How to keep a registration number

I’m sure this is simple but the guides online all tell me about how to transfer a private number to a new vehicle.

We are about to change our car, the existing car will be scrapped. We want to keep the number (it’s worthless, want it purely for sentimental reasons) and put it on the new car. Can anyone advise how we can do this what is the sequencing we need to follow?

We’ll be picking up the new car on Sunday and scrapping the existing one 2 weeks later.

https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/take-private-number-off

It shouldn’t be any different to doing it with a private plate, the only reason the guides refer to private is no-one wants to keep gf11 tnr and sick it on a new car because it makes the car look older.

If it is sentimental, just take the plates off and put them on the wall

Also your do need to check you won’t fall foul of regulations about the legality of the plate in the new vehicle, e.g. you can’t put a 23 plate on a 2016 car.

If we take the registration off the existing car though, how do we scrap it? I assume it’s illegal to drive it to the scrapyard if it has no registration number?

https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/take-private-number-off

That says

The vehicle’s original registration number is usually reassigned to it automatically when you take off a private number.

But it is the original number we want to take off, not a private plate.

You need to improve your Googlefu

You need to improve your Googlefu

Undoubtedly but

Request a basic DBS check

doesn’t help much. ;o)

I did this a long time ago so things might have changed in the intervening years but as far as I can remember the DVLA issued a new number for the car the number plate was being taken off  (obviously in line with the age of the car).  However since I was trading it in, the garage I was buying my new car from arranged it all.

Try this one… https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/application-to-transfer-or-retain-a-vehicle-registration-number

Bloody autocomplete filled in a month’s old link 🤣

If we take the registration off the existing car though, how do we scrap it? I assume it’s illegal to drive it to the scrapyard if it has no registration number?

Get them to come to you, you’ll get a far better price anyway as they’ll be recyclers rather than just your local yard that views having to dismantle it as a cost. I got rid of my last two scrap cars via online brokers and got £350-£410 for them when the “scrap” price weighing it in was about £150.

Although I think you can just apply for a new number if you really want to drive it again. The only difference is you can’t transfer a ‘new’ number that’s issued to you. They closed that loophole as people with classic cars were selling their original numbers to kit cars, Caterhams, ‘new’ Triumph motorbikes, etc.

(bear in mind that as soon as you transfer it, essentially it *is*a private plate BTW)

How sentimental are we talking here by the way? Is it something “you” were conceived in born in on the way to the hospital after getting stuck on the m6?

I’m not one for getting attached to stuff so appreciate I’m unlikely to empathise but I can’t really even imagine being that attached to the number plate of a car.

I have no idea, but assuming a new new vehicle I’d be looking into the cost and hassle of multiple registering and reregistering vs asking the dealer to do it on first registration and binning the old one two weeks earlier.

Why are you keeping a scrap car for a fortnight anyway? If you need two cars for a few days it might be more cost-effective to hire one.

I have to know what the plate is and why you’re attached to it. I can’t even imagine a scenario where I would want to keep a regular registration number so I bet it’s a wild story.

I have an old number plate from a car I scrapped on retention, wasn’t a private plate either. I just walked into my local DVLA office (that shows how long ago it was!), told them what I wanted to do and £65 later I had a certificate for it and a different registration on the new V5C for the the car I was scrapping. I never put new plates on it though as it was picked up 3 days later and taken away. They did have to do some checks to make sure the registration was transferrable, I tried to keep another one but wasn’t allowed to. The car had originally been registered with a personal plate (by my dad) so had never had a standard plate assigned to it until I bought it from him and an age appropriate one was issued. It was a 6 digit plate and I’d had offers to buy it but couldn’t get it off the car as it was non-transferable under the rules, only original plates or plates issued as personal ones can be transferred.

Oh and the one I have in retention ends in FMC (Ford Motor Company) and they go for a decent amount. Should probably look into selling it again, didn’t get any bites last time but the Ford market has gone a bit nuts since!

All plates are private plates…. just some look like they spell words sometimes, if you squint a bit…

My dad did exactly this in the 60s and has kept the same plate on his cars ever since… he got a car that came with 4 numbers then 2 letters