Hopefully someone may be able to shed some light onto this!

My Father has got a car with a private registration on which was there when he bought it. Basically it means nothing to him. He has now seen a private plate which he likes and would like to replace the current one with.

There is one main issue we are thinking of here:

As the current plate means nothing to him, can we just pay the one transfer fee to have the new plate put onto the car, and simply lose the rights to the old plate? Or do you have to pay two £80 fees to remove the old one and put it onto retention (another £25), and then the £80 to transfer the new one on.

The problem is that all of the questions and answers listed on the DVLA site only cover people wanting to retain a private registration already on the car, and simply put the standard plates back on. No one mentions about replacing a private registration like for like.

My understanding is that once the number is replaced you loose your claim to the plate and the DVLA will make it available for sale again.

If it is a particularly good one it might be worth moving it to retention and trying to sell it but if its not all you have to worry about is the new registration V5 and insurance company

My understanding is that once the number is replaced you loose your claim to the plate and the DVLA will make it available for sale again.

If it is a particularly good one it might be worth moving it to retention and trying to sell it but if its not all you have to worry about is the new registration V5 and insurance company

Correct. one fee to transfer on teh new number and all rights to the old number go back to DVLA.

IF you also wanted to keep the old number you would be best to pay a fee to either transfer to another vehicle or hold the number "on retention" and then pay the secord fee to transfer on the new number.

As said, depends whether you think it has any worth to anyone else?

My Dad bought a car that was in this scenario - he put the current plate onto retention and it was eventually sold through one of the plate dealers. So they put the current private plate onto retention and as part of the same process moved his own private reg onto the car, which was on a retention certificate.

If you just want to loose the existing plate, simply apply to have his private reg applied to the vehicle.

Steve

So does that mean he would have to pay two £80 fees if he decided to put one on retention? Or because you are doing the whole process at once, they would only charge one £80 transfer fee? It's not the clearest!

To make it clear, if he is not bothered about keeping the old plate then you just pay the £80 transfer fee to put the new plate on and the old one will be 'lost'.

If he wants to keep the old one and sell it on then he will need to pay the £105 retention fee for it, and then the £80 transfer fee for the new one.

Great, thanks for that

So does that mean he would have to pay two £80 fees if he decided to put one on retention? Or because you are doing the whole process at once, they would only charge one £80 transfer fee? It's not the clearest!

Is his current plate on a retention certificate at the moment?

If he wants to keep the old one and sell it on then he will need to pay the £105 retention fee for it, and then the £80 transfer fee for the new one.

That's not quite right. He'd pay £125 to put the current registration on retention, but that includes the £80 to transfer to another car.

So, if his private plate is on a car and you want to loose the other plate, £80 to transfer

if his private plate is on retention and you want to loose the other plate, no cost (you've already paid the transfer fee when it was put on retention) unless his name is not on the retention cert, in which case i think it's £25 to have it re-assigned

EDIT: I think I may have misread the quote. That may be correct - i'm confused :S

Edited 25 January, 201115 yr by sdenny

Ha ha, I think everyone is confusing each other!

As far as I can tell, he has a car which has a private plate on it. He doesn't really want this private plate.

He has seen another plate he likes (presumably on the DVLA site or similar) which he hasn't yet bought.

He's asking for advice on how to put the new plate that he buys on the car, and if it currently having a private plate on it will make any difference to how you would treat it if it was a normal registration.

The answer to the second part is no.

The answer to the first part is that if he's not bothered about the original plate then it'll cost only the £80 assignment fee (included if you buy a plate from the DVLA).

If he decided he wants to try and sell the existing plate on, he'll have to put it on retention (which I thought was £105, but I could be wrong), and then transfer the new number on as above(£80 assignemnt fee).

Pretty sure that's how it works anyway.

Edited 25 January, 201115 yr by Stevoraith

Haha this does seem to cause some confusion!

Basically the plate he is after is on retention from a private sale. The plate on his car is currently MOT'd and taxed.

I think he will probably just let the old plate go, it came with the car, so has cost him nothing so far. Money could be made I guess, but who knows how long it might take to make a return on it!

In that case, Sdenny is spot on as far as I know

Haha this does seem to cause some confusion!

Basically the plate he is after is on retention from a private sale. The plate on his car is currently MOT'd and taxed.

I think he will probably just let the old plate go, it came with the car, so has cost him nothing so far. Money could be made I guess, but who knows how long it might take to make a return on it!

In my Dad's case he made £1200 on the plate already on the car, less £105 for transferring it off and onto retention. Of course, it depends on the plate currently on the car, and what someone might be prepared to pay for it

just bite the bullet Si and tells us what the reg is

just bite the bullet Si and tells us what the reg is

Which one

If he decided he wants to try and sell the existing plate on, he'll have to put it on retention (which I thought was £105, but I could be wrong), and then transfer the new number on as above(£80 assignemnt fee).

The retention fee it's self it actually only £25, but you have to pay an £80 transfer fee at the same time.

If you subsequently do't assign the plate, i think you can reclaim the 80, but not the 25.

See: http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_069390.pdf

I have just put my plate on retention for 1 year and got the original plate put on my car £105 which includes £80 fee to put on my next car.

If you DONT put your plate you have now on retention the plate will become void.

I sent all my documents of to DVLA with relevent forms and got everything back(tax disc v5 mot certificate and retention certificate)in just over 1 week.

Absolutely no hassle.

Why dont you ring one of the cherished plate companies to buy the plate off you they will do all paperwork for you even if you only get a small fee for it,it will be money in your pocket.