Can I make my own Personalised Registration Plate?

19/02/2021

Personalised number plates are an affordable way to add real individuality to your vehicle. They’re completely unique and can become very valuable. That’s why they’re also known as cherished number plates.

How do private registrations work?

There are four ways you can get a private number plate. You can buy one from the DVLA either over their website or at an auction. You can buy one from a private seller and you can buy one from a private registration dealer

Private sales can also be expensive and there is also the risk of fraud. Essentially, personalised number plates are only legal if they have the right documentation. Criminals can forge this and victims may only find out they’ve been duped when the police stop them.

This means that, for practical purposes, buying a private number plate from a number plate dealer is generally the best way to go. At Primo Registrations, we make it easy to browse through over fifty-five million registrations, with a simple search bar. Type in any combination of numbers and letter that hold significance for you, and our system will show the the registrations that match or come closest to your combination. Unlike some other dealers, our friendly and knowledgeable sales advisors won’t charge you anything extra to process your order over the phone. The skilled aftersales administrators at Primo Registrations are able to handle the entire legal DVLA process for you, removing the need for you to handle the legal transfer procedure for your new private number plate yourself.

Can I choose anything on my plate?

You can put almost anything on your personalised number plate. There are just a few basic rules you need to follow.

Firstly, your number plate has to be unique. If someone else has taken the number you wanted you will either have to come up with an alternative or buy it from them.

Secondly, you cannot use a Q within a registration and the letter I will only be featured in an Irish style number plate.

Thirdly, your registration cannot be misleading or offensive.

And finally, you must not make the vehicle appear younger than it it, for example, putting a 20 registration on a car manufactured in 2011.

Can I customise my plate?

All number plates have to conform to basic formatting standards set by the DVLA. This includes cherished number plates. The rules are very strict and strictly enforced. They do, however, leave some room to manoeuvre.

For example, you can still use 3D text (until later in 2020), 3D gel text, and 4D text, add borders and display UK flags. Just remember, even if you have a flag on your number plate, you’ll still need to add a GB sticker when driving abroad. This now includes the EU.

Can any registration go on any vehicle?

You can transfer your registration from one vehicle to another. You just need to complete some paperwork with the DVLA. If you want to sell your existing vehicle before buying a new one then you can “park” your registration until you are ready to use it again.

The one point to remember is that you cannot use a number plate to suggest that a car is newer than it is. Given that most people will buy a car which is newer than the one they sold, this is unlikely to be a problem. It is, however, worth noting just to be on the safe side.