number plate glossary

Personalised number plate terminology explained:

Assign

Assigning is moving a registration number from a certificate to a suitable vehicle. However, you can't assign a personalised number plate to a car in order to make it appear newer.

Auction

The DVLA hold a number of number plate auctions throughout the year in which Beef Registrations regularly attend.

Cherished

Cherished number plates mean that the plate is dateless. The name comes from the owners of dateless registrations who classed the marks as cherished and a family keepsake.

Cherished Transfer Scheme

The Cherished Transfer Scheme allows cherished number plates to be transferred between vehicles.

Current Style

Also known as Millennium and New-Style registrations. This is the current system for number plates in the UK, issued from September 2001. The system allows for two issues per year, March being indicated by "01", "02", "03" etc while September is shown as "51", "52", etc.

Dateless

Dateless registrations, also known as Cherished registrations. Dateless Registrations all effectively hide the age of the vehicle, however, this is not the only reason that people purchase them.

Documentation

This is a term for the documents that are needed to complete a transfer. For example, these can include the vehicle's MOT certificate, tax, and V5 documentation.

DVLA

This is short for ‘Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The DVLA governs registrations of vehicles, registration marks, and drivers.

DVLA Local Offices

The DVLA has a number of local offices. For more information on these offices please see our DVLA Local Offices section of the website.

DVLC

DVLC is the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre and used to be the name of the DVLA before it became an agency and was responsible for raising money for The Treasury.

Font

There is one font which is legally allowed on UK number plates. Other fonts with wiggly or bold writing for example are not allowed by the law.

Governing Bodies

There are several governing bodies that oversee dealers engaged in the sale and transfer of registration numbers. Two of these are the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) and the Cherished Numbers Dealers Association (CNDA), both of which require members to adhere to a strict code of conduct.

Inspection

An inspection takes place when the DVLA need to validate that the donor car is using a registration legally, by comparing the car chassis number with its logbook. Whilst these checks do not happen very often they will slow down the transfer process by at least a week. This is primarily done for the safety of the person buying the plates. If it turns out that the car is stolen, then the DVLA can take the registration back, even after the transfer has been completed.

Log Book

This is the book containing all of the information about a vehicle, every car has its own logbook.

Millennium

Millennium registrations is another term for the current style of registration number plate used on vehicles in the UK that are issued from September 2001.

MOT

MOT stands for Ministry Of Transport (roadworthiness certificate). The is a test on your car that is required by law in order to ensure that the vehicle is roadworthy.

New Style

New-style registration is another term for the current style of registration numbers used on vehicles in the UK.

Number Plate

The term number plate is used to describe both the registration - the rights to use a number and the acrylic plates onto which the number is printed.

Personalised

All vehicles are issued with a registration mark. Some drivers prefer to personalise their vehicle by choosing a set of numbers/letters which are personal to them.

Prefix

Prefix registrations are named prefixes because a year identifying letter precedes any digits or letter sequences.

Registration

A term used to refer to the number used on a personalised number plate. The registration corresponds to the Vehicle Identification Number on a vehicle and is printed on the vehicle registration document.

Retain

To retain a registration means to move a registration number from a vehicle to a certificate. This allows the owner to retain the right to use the registration.

Scrapped

A vehicle that has been scrapped must be declared scrapped with the DVLA. You cannot transfer a registration off a vehicle that has been scrapped.

Show Plate

Show Plates are acrylic number plates that are used for off-road purposes. They can include non-standard spacing, funky fonts and badges.

Suffix

Suffix registrations have 3 letters followed by up to 3 digits and a letter that identifies the year the number was issued.

Transfer

This is the moving of a registration plate from one vehicle to another. There is a standard £80 fee to transfer number plates.

You must remember that DVLA rules are in place to guard against fraud.

There are 6 basic rules

1. The vehicle must exist and hold a DVLA computerized V5/c.
2. The vehicle must be registered at DVLA. Or the DVLAI for Ireland.
3. The vehicle must be available for inspection. An inspection assists in verifying entitlement to the number plate. Both donor and recipient (rarely) can be called for inspection.
4. The vehicle must be taxed or in the process of being taxed. However, in 2005 an amendment allowed a donor vehicle where the licence disc had been expired (not refunded) less than 12 months to take part in the scheme, providing, that SORN is declared upon expiry.
5. The vehicle must be subject to MOT/HGV testing. Ie, non-testable vehicles such as milk floats, tractors etc are outside the scheme. This has led to some vehicles, such as hearses, choosing to undergo MOT,S when actually exempt so they could register with private number plates under the scheme.
6. Only the registered keeper can apply to either transfer or retain the mark. However, a recent Act of Parliament will soon allow a 3rd party to apply at the point of retention with the keeper’s permission, of course.