| What does the DVLA do? |
9 Mar |
The UK Government organisation that is responsible for maintaining a vehicle driver licence database as well as a database containing the details of vehicles in the UK is the DVLA – Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. The DVA or Driver and Vehicle Agency is the Northern Ireland counterpart of this government agency. It is one of the Department for Transport’s executive agencies, one of the ministerial teams of the department, and answers to the Minister of State.
Based in Swansea, in Southern Wales, the DVLA was originally known as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre or DVLC. The Local Office Network is the agency’s network of offices throughout Great Britain. There are several responsibilities of the DVLA inclusive of the following:
- the issuing of driving licences and DVLA registrations
- organising the collection of excise duties on vehicles (also referred to as road fund licence or road tax)
- selling private number plates
Additionally, the introduction of EVL or Electronic Vehicle Licensing enables individuals to pay their vehicle excise duties online or by telephone. However, you are still also allowed to take care of your vehicle tax payment through the Post Office.
Contrary to some public opinion, the DVLA has no legal authority where the conviction of motorists who have committed driving offences is concerned. Despite this, it is erroneously assumed that the DVLA endorses penalty points on driving licences. When an endorsable driving offence occurs and an individual’s licence is handed over to the police, it is normally transferred to the Magistrate’s Court of the county where the offence was committed. The DVLA does enter such endorsements onto a driver’s record.
read comments (0)| Number Plate Stories – 1 CH |
27 Feb |
Buying a personalised registration plate is something that requires careful consideration. However, many people may have spent years dreaming of that perfect number plate. This was certainly the case for Charles Hudd from Middlesex. A self-confessed motor enthusiast, Hudd attributes his love of cars to riding an Auto Scooter as a young boy with his Belgian grandfather. In fact, he built up considerable skill at moves that were banned on British fairground dodgems, but were actively encouraged on the French version.
Hudd dreamed of growing up and owning a fancy car with his own personalised registration, perhaps a Morgan with a ‘1 CH’ plate, but it took many years for his dream to finally be realised.
Then, as a young medical student, Charles and a friend decided to pay a visit to a Morgan dealership. He recalls the conversation with the salesman clearly, “We shall be doctors one day and we each wish to put our names down to buy a Morgan Plus Eight. However, we cannot afford the silly deposits required in South Kensington.” “Oh, so how much can you afford?” came the reply. “Twenty-five pounds please,” he responded.
This was written up in the order book, but it was twenty years later when Charles finally purchased his velvet green Morgan, built to his own specification, including customised seats fitted to his frame. He had purchased his dream car and he also managed to acquire his private number plate, 1 CH to proudly display on it.
Sadly, his dream car was the victim of a torching incident several years later, but his current car still displays his dream plate to this day.
| Selling a Personalised Registration |
28 Dec |
If you decide to sell a personalised registration plate that you have entitlement to, there are many ways that you can proceed. You may wish to advertise privately or you may decide to approach a registered dealer who can handle the sale for you.
The first step is to get a free valuation for your mark. Some dealers may charge for this service, but there are plenty of companies out there who offer the service for free. You should receive a valuation within around 48hours.
On valuation, if you decide you would like to go ahead with selling your registration mark through a dealer, you should check their terms and conditions and the fees charged. You should also make sure you are entirely comfortable working with them. You must then provide confirmation to the dealer that you agree to have him advertise the mark on your behalf.
The dealer will advertise your registration plate in the way he thinks is most likely to achieve a sale. Often, interested parties will make offers below the advertised selling price and your dealer should make you aware of any such offers. The final decision on whether or not to accept a lower price always rests with you.
Should you be successful in selling your plates, there will be paperwork to complete, but the dealer should talk you through every step of this process. Once the sale is complete, the proceeds will be forwarded to you and you will relinquish any entitlement to the registration mark.
| Online Market for Personal Plates |
29 Nov |
There is no denying that the popularity of personalised registration plates continues to grow. There is a large online market for trading personal plates and this market is thriving. Trends also show that once people have bought their first plate, they are more inclined to search for others, especially themselves, family and friends.
