Iv been given confirmation today from the DVLA that i can change my plates over, so iv rang my insurance to tell them the change of number plate which has been done (£17 later :wonder: )

Iv been told before that if i am to write the car off then the insurance company keep the number plate?! This is annoying as that is MY plate not their but it has annoyed me as the private plate is my later fathers plate and im putting it on my car in memory of him, so it has more sentimental value more then anything.

I asked the customer service advisor and he said there is not way around this? So if the car goes bye bye's so does my plate?

This is not right surly?

to get the plate onto retention, all you need is the v5 and MOT and £105 and a visit to a DVLA Office, I gues sif you completed all this before the v5 went back to the insurance company, what can they do?

I have swapped mine a few times, the insurance have never said that to me.....

but the car will be insured under the private plate and not the standard plate so when i report the crash they will say the insurance does not cover YP07 BZS, we have it down as 7177 UG, wont they?

the car will still physically have the old number on it....

some private number plates are worth a forture, you cant tell me that you run the risk of loosing it, I am sure lord sugar would not be pleased to loose his "AMS 1" number lol

at the time of the right-off everything was correct!

the car will still physically have the old number on it....

some private number plates are worth a forture, you cant tell me that you run the risk of loosing it, I am sure lord sugar would not be pleased to loose his "AMS 1" number lol

This is why im so confused at the fact that they keep it, its not their plate! and yeah some are worth thousands!

So if this is true then if i write my car off i cant even have my magic tree collection back? :'( taken me ages to collect all of them haha

well they can hardly keep the contents, after all they wont replace the contents will they, just the car!

why dont you ring another insurance company and see what they have to say?

well they can hardly keep the contents, after all they wont replace the contents will they, just the car!

why dont you ring another insurance company and see what they have to say?

Well yeah thats a point, if i can retrieve my contents from inside the car then why not from outside the car? that plate is in my name

Im going to ring around tomorrow and see what other people say

Write to them now (yes a weird concept in this electronic world!) stating that you regard the Cherished plate as your private property and that in the event of a write-off you intend to keep the number.

If the worst happens then inform them again IMMEDIATELY that you intend to put transfer the plate off by putting it on retention. The vast majority of insurance companies will be happy to help in this scenario and I know plenty people that have done this. The difficulty comes when the V5 goes back to the insurance company.

Unfortunately if sh@t really does happen and you are badly injured or worse there are plenty of things for people to think about other that your cherished plate.

The car can not be writen off until you agree to it and that is a fact.

The private registration actually belongs to DVLA and they sell you the right to use it.

All you need to do is when they say it will be written off is tell them you are putting your plate on retetion.

If they dont like it then dont accept any offer and say you want the car repaired.

Cheers guys, as you can tell, iv never written a car off before

i had a valuable tvr plate on my tvr when it was stolen.

it was recovered as a burnt out wreck so they paid me out.

but, they didnt pay any extra for the cherished number and they took posession of it.

after much arguing i didnt get anywhere.

As said, if you have a bump and it's going to be written off you just get the reg number removed pronto.

You only need the paperwork to do it, not the car.

The insurance info was correct at the time of the accident.

I did a few transfers a week ago and I've allready got all the correct paperwork to put the number on a new car.

It doesn't take the DVLA long.

i had a valuable tvr plate on my tvr when it was stolen.

it was recovered as a burnt out wreck so they paid me out.

but, they didnt pay any extra for the cherished number and they took posession of it.

after much arguing i didnt get anywhere.

As soon as it was stolen you should have removed the plate by contacting the DVLA.

Sounds like you waited too long.

Once they pay out the vehicle is the property of the insurance company.

theres an old saying " to assume is to make an ass of you and me"

i assumed that it belonged to me, so i didnt even attempt to retrieve it.

Iv just been on the phone to the DVLA to ask them, as i say this plate means alot to me so this has annoyed me some what.

They have told there are two ways to go, either do what you lot have said and put it straight onto retention or an engineers report will be sent to DVLA (of the damaged car) and i can claim back the plate there and then, she was surprised to hear that my insurance company have a flat out policy of no i cannot have it back. She has never experienced an insurance company to refuse such a thing and advised me to ring a few other insurance companies to see what their policy's are and tell (Bell insurance) what the DVLA have said and other companies

theres an old saying " to assume is to make an ass of you and me"

i assumed that it belonged to me, so i didnt even attempt to retrieve it.

True, I've heard that before.

You only buy the right to display it on the vehicle. If the vehicle changes owners, so does the reg number...

Iv just been on the phone to the DVLA to ask them, as i say this plate means alot to me so this has annoyed me some what.

