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I have thought very carefully before publishing this latest blog post. It is not necessarily a good idea to draw attention to the bad practices which sometimes take place within the industry that you are involved in. The thinking is that by highlighting the wrongdoings, you make people apprehensive towards buying your product or service. Consumers tend to become suspicious of an industry, just because of the actions of one or two ‘bad apples’.
However, I feel it is only right to give a response following some recent allegations of dodgy dealings within the private number plates industry. A couple of National tabloid newspapers have named and shamed two particular number plate dealers who, it is alleged, have taken money from customers, but failed to supply the personalised registrations paid for. I am not going to defend the companies involved. If what has been written is true then these individual companies deserve to have their reputations tarnished. What I strongly object to is the suggestion that all private number plate dealers are crooks and that this type of bad behaviour is normal amongst cherished number plate companies.
The people who are suggesting that the industry is crooked are readers who have published comments online in response to the original newspaper article. Unless you have dealt with every single company within an industry you are not in a position to make a general accusation. I can think of lots of other professions and industries which have received bad press over the years. It does not mean you should judge the whole industry just because of the actions of one or two individuals or companies.
There are several personalised number plate companies who are striving to promote fairness in the cherished numbers industry. A small group of dealers got together a few years ago and set up an organisation, one of the objectives being to offer consumers confidence, guidance and above all else, a fair deal. Members of this personalised number dealers organisation strive to ensure that every client is 100% satisfied and receives a truly professional service. Please note that the two companies accused of scamming their customers are not members of this organisation and probably never will be.
The purpose of this blog post is not to name the members of this trustworthy organisation, it is to point out that not every company involved in the buying and selling of private number plates chooses to operate in a dishonest way. It is not fair to say all number plate dealers are crooks just as it is not right to say that all accountants are bent, or that all builders are cowboys. Yes there are some rogue traders out there, but let us not forget that there are also some very honest and trustworthy businesspeople providing very high standards of service, some of whom happen to be private number plate dealers.
In today’s post we are featuring the personalised registration RUB 88N which does not follow the usual format of our stock number plates. The majority of the registrations owned by Simply Registrations are dateless number plates. This means they can go onto any age of vehicle. RUB 88N is a suffix-style registration which dates back from 1974.
The fact that this is a suffix-style registration shouldn’t cause problems for anyone who is interested in buying RUB 88N. The DVLA rules state that you cannot use a registration to make a car or vehicle appear newer than it actually is. In other words if your vehicle was manufactured and first registered in June 2005, you are prevnted from being able to transfer the registration JJ11 MMY to it, as you would be giving the impression that your car was registered in 2011.
If the private number plate RUB 88N was going to be used to make your car seem newer, then you would have to own a vehicle which was nearly forty years old. So whilst RUB 88N isn’t a dateless registration, we do not feel we are excluding anyone from displaying these particular personalised number plates on their car.
So what is the story behind this particular registration? A regular client was looking forward to the birth of his son having decided on the name Ruben. The registration RUB 88N was available to buy and he decided to snap it up well in advance of his son being able to drive. He got an unusual surprise when his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a couple of months later (who they decided to call Sadie). As a result the personalised number plate RUB 88N is being offered for sale as it is surplus to requirements. Sadie already has a brother and two sisters which apparently is quite enough.
The personalised registration RUB 88N is available to purchase direct from Simply Registrations on a first come first served basis. It is very sensibly priced at £1,400 plus the £80 transfer fee and is held on a DVLA Certificate of Entitlement for fast transfer. Call James on 0113 288 7553 if there is a Ruben in your family.
It is often said that we subconsciously give gifts that we would like to receive. Whilst this statement may be true, it does not necessarily mean that our loved ones are going to enjoy receiving the same gifts that we secretly desire.
My many years of buying and selling private number plates has taught me that the majority of female car owners in Great Britain will not be hoping for a shiny set of personalised number plates to unwrap on Christmas morning. Experience tells me that shoes, handbags and perfume are the gifts most ladies would prefer to receive.
You may think I am shooting myself in the foot by making such a statement, but I do not feel I have anything to lose by letting you in on this industry secret. Most of the excited husbands and boyfriends that I speak to will go ahead and buy personalised number plates for their respective wives and girlfriends anyway. They confidently reassure me by saying something along the lines of “My wife is different, she will be really pleased, I promise you”.
I first became aware of the fact that most ladies do not get excited about car number plates when I went along to a local Chamber of Commerce networking event and got chatting to a local businesswoman. After I introduced myself this particular lady told me her husband had bought her a personalised registration with her initials on for a ‘special’ birthday. She said it was probably the worst present she had ever received. Lots of other ladies have shared similar stories with me over the years.
This knowledge is also backed up by my own experiences of dealing with gentlemen who are on the verge of buying private number plates for themselves. The transaction is discussed in great detail and all the finer points are agreed. The potential client then states he is just going to run it by his wife before paying a deposit. At this point my heart sinks, as I know that if he bothers to ring back he will tell me that his wife would rather spend the money on a new fitted kitchen, a new bathroom or even a boob job. Unfortunately most ladies do not get excited about personalised number plates.