This is a market that has opened up much more over recent years notably for the purchase of plates as gifts. It is certainly a unique present and can be the ideal solution for those ‘hard to buy for’ individuals. Many have said that as well as enjoying the status that goes with owning a personal plate they also see the purchase as an investment, given that many plates increase in value through the years. There have been occasions when sellers of cherished plates have made a profit by selling them on after only one or two years.
Most online registration brokers categorise their personal plates in order to make it easier for prospective buyers to seek out the combination that best suits their needs or desires. This usually includes categories for personal names, businesses and hobbies. Without a doubt, the most readily available combinations are those that include an individual’s initials, as the possibilities are almost endless. Initials plates generally offer excellent value for money and have proven particularly popular. While many people have a specific plate in mind, others find that that a simple search soon leads to them to something appropriate.
If you are no longer wish to retain your personal number plate, there is bound to be someone interested in purchasing it and there are plenty of online brokers who can assist you to do that.
| Vanity registration plates |
20 Nov |
Personalised or private number plates are often referred to as vanity plates and any registration with two to three consecutive valid letters and a number from 1 to 999 with possibly another letter is allowed. Because many vehicles registered before 1963 have been destroyed, these “dateless” pre 1963 personal or private plates are usually highly sought after and valuable, and can be used to conceal the age of an older vehicle.
The Government’s Cherished Mark Transfer scheme allows owners to display a registration index more appropriate to a speciality or collector’s vehicle, and many private dealers act as agents for DVLA issues, and also hold their own private stock of dateless registrations and other cherished marks. The DVLA however can only offer for sale registrations that have never previously been issued and thus have a limited offering and limited scope. One may not use a registration index to make a vehicle appear newer than it actually is.
Prices of these plates are increasing on a yearly basis and to illustrate this are three examples of cherished plate values. At the end of year 2008 the record played for a number plate is £397,500 paid at auction in September by an anonymous buyer for the plate S 1. This unique number was originally owned by Sir John MacDonald and was the first ever number plate in Edinburgh. The number plate F1 was sold for £375,000 on 25th January 2008 and was originally fixed to a Panhard motor car in 1904, the number M1 was sold at Goodwood for £33,000 in June 2006, giving some idea of the value of some of the vanity or private number plates.
It should be noted that there are no restrictions on using a vanity or cherished registration on a car that is newer than the original date of the registration plate, but it is prohibited to transfer a registration that is newer than the vehicle it is used on. This is to prevent the transfer of newer registrations to older vehicles as a measure to protect consumers.
| Number Plates For Sale |
12 Oct |
Because of a change in the way that the registration of motor vehicles took place some while ago it is now possible, within certain limits, to buy a number plate of your choice which can reflect your initials, that of your company or it can make up a name, or nickname. This can be achieved through the use of numbers which can look like letters, which is ok as long as the registration number can be correctly read and identified by the authorities.
A number of companies exist that specialise in the sale of private number plates and it is perfectly legal to buy one of the number plates that are for sale at these sites. However, whatever you buy has to be cleared through the DVLA or in Northern Ireland the DVA. Both of these agencies have millions of number plates for sale and accessing them is easy. At the DVLA it is possible to make up a new style number using the two letters then the year number followed by three random letters of your choice. These number plates can be assigned to your own vehicle as long as this is newer than the year depicted on the number plate
Many of these number plates for sale are low in price, from as little as x245 which includes VAT and x80 assignment fee. That means there is nothing else to pay except for the costs of having the actual physical plates made up, there are absolutely no hidden charges.
In addition to this style of plate the DVLA has thousands of combinations of number plate which are for sale, and the prices for these are clearly indicated when you access them. They also hold a number of D, F and X prefix number plates with defined numbers with random letters following, often you can suggest your own initials, which if still available will be sold to you at the price which is indicated. It has never been easier to have a personalised registration number for your motor vehicle.