They have told there are two ways to go, either do what you lot have said and put it straight onto retention or an engineers report will be sent to DVLA (of the damaged car) and i can claim back the plate there and then, she was surprised to hear that my insurance company have a flat out policy of no i cannot have it back. She has never experienced an insurance company to refuse such a thing and advised me to ring a few other insurance companies to see what their policy's are and tell (Bell insurance) what the DVLA have said and other companies

So effectively if you ever have a reasonably decent prang, you need to pay out about £100 and put it on retention ASAP, just in case you lose it.

Then if it's not written off put it back on.

I know, it doesnt make a lot of sense.

But you don't legally own the plate. Ever.

To be honest now im thinking about it, like i said iv never written a car off so i dont know what actually happens but say for example;

I write the car off, say someone crashes into the back end, i have the car recovered and stored at my own cost but i still inform the insurance (buys me time from the insurance man coming round to assess the damage) i take the private number plate off but also strip the rest of the car i.e the head lights and anything that is not damaged because technically it is still my car (they only own it once they have written it off) would this affect anything? If they ask why the car has the front end missing (and if worse comes to worse) couldt i just say parts where stolen during the recovery process?

Just a though, as the way my insurance was implying basically once the car is crashed it is automatically their property

To be honest now im thinking about it, like i said iv never written a car off so i dont know what actually happens but say for example;

I write the car off, say someone crashes into the back end, i have the car recovered and stored at my own cost but i still inform the insurance (buys me time from the insurance man coming round to assess the damage) i take the private number plate off but also strip the rest of the car i.e the head lights and anything that is not damaged because technically it is still my car (they only own it once they have written it off) would this affect anything? If they ask why the car has the front end missing (and if worse comes to worse) couldt i just say parts where stolen during the recovery process?

Just a though, as the way my insurance was implying basically once the car is crashed it is automatically their property

In interesting theory.

But I think you are taking the whole process a bit far.

Personal effects is one thing, stripping the car of valuable integral parts is completly different.

The car does not belong to the insurance company until you are paid out.

They pay you, the car is then thiers.

Cheers guys, as you can tell, iv never written a car off before

and I hope you never do!

To be honest now im thinking about it, like i said iv never written a car off so i dont know what actually happens but say for example;

I write the car off, say someone crashes into the back end, i have the car recovered and stored at my own cost but i still inform the insurance (buys me time from the insurance man coming round to assess the damage) i take the private number plate off but also strip the rest of the car i.e the head lights and anything that is not damaged because technically it is still my car (they only own it once they have written it off) would this affect anything? If they ask why the car has the front end missing (and if worse comes to worse) couldt i just say parts where stolen during the recovery process?

Just a though, as the way my insurance was implying basically once the car is crashed it is automatically their property

I have experinced the rip off insurance companys writting a car off years ago and now if I had a damaged car Iwould insist it is recovered to my property.

They can then send out an assor to look over the damage. They dont need it at thier workshops as they wont put it on a ramp they will just guess at what it needs from their own experience. You can take out your possesions as they are yours but if they write off the car and you accept the value they will want the complete car so taking lamps and wheels off is a no no.

They would have a good idea if the car is repairable so this gives you time to get the plate put on retention and it would be quicker to do it yourself at a local DVLA office.

Never accept the first offer and also you can nominate any repair garage you want to do the repairs. They can not dictate where the car is repaired.

As most insurance repair quotes are based on fitting new parts it is very easy to write off a car.

If you really want to keep it then it can be worth getting secondhand parts of having parts repaired instead of replaced.

For example I would have no problem having a good used electric mirror fitted instead of a brand new one.

Anyway lets hope it dosnt happen.

The Number Plate is Not Yours, it's the DVLA's. . When you " buy " a personal plate you are paying for the privilege to display it on our car.

If you flout the law, miss place or alter the plate, you may have it taken off you so you loose the right to display it.

I do hope you get yours sorted and Quickly.........

Just to add, for some reason, some plates cannot be transferred to another vehicle.

The Number Plate is Not Yours, it's the DVLA's. . When you " buy " a personal plate you are paying for the privilege to display it on our car.

If you flout the law, miss place or alter the plate, you may have it taken off you so you loose the right to display it.

I do hope you get yours sorted and Quickly.........

Just to add, for some reason, some plates cannot be transferred to another vehicle.

A plate cant be put on a car were it would make the car look newer than it actually is i.e. you can't put an XX 11 XXX plate on a car 1st registered in 2005.

You also can't transfer a plate off a vehicle that does need an MOT - I once had a potentials valuable plate on a farm tractor but couldn't sell it.

Edited 11 February, 201214 yr by slider

Or an ageless replacement on an old car.

If the original is taken off (eg, 123 ABC) the replacement is often still ageless, but marked as non-transferable on the V5c.

When I say ageless, I mean proper private plates with no year identifier. Pre-1962 generally.

Not the personalised ones that are ten-a-penny like V5 ABC that is from a set year as it's a V reg.