So to answer the question; do private number plates make good gifts? I suppose it depends who you are buying them for. If you choose wisely and buy at the right price you may end up with a great investment. If you are buying for the special lady in your life then all the logical reasons in the world are not going to convince her that it is a fantastic gift to receive. My advice would be to forget the number plates and go with the shoes or handbag option.
If the reason you are thinking about buying private number plates is because you secretly want them for your own car, then please go ahead and treat yourself. We have a fantastic selection of personalised registrations for sale at Simply Registrations to suit all budgets. My only request is that you don’t ask your wife what she thinks, before making your purchase.
Merry Christmas!
The personalised number plate 8 LMS has created quite a lot of interest since it was bought in for the Simply Registrations stock portfolio. It seems everyone who is interested has their own number plate to sell first. We have had several part-exchange offers but for one reason or another it has never got to the completion stage.
The original LMS registrations were allocated to vehicles registered in Stirling, Scotland. LMS 1 was issued in 1958 and is still in existence today; currently registered to a Honda CRV.
Both 8 LMS & 9 LMS are being offered for sale on the open market. This presents an ideal opportunity to anyone with these initials to have a consecutive pair of private number plates. Being a very popular set of initials our advice would be to act quickly if you have an interest in these particular registrations.
The personalised number plate 8 LMS is available direct from Simply Registrations on a first come, first served basis. As it belongs to our stock portfolio we promise you will not find 8 LMS cheaper anywhere else.
Call James today on 0113 288 7553 and find out just how quickly we could have these shiny new number plates displayed on your vehicle. Naturally this personalised registration is available for same-day transfer if required.
Having invested wisely in your new personalised number plates, the last thing you want to do is have your registration confiscated. Who, you may be wondering, can confiscate your personalised registration? The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA); the keepers of records for drivers and vehicles in Great Britain will take your personalised registration away from you if you fail to display it in accordance with the law.
The 2001 Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations in the United Kingdom clearly states the rules for the correct way to display car registration plates. This law indicates the geometric requirements for the characteristics of the numbers and letters. Most of the information contained within the regulations is commonly known. Indeed, if you buy your number plates from a DVLA regulated supplier you will not have any concerns.
All regulated number plate suppliers risk being on the receiving end of a huge financial penalty if they do not comply with the rules. Most worrying of all is that the supplier risks losing their authority to issue road legal number plates, which equates to a loss of revenue and could mean the end of their business and livelihood.
Here are some of the basic rules surrounding the legal display of car number plates. The characters (the letters and numbers) on the number plate should be coloured black on a white background for the number plate at the front of the vehicle. The background must be yellow at the rear. Number plates should be clear and readable. There must also be no alterations, rearrangements, and misrepresentations on the car registration plate. The most common form of altering a number plate involves the placing of fixing bolts where they do not belong to make a letter look like a number and vice versa.
The money you have invested in personalised number plates is wasted if your car registration is confiscated. Follow the rules, buy from a DVLA regulated supplier and your new asset should appreciate steadily over time.
Welcome to the latest entry in our profile of the registrations owned in our stock portfolio at Simply Registrations. Today we are featuring the personalised number plate 7 EJD.
The original EJD registrations were issued in 1951 to vehicles registered in West Ham, London. That makes any original EJD registration (with the letters appearing before the numbers) sixty years old.
Historically, registrations starting with the letter ‘E’ haven’t achieved as high prices when compared to similar registrations starting with the letters ‘M’ or ‘S’. In more recent times however, some names beginning with the letter ‘E’ have started to appear on the popular registered names lists. Ethan, Ella, Evie and Edward are a few good examples.
It isn’t unheard of for parents or grandparents to secure personalised registrations as future gifts for their children or grandchildren. A DVLA document can be held indefinitely providing the annual £25 administration fee is paid to DVLA to extend the entitlement to the registration. So rather than looking for the car owner with the initials EJD, we may be marketing 7 EJD to the parents of Ethan J Davies, or the grandparents of Evie J Dixon.
The personalised number plate 7 EJD is available to buy direct from Simply Registrations on a first come, first served basis. It is owned by Simply Registrations so we can guarantee you will not find it advertised at a better price anywhere else. Buy 7 EJD for £4,600 plus v.a.t. and the DVLA transfer fee today by calling 0113 288 7553 and speaking to James.
May I take this opportunity to apologise to you if you have unsuccessfully tried to contact Simply Registrations over the past couple of weeks. There are times in our lives when a combination of events results in things not quite going to plan. The previous fourteen days definitely threw up a few challenges. We have moved house and as I work from home that means a new office address and telephone number for Simply Registrations.
Our new home is less than a mile away from where we used to live, but significantly we are now covered by the Leeds telephone exchange, rather than the Wakefield exchange. This means a new telephone number for Simply Registrations – 0113 288 7553.
