Registration plates have changed many times over the years since the UK vehicle registration system began in 1903 and it was not until the late 50's and early 60's that the idea of having a transferrable personal registration plate on your car, was born.
The first sequence of registration plates began with one letter and one number eg A1 closely followed by numbers up to 999. Then these were reversed and more letters were added up to a maximum of three letters and three numbers eg ABC 123 or 123 ABC. These cherished personal reg plates are dateless as they were not intended to have any relation to the age of the vehicle they were assigned to. There are many of these still in existence and for sale today but they are not the most popular choice of our customers as they command prices well into many thousands of pounds.
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The less expensive alternatives can be searched using the search systems on the FIND NUMBER PLATES link above. These include DVLA Prefix number plates, DVLA Current style number plates and Northern Ireland Format registrations starting from as little as £130 including VAT and transfer fee. Whilst the Irish plates are all dateless (as they also have no age identifier in the plate sequence) they can be transferred to any age of UK registered motor vehicle, not just those registered in Northern Ireland. The only drawback with personal Irish plates may be that they always have an I or a Z in the letter combinations but you’ll find this isn’t the case for the other British plates.
It’s possible to choose your initials or a three letter word of name to search and it’s even possible to get some really good matches to longer names, words and phrases. If you’re looking for a private plate for someone else, as a gift perhaps, then you might like to visit our Ideas and Suggestions pages by clicking here . These have been designed with the personal number plate novice in mind to help them understand how people choose certain letter and numbering combinations to represent names, words and phrases.
There are many rules and regulations relating to the display of your personal registration plates and you may like to see these by clicking here
Northern Ireland format registrations are commonly known as ‘Irish’ registrations prior to the separation of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Any reference to ‘Irish’ registrations on this page relate to registration marks now known as ‘Northern Ireland format’ registrations.