When you’re driving around town, chances are you’ve spotted more than a few private number plates. Most of us have probably considered buying one but with personalized plates now so popular, the likelihood of securing that perfect registration is slim – at least the ones that are within our price range!

Private plates can be an inexpensive way to hide the real age of your vehicle and make it your own. They can be the perfect gift for that special person in your life or the finishing touch to your dream car.  This book covers everything you need to know if you’re looking for, registering or transferring UK registrations. The private registration expert Ruby Speechley, has certainly done her research and has written some interesting facts about private and rare number plates. She gives us the details on registration legislation and the history of number plates.

Did you know that registration numbers are not items of property in their own right? A vehicle’s registration number is a unique method of identifying it for tax and law enforcement purposes. It‘s assigned to the vehicle (not the keeper) and unless it is transferred or retained the registration number normally remains with the vehicle until it is broken up, destroyed or sent permanently out of the country. There are a few different styles of registration you can choose from: dateless registrations, current style registrations, prefix registrations, and suffix registrations.

If you decide to take the plunge and get your own private number plate, you’ll be in good company – Paul Daniels has one (MA G1C – yes, really!), celebrity crimper Nicky Clarke (H41R D0 – hmm…) and Jimmy Tarbuck (C0M1C – oh dear). Just make sure it’s not quite so cringe worthy as these!