get offered what appears to be a great registration number that you expect to fly away, so naturally you give good money for it. Five years later you are cursing the day you parted with your hard earned cash. Then you reluctantly accept a terrible combination of letters in part-exchange for a more expensive number plate you want to sell. As soon as the unattractive registration number is added to the website you receive a flurry of enquiries, agree a sale and the phone continues to ring even after it is marked as 'under offer' on the website!

Oh well, some you win, some you learn.

Incidentally, if the registration number 36 CEL is of interest, please give me a call on 01924 823781. Don't be too surprised if I yell out HALLELUJAH! when we complete the transaction.

Seeing Double

2007-07-12T17:57:00.002+01:00

One of the most popular questions asked by the curious individuals that trawl the adverts and websites of number plate dealers is "How come I keep seeing the same registration number being offered for sale by two or three different companies?"

There are two possible reasons for this. Let's take Chris Smith for example, he owns the number plate 27 CS and decides he wants to to sell it. He may approach several number plate dealers and ask them to sell 27 CS on his behalf. Each dealer will value the plate accordingly and request permission from Chris to offer it for sale in their adverts and list it on their websites. You may then be flicking through the motoring section of your favourite Sunday newspaper and notice Chris's number plate for sale in two different advertisements.

The other scenario is that Chris wants to cash in on the value of his number plate quickly. Rather than wait for a private buyer to come along, he accepts a lower price from the dealer who offers to buy it outright. Chris gets his money quickly and the dealer has a new number plate for stock.

It is common practice for dealers to circulate their stock within the trade, which again may explain why 27 CS appears in several dealers' adverts. The task for the buyer is to locate which dealer actually owns the number plate and buy it direct, rather than risk paying a commission to the re-seller.

Click over to http://www.simplyregistrations.co.uk/cherished-number-plate/stock to view our full stock list of available personalised registrations.

Which Chief Executive Officer Has the Biggest Ego?

2007-07-10T13:24:00.001+01:00

The private number plate CEO 1 is currently being offered for sale via auction website Ebay. There is obviously a lot of interest in this particular, very unique registration and with less than a day to go the highest bid is over £154,000 (one hundred and fifty-four thousand pounds). Here is another example of big money moving into an enjoyable and appreciating asset.

We are often reminded of the excellent investment characteristics of unique personalised number plates by our clients. A typical example would be the couple who have decided to retire abroad to enjoy the sunshine and relaxed lifestyle experienced by our Mediterranean cousins. They have owned their cherished registration for the last ten years and had the pleasure of seeing it everyday on the various cars they have kept. It is now time to let someone else enjoy the pleasure of ownership, but rather than receiving less than what they paid for it, they are rewarded with a healthy premium on the amount originally invested. If only the same thing could be said about the cars that we all choose to buy!

DVLA Auction of Personal Number Plates - July 2007

2007-07-08T22:14:00.003+01:00

The DVLA Auction of personal number plates was held at The Haycock Hotel, Wansford, Cambridgeshire last week. Prices were very high and there were very few bargains to be had. Dealers were paying strong money on behalf of their clients and also to buy in for their own stock.

Whilst this may seem like bad news for anyone who was looking to buy last week, it is very good news for anyone who already owns a personalised number plate. The strong prices help to underpin the value of existing plates, just going to show once again what sound investments number plates can be.

Here is a small selection of registrations and the hammer prices they acheived at last week's auction:

88 C - £15,400
1 CCF - £10,200
DEB 111E - £11,600
1 FDP - £11,200
80 G - £8,400
1 KET - £10,200
G30 RGE - £21,600
110 LLY - £16,200
95 MB - £9,700
1 NFG - £12,000
1 PFA - £13,400
RAB 61T - £4,900
SAM 1W - £5,000
1 SFA - £16,500
SKY 80X - £5,000
2 SLY - £11,000
1 TCJ - £14,800
28 X - £8,100
9 YD - £10,300

If you were unlucky this time, the next DVLA number plate Auction will be held 5th, 6th and 7th of September at The Dormy House Hotel, Broadway, Worcestershire.