The plan was that anyone dialling the old number would hear a recorded message advising them of our new telephone number. Unfortunately our telecoms provider (BT) messed things up in a big way and the old telephone number was unexpectedly disconnected before the new line was active. I won’t go into the problems caused by not having a telephone line or internet connection, but as I am sure you can imagine it really has been a challenging couple of weeks.
The good news is things are now back to normal and we are open for business. We are working through the SimplyRegistrations.co.uk website to remove any references to the old address and telephone number. If you did ring over the past couple of weeks and were greeted by an unobtainable tone, I am genuinely sorry. We have always promised a professional and efficient number plate buying experience which extends to being able to contact us by telephone. I trusted BT with our house moving order and have learned from my mistake.
We still have a fantastic selection of quality registrations for sale at very competitive prices. As I have learned recently not everything comes down to price; sometimes the level of service is much more important. I am certain you will not find a better service anywhere else when it comes to acquiring a personalised number plate. You can speak to me direct on 0113 288 7553 to discuss any of the private number plates we are offering for sale.
James Saperia, Director – Simply Registrations Ltd.
The personalised number plate 6 JLT was only recently acquired for the Simply Registrations stock portfolio and is already attracting a fair amount of interest.
This is the second time we have been fortunate enough to get our hands on a single-digit JLT registration.
A couple of years ago we had 4 JLT in stock but only for a very short amount of time. It was quickly snapped up by an eager buyer and is now proudly displayed on a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S convertible.
The original JLT registrations were assigned to vehicles registered in London from 1947. By original we are referring to the registrations which started JLT and were followed by a series of numbers. The reverse issue JLT registrations are periodically released for sale at auction.
As far as we can tell 6 JLT is the only single-digit JLT registration currently available on the open market. Being a very popular set of initials our advice would be to act quickly if you have an interest in this particular registration.
UPDATE: Please note the registration 6 JLT is now sold.
Call James today on 0113 288 7553 and find out just how quickly we could have these shiny new number plates fitted to your vehicle. Naturally this registration is available for same-day transfer if required.
We have touched on this subject before but I would like to take the opportunity to highlight what we mean exactly when we talk about same-day number plate transfers. If a client is looking to buy one of our stock personalised number plates, we can complete the transfer and have the number plates fitted to their car the same day. Stock personalised number plates are the registrations that we own outright, not the registrations we are selling on behalf of someone else.
I suppose it is a sign of the times when people are very wary about parting with significant amounts of money in advance of receiving whatever it is that they are buying. No-one wants to wait a few weeks for their goods to be delivered, especially if they have any doubts about the company they are buying from. All too often we hear stories in the news about furniture retailers or package holiday companies going bust and leaving their customers out of pocket.
One of the more extreme cases we know of involved a specialist car dealer in Leeds committing blatant fraud. Customers were contacted and invited to drop their cars off at the company’s impressive showrooms for a complimentary service. Naturally quite a few car owners took advantage of this special one-time offer. They were probably shocked when they went back to the same showroom later that day to discover all the cars and staff had vanished, including those cars belonging to the customers.
Now I’m not suggesting that all businesses are at risk of going under; however you can appreciate why some clients are reluctant to pay for high-value items to then have to wonder if those items will ever arrive. I should also add that Simply Registrations has no plans to cease trading. We are debt-free and the Motor Vehicle Registration Agents & Dealers Industry Report published last month by Plimsoll rates Simply Registrations as STRONG.
The same-day number plate service that we offer means you pay for and get your new personalised registration plates fitted to your car the same-day. No hanging about and no waiting for documents to arrive in the post. We go to the DVLA Local Office together and get the transfer completed there and then.
This service is not just for nervous buyers. You could just be in a hurry to get your number plates on your car in time for a special occasion. Perhaps you have left it until the last minute to choose a gift for a loved one and time is not on your side? Call James on 0113 288 7553 to discover whether the private number plates you are interested in are available for our unique same-day transfer service.
It is the turn of 6 MAK to feature in the personalised number plates profile section. This is a registration which has caught the attention of quite a few interested motorists since we bought it, but for the time being it remains for sale.
The MAK set of letters was issued originally in the Bradford area in 1955. DVLA was quick to notice that MAK is a very popular combination of initials. Whilst DVLA was not able to sell registrations starting MAK followed by numbers, they could issue the reverse option; numbers before letters. 2 MAK was sold at DVLA auction in December 1999. A quick car data check shows it is currently registered to a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S.
Since 1999 all the single digit MAK registrations have been sold at auction other than the number 1. This is surprising as often the number 1 which is first in the series to be sold at auction. You can be sure that if, or when DVLA offers 1 MAK for sale at auction, it will be expected to fetch a very high price.
Whilst you wait for 1 MAK to become available, why not consider our very own 6 MAK. It certainly is not cheap at £7,000 plus v.a.t. but then again you would not expect it to be. Quality items generally have an appropriate price attached to them and 6 MAK is no different.
The personalised number plate 6 MAK is available to purchase direct from Simply Registrations on a first come first served basis. At the time of writing it is the only single digit MAK registration being offered for sale on the open market. Call James today on 0113 288 7553 to register your interest in this exclusive personalised number plate.
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