How Long Can You Keep a Personalised Registration on Retention?

This particular number plate question is asked at least once a week so I decided to make it the topic of today’s blog post. So how long can you keep a personalised registration on a DVLA Retention Document (V778) or on a Certificate of Entitlement (V750) without transferring it to a vehicle?

The answer is as long as is necessary. There used to be a fee of £25 payable to DVLA for every year that you kept the registration on a certificate or document, however since 9th March 2015 every retention document (V778) or certificate of entitlement (V750) issued by DVLA is valid for 10 years with no future fees to renew.

Do not allow a DVLA certificate to expire

On the actual certificate it states; ‘This vehicle registration number must be assigned to a vehicle before’. To the right-hand side, underneath the validation character a date is printed on the certificate; this is the expiry date of the certificate. Do not allow the certificate to expire. You can only renew your certificate in the 28 days prior to expiry. You will lose the rights to the personalised registration if you forget to renew.

What can I do if I have let my retention document or certificate of entitlement expire?

For many years DVLA allowed expired certificates to be renewed, but this working practice was at odds with the regulations. DVLA could not continue to work outside the law so it changed the way expired certificates are processed. A grace period introduced in November 2016 allowed an expired certificate to be surrendered and replaced with a valid 10 year certificate. The transitional scheme for expired certificates ended on the 18th of December 2019.

So to sum up, you can keep a personalised registration on a certificate for as long as you like, but you must renew and extend entitlement in the 28 days before your right to the registration mark expires.

At Simply Registrations we aim to provide our clients with a first-class customer experience. We receive hundreds of general enquiries from members of the public on a weekly basis. It would be great if we could help everyone regardless of whether they are our customer or not, but sadly we do not have the time or resources available. Looking after our existing and future clients is our main priority.

If you are not a Simply Registrations client and have a general question about a number plate, please contact DVLA.

If you are not happy with the service from DVLA you can make a formal complaint.

The information contained within this website is provided for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.