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.

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.

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.

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.

Registration Number Auction Bidding Service. Why not let us take the strain. We can bid on your behalf upto a pre-arranged figure based on actual market values, avoiding the pitfalls of 'auction fever' and paying too much.

Our years of experience assure you of a professional service at all times. We can keep you informed during the auction by telephone so you will always know how the bidding is going.

You can advertise your registration number on our site for a one off payment of only £99 inc VAT. This means that we will promote your registration and professionally handle the transfer process once a buyer is located. You do not pay us any commission, we simply charge an administration fee to list your number at the start and the registration is then advertised at the figure you require until sold. If you are unsure about the market value of your number, please leave the 'Price Required' box blank and we will advise you by email of the ideal selling price.

Even in the early days, people recognised the significance and enjoyment brought by owning a prestigious or personalised number plate and often kept them within the family for many years. Their significance is often highly personalised to their owners. Some like to have a registration that originated in their local area, some are attracted to owning their own initials and others enjoy the fun of a word based registration mark.