Does a Private Number Plate Affect your Insurance?
One question that is asked by many people about buying a private number plate is whether or not it is likely to make your insurance premium costs go through the roof. After all, it is common knowledge that car insurers are not fans of the vast majority of modifications to a vehicle. Pop an aftermarket exhaust on, or tune the engine, and, well, kiss goodbye to low cost car insurance! In some cases, it can even invalidate your car insurance
Well, the good news is that while it is essential that you declare that you have a new, private number plate to your insurer, in most cases it will not cause your premium to increase. Some will try and put it up - claiming the private plate makes them more desirable and worth more money. However, some insurers may even go down the opposite route; a personalised plate makes the car stand out more and easier to identify. The chances are that your insurance company will not reduce it, however.
Always declare any changes to your policy
As with any changes to your policy, your insurer will more than likely charge you some sort of admin fee to cover the cost of them updating your policy on their system, but whether they do or not and how much they charge for this is entirely dependent on the individual insurance company. Once purchased the only cost with your private number plate is taking it off in the future which is currently a standard £80.
In the unlikely event that your vehicle insurance company tries to increase the cost of your policy because of the private number plate, it is worth challenging the fee. The change is not significant and you are not modifying or increasing the performance of your car in any way. If they do charge you an ‘admin fee’, it must be reasonable. If you feel that they are charging you an unreasonable amount, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
It is vital that we point out that you HAVE to declare the change of registration to your insurance company, no matter how trivial it may seem. Not doing so will likely invalidate your car insurance and make it much more difficult - or expensive - to get car insurance in the future.
While your car insurance premium should not go up because of your private plate, you may want to make sure that your premium covers them. If your car is stolen, and you have spent thousands of pounds on a customised private plate, it is going to be more than a kick in the teeth to find out that you have also lost your plate. Many insurers do not offer this cover, and the ones that do rarely advertise it. There is no harm in asking, though! If you are a loyal customer, they may add it into your policy coverage as a token of goodwill and to keep you with them a bit longer.
A private number plate should not affect your policy, but for full protection and peace of mind, you may want to pay more for more coverage.
