1 Who can apply to transfer a registration number to another vehicle?
Registration numbers are assigned to vehicles. An individual acquires entitlement to move a registration number through being the keeper (who may not necessarily be the owner) of that vehicle. If you have newly acquired a vehicle but it is not yet registered in your name you can still apply.
(see question 4)

2 The donor or recipient vehicle is registered in Northern Ireland. Can I still effect a transfer?
YES, provided both the vehicles meet the requirements of the transfer scheme.

3 How and where do I apply?
We are able to offer this service to you as part of our transfer package, or you can complete the forms and take or send them to a Vehicle Registration Office together with all the relevant documents.

4 Documents are Required :The registration documents for the donor vehicle (the vehicle giving up the number).
The registration document for the recipient vehicle (the vehicle which will receive the number).
A test certificate for each vehicle that requires one. (Although either vehicle may not be old enough to need one, they must belong to a class of vehicle that normally requires MOT or HGV testing. If a vehicle is of a type that does not normally require testing, such as a milk float or agricultural machine, then a transfer is not allowed.)
Licence discs (if current).
The relevant certificate of insurance or valid cover note for any vehicle being licensed.
The current fee of £80 5 What happens next?
The Vehicle Registration Office may wish to inspect the vehicles. If so, you will be advised of the date and location of the inspection. If everything is in order you will be notified of when to change the plates and what to do next.

6 How will the donor vehicle be registered after the transfer has been completed?
The donor vehicle will be allocated a replacement number appropriate to its age. Those vehicles registered prior to 1963 will receive a non-transferable number. This means that you will not be able to transfer the number or put it on retention. The vehicle will, however, be able to receive a number in a future transfer.

7 What will happen to the number currently on the receiving vehicle?
Unless an application to retain or transfer this number is submitted at the time of transfer of the cherished number onto the vehicle, the number will be cancelled.

8 When will my new registration documents arrive?
Normally within four weeks of approval by the Vehicle Registration Office.

9 When can I transfer my registration number again?
When you receive your new registration document.

10 What if the vehicle with the registration number has been stolen?
You can apply for the transfer ONLY if the vehicle has been recorded as stolen at the DVLA Swansea for at least one year.

11 May I transfer a number from or to a motorcycle or moped?
You may transfer a registration number from a motorcycle or moped to any vehicle which is currently tested and licensed, including another motorcycle or moped. However, you cannot transfer a number from any other type of vehicle to a motorcycle or moped.

12 How do I acquire a registration number?
A registration number may only be transferred from an existing vehicle, but you do not have to buy and register the vehicle that carries the number. The keeper of both the donor and receiving vehicles must complete and sign the application forms.

13 I have purchased the right to assign a particular number to my vehicle. However, as I already have a 'special' number on my vehicle, I need to transfer this in order to have the other number assigned. How do I go about it and how much will it cost?
We are able to offer this service to you as part of our transfer package, or you should complete the forms as directed. However, in addition to the documents outlined in question 4, you must also present a Certificate of Entitlement, duly signed, with the application. These should be accompanied by the £80 transfer fee and, where the assignment rights were purchased prior to 1 May 1993, the £80 assignment fee.

14 I have a number on `retention' which I would like to assign to my vehicle. However, I already have a 'special' number on my vehicle and I wish to transfer this in order to have my retained number assigned. How do I go about it and how much will it cost?
We are able to offer this service to you as part of our transfer package, or you should complete the forms as directed. However, in addition to the documents outlined in question 4, you must also present the V778 Retention Document, duly signed, with the application. These should be accompanied by the £80 transfer fee and where the number was put on retention prior to 1 May 1993, the £80 assignment fee.

NOTE SECTION:
If the number which you are keeping or acquiring is one which has a year letter, you will not be allowed to transfer it to a vehicle which is older than that number, thereby making the receiving vehicle appear newer than is actually the case.

Not all registration numbers are transferable. You should therefore, check that the V5 registration document does not advise that the registration number cannot be transferred. If you have any queries you are advised to contact Customer Enquiries (Vehicles) - details as at question 8.

We may wish to inspect/re-inspect the donor vehicle before the transaction is complete so you should not dispose of it until such time as the transfer is finally approved and the new V5 received from DVLA.

