Number Plates as an alternative investment

Investing in car registration plates may seem like an unorthodox way of making money and a considerable statement in the process. Nevertheless, hundreds of investors and drivers now choose to purchase car registration plates with significant future returns available. The most obvious reason for purchasing car registration plates is to personalise your vehicle, to make you stand out from the crowd.

Even a mere decade ago, drivers with personalised registration plates were seen as wealthy and successful. In the present day, car registration plates are now more accessible and economical for the everyday working man to purchase. Drivers looking for a potential investment must keep in mind that the registration plate they purchase must be easy to sell on in the future.

Acrylic Number Plates

Acrylic number plates sigify the registration mark of a vehicle.

They can be made of different materials, but more commonly seen are metals and acrylics. But as to how the standard specifications on the use, make and display guidelines of number plates are, it would vary with every city and country. There are some who would prefer to have their number plates more personalized. As long as how it is obtained abides with the regulations, such is possible. In fact, motorists of today are starting to appreciate better the value of vanity plates.

Since their humble begining in 1903, cherished numbers have continued to increase in popularity often adding the finishing touch to our prized posessions and very often prove to be a valuable investment.

The Motor Car Act 1903, which came into force on 1 January 1904, required all motor vehicles to be entered on an official vehicle register, and to carry number plates. The Act was passed in order that vehicles could be easily traced in the event of an accident or contravention of the law. Vehicle registration number plates in the UK are rectangular or square in shape, with the exact permitted dimensions of the plate and its lettering set down in law.

Reg Plate Auction – Day 3 News – £63,500 for 1 OOO

The third day of the DVLA cherished number plate auction is underway with a bang!

the registration plate 1 OOO has been sold to a telephone bidder for the sum of £63,500 hammer price!

It should be noted that there are no restrictions on using a vanity or cherished registration on a car that is newer than the original date of the registration plate, but it is prohibited to transfer a registration that is newer than the vehicle it is used on. This is to prevent the transfer of newer registrations to older vehicles as a measure to protect consumers.

2010 Car Number Plates

We’re now just over a month away from the introduction of the 2010 number plate on all new cars hitting the road after the beginning of March.

While the excitement surrounding the introduction of new number plates may go over some people’s heads, during the past few years a real demand has grown for personalised plates, with some selling for an absolute fortune at auction.

Music legend Elton John’s former number plate ELT 70N recently went up for auction for just under £1,000, but that’s nothing compared to the £113,815 one crazy person (in the nicest sense) shelled out on a 1 HRH number plate auctioned by the DVLA at the beginning of 2009. And even that has some way to go to surpass £254,000 paid to take ownership of the 51 NGH plate.

The UK’s most expensive number plate to date is the F1 registration number purchased by a British businessman for £440,625 in 2008, though that’s just small change compared to the £7m spent by Abu Dhabi-based Saeed Khouri on the 1 number plate – officially the largest sum of money ever spent on a registration number.

As popularity grows, the prices reached for the most expensive plates are always increasing. As of 2008, the record price for a number plate is £397,500 paid at auction in September by an anonymous buyer for the plate S 1. This was originally owned by Sir John H A MacDonald, the Lord Kingsburgh and was Edinburgh's first ever number plate. Car design entrepreneur Afzal Kahn paid £375,000 on 25 January 2008 for F 1 previously owned and sold by Essex County Council and affixed originally in 1904 to the Panhard et Levassor of the then County Surveyor. £330,000 was spent on M 1, sold at auction in Goodwood on 7 June 2006.

Located in the heart of East Yorkshire, Image Registrations offer a fast, friendly and efficient service for buying and selling cherished vehicle registration numbers. Our team of trained staff will professionally handle your transfer as swiftly as possible, with some transfers taking just 24 hours from receipt of documentation. We offer advice without technical 'jargon', and are always competitive on price. Our valuations department can give you an accurate market value on your registration number by post or by e-mail. Del Stanley
As well as having an internet presence, we also regularly advertise in many of the 'National' publications where we offer a selection of registrations owned by us for sale.

Overseas territories

Some of the British overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, use similar number plates to the UK, with the same colours and typeface.

DE51YRE private number plate for sale

DE51 YRE registration available through Image Marks with £500 discount available in January only. Call 01482 627 628 and speak to one of our team.

More great offers available at www.Image-Reg.com

Eric Morecambes Cherished Number Rescued!

Eric Morecambe’s 1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow has been spared from the scrapheap at the last minute.

Peter Yates, who runs a wedding car firm in Morecambe, spotted the car in a Shrewsbury junkyard just 24 hours before it was due to be dismantled.

He said finding the car – which had the number plate EM100 when Morecambe owned it – was a ‘miracle’.

The car was owned by the comic from 1971 and 1974 – as shown by the original order note – and Yates says it still smells of cigar smoke.

How the car came to be in a scrapheap is unknown. Seven years ago the car, including the personalised number plate, sold for £36,000 at auction.