Drivers and passengers on today’s roads will notice the growing popularity of personalized number plates in people’s cars. Personalized number plates with thousands of cheap number plates on the market now are no longer a luxury for the elite. As with any vehicle registration, personalized number plates are all different, combining letters and numbers to create a number plate that is completely unique. The way these characters are combined, however, sets personalized number plates without the registration of ordinary vehicles.
Personalized number plates can read people’s names, certain words, or contain important numbers for the owner. One of the most popular and affordable choices is to buy a personalized number plate that contains your initials.
For those who are considering buying a new rig for their car, it is helpful to understand how their personalized number plates are made. The classic example is the number 3 represented by the letter E. Other numbers are 1 to represent I, 2 is usually read as the letter R and number 4 is used to represent the letter. Other numbers such as 11 can be used to represent H or U but this requires an ominous “bolt” in the number. Changing a number plate in any shape is illegal and by this, the guard is liable for fines and the car may fail an MOT inspection.
You cannot create a number plate using any letter or number when purchasing a personalized number plate. All personalized number plates must follow a set format prescribed by the DVLA. The oldest private registration numbers are called undated number plates. The undated number plate has no age identifier and can be assigned to any vehicle, regardless of age.
This type of personalized number plate comes in two types; Letters after letters and letters after numbers. When the original dateless series is over, the dateless number plates come first with the numbers. Local councils have reversed the format to double the number of combinations. For this reason, dateless number plates with the first number are called reverse dateless number plates. Generally speaking, letters are preferred over numbers after the format because it shows that the number plate is a real problem, usually older and therefore more valuable.
Other types of personalized number plates include vehicle registration of suffixes and prefixes. The suffix number plate consists of letters followed by numbers followed by a number and then a final letter indicating the year in which it was issued. Prefix Personalized number plates have a letter opposite the suffix registration and indicating the year of the issue followed by 3 numbers and then 3 letters.
At first, it was thought that this new format would not produce much better-personalized number plates, but over the years some classic examples have been found, such as the BL07 GGS (blogs) and the RU55 ELL (Russell). A searchable database of more than 30 million DVLA number plates can be found at theprivateplateco.co.uk who are registered DVLA plate specialists.
When buying a personalized number plate always keep in mind that you can never make your car look smaller than that. For example, a new 57 rig cannot be assigned to a 10-year-old vehicle because it will look new. You can make a car look old anyway. If in doubt contact your number plate dealer.