If a vehicle has a `Q' or NIQ' prefix registration number, it will not be possible for it to take part in a transfer either as a donor or receiving vehicle.

The non-display of a licence disk on a vehicle which is kept or used on a public road is an offence. You should therefore wait until your replacement licence is received before returning the old one for cancellation.

It is an offence to misrepresent a registration number on a number plate. For more information see leaflet V796 obtainable from VROs


Present mainland plates are black on white (front) and black on yellow (rear) sometimes with the addition of the European Union symbol. The font is a uniform size sans serif of various types, although colourful (and unfortunately illegal) designs can be seen springing up all over Britain.

They go as follows;
Year Letter, followed by 1, 2 or 3 numbers from 1-999 (excepting certain 'cherished' numbers which are held back for resale at astronomically high prices), followed by three letters, the second two of which denote the local vehicle licensing authority. Cars, lorries and buses are more often now registered at the discretion of either dealer or owner, and do not necessarily denote the home province of the vehicle. Pre-suffix registrations are now valued collectors' pieces as well as vanity accoutrements, and bus companies throughout Britain have imitated car owners by re registering plenty of modern buses with classic marks.

Year letters were introduced in 1963 after the old system of 2 letters / 4 numbers (to 1934) followed by 3 letters / 3 numbers (and reversed haphazardly from 1960-61) was exhausted. Vehicles received a suffix letter after 3 letters / 3 numbers (example OYM 582A), and then proceeded through Y, omitting I, O, Q, U and Z. The date of first issue of the year letter moved from New Year's Day to August 1st from 1st August 1967 (when E changed to F), in an effort to forestall the yearly rush to buy newly-suffixed cars (which however migrated with it, to the ongoing despair of Britain's car dealers.) The series then reversed from August 1983, with the year letter becoming a prefix.


The current year prefix (from March 1, 2000) is W, but the DVLA is now to end it. The new system has been confirmed as 'ABC 12 DE', but no firm word as to which combinations will denote year, place of origin or individual vehicle.

Numbers withheld by DVLA :
These numbers are held back for sale; they correspond to prestige car models (Mercedes 560, BMW 325, for example) or represent hundreds, three-number combinations or low numbers. 147 is the highest break possible in snooker!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 30,
33, 40, 44, 45, 50, 55, 60, 66, 70, 77, 80, 88,
90, 99, 100, 111, 147, 164, 190, 200, 205, 213, 216, 222,
230, 240, 250, 260, 280, 300, 309, 316, 318, 320, 323, 325,
328, 333, 340, 350, 360, 400, 405, 412, 420, 440, 444, 450,
480, 500, 505, 518, 520, 525, 530, 535, 555, 560, 600, 635,
666, 700, 735, 777, 800, 820, 827, 850, 888, 900, 911, 924,
928, 944, 999.

Northern Ireland registrations
These are different again. The Current system is three letters and 1-4 numbers, 1-9999. (example RDZ 6130) Now that they are legal on mainland vehicles, they are highly prized as cheap semi-vanity plates or to re register vehicles of uncertain age. The difference with these is they ascend upwards through the alphabet, and include the vowels banned on the mainland. A noteworthy exception was when County Fermanagh skipped from JIL to LIL, bypassing the potentially controversial KIL.

Counties of first registration: Antrim (Ballymena) -IA, -DZ, -KZ
Armagh -IB, -LZ
Belfast -OI, -XI, -AZ
Derry (Coleraine) -UI, -IW
Down (Downpatrick) -IJ, -BZ
Fermanagh (Enniskillen) -IL
Tyrone (Omagh) -JI

Jersey uses J followed by one to five numbers.
Guernsey uses just numbers, one to five of them.The Governor's car, however, is G 1.
Gibraltar uses G followed by one to five numbers.
Alderney uses AY followed by one to five numbers (except for the police's Range Rover, which is AY 999!).

The Isle of Man has a series all its own, in which the letters MAN or MN are always present. Here suffix letters do not denote years, and are used in sequence until they run out. Sequences followed so far are;
MN 1-9999
AMN 1-999 through YMN 1-999
1-999 AMN through 1-999 YMN
MAN 1-999A through MAN 1-999Y
MAN 1-9999
1-9999 MAN
AMN 1-999A , AMN 1-999B through AMN 999Y
BMN 1-999A etc. Newest (09/97) have reached DMN xxxR.


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