When you are ready to assign the new plate to a vehicle, you’ll need to submit your application to the DVLA or for us to
check and submit. When your application is complete, simply fit the new number plates and update your insurance company.
Don’t forget to use our Transfer Age Rules checker
to ensure that you can use
your registration on your chosen vehicle!
If you have supplied us with an email address, you will receive a confirmation of your order by email containing a link to a page detailing the order process.
We will also send you a postal confirmation. The contents of your confirmation letter will also explain the process you need to follow depending on which options you have chosen.
New registration marks—your transfer option
Do-It-Yourself transfer
We will arrange for the DVLA V750 certificate to be sent to the purchaser’s address accompanied by full instructions on how to complete the transfer. This will normally be sent out by first class post within 5 to 10 days.
If you would prefer that we handled the paperwork for you, (saving you the time and hassle of doing it yourself) then choose the Done-For-You Transfer Service upgrade instead.
Done-For-You transfer service—transfer immediately
If the vehicle is already owned or being bought privately we can assign the registration mark to the vehicle within 10 days of receiving the necessary documents. The confirmation pack we send you will ask for you to return your vehicle documents to us in the pre-paid envelope provided.
If we are liaising with your vehicle dealership, we will contact them to explain the process. We will send the Certificate of Entitlement to the dealership for assignment; they should receive it within 5 to 10 days of your order being processed.
Done-For-You transfer service—later transfer
If you have opted to delay the transfer then you will have a full 10 years from the purchase date and this period can be extended if needs be. Please be assured that as soon as we receive your documents we will act on completing your transfer.
If you have opted for us to liaise with your vehicle dealership, assigning your new registration mark couldn’t be easier!
Once you have placed your order and we have made contact by telephone with your vehicle dealership, we will send them the V750W Certificate of Entitlement so that they can register the mark onto your brand new vehicle using the AFRL system. You can drive away in your shiny new car complete with an eye-catching personal registration mark!
If you decide to change your vehicle in the future, you can take your private registration mark with you providing that your new vehicle is of a suitable age to receive the mark. Your current vehicle will be issued with a standard age-related registration mark.
To find out more about transferring your private registration mark to another vehicle, check out our DVLA Processes and Regulations section.
Whilst most vehicle dealers are more than happy to liaise with us, we suggest that you check with them first out of courtesy. If the dealer is not willing to liaise with us then we can complete the transfer for you with the DVLA once you have taken possession of the vehicle.
New registration marks—your extras
Gift options
If you selected the 'Gift' option during the checkout process, all our mail will be sent in plain envelopes so that we can carry out the number plate transfer without that someone special finding out. If you have ordered a gift certificate, this will be sent to you the same day that your order is processed (excluding weekends and bank holidays). We use Royal Mail's Special Delivery service which is guaranteed by 1pm the next week day (excluding bank holidays) as long as your order is processed before 2pm. Someone will need to be at the delivery address to sign for the gift certificate so if you would like to delay the sending or if you want it to be delivered on a Saturday, just contact our friendly after-sales team (opens in new window).
Replacement number plates
In order for us to legally supply you with your acrylic number plates, we must see one of the following original documents:
A utility bill (water, electricity, gas or landline telephone bill)
A bank or building society statement
You will receive a pre-paid return envelope in your confirmation letter. Your bill or statement will be sent back to you and no personal financial details will be recorded or kept. As soon as we receive one of these documents, we can arrange for your plates to be dispatched by Royal Mail. If you didn’t order number plates but want to add them on at a later date, simply contact our after-sales team (opens in new window).
If you already have the vehicle, we can assign the registration mark within 4 to 6 weeks of receiving the necessary documents from you. The confirmation we send you will ask for you to return your vehicle documents to us in the pre-paid envelope provided. We will require your documents within three weeks from the date of purchase.
Transfer to a vehicle later
If you have opted to delay the transfer then you will have a full 10 years from the purchase date and this period can be extended if needs be. Please be assured that as soon as we receive your documents we will act on completing your transfer.
If you selected the 'Gift' option during the checkout process, all of our mail will be sent in plain envelopes so that we can carry out the number plate transfer without that someone special finding out.
Replacement number plates
We can only send out the replacement number plates once we have received notification from the DVLA that your transfer has been completed successfully. In order for us to legally supply you with your acrylic number plates, we must see one of the following original documents:
A utility bill (water, electricity, gas or landline telephone bill)
A bank or building society statement
You will receive a pre-paid return envelope in your confirmation letter. Your bill or statement will be sent back to you and no personal financial details will be recorded or kept. As soon as we receive one of these documents, we can arrange for your plates to be dispatched by Royal Mail. If you didn’t order number plates but want to add them on at a later date, simply contact our after-sales team (opens in new window).
You can complete the transfer providing that you have the V5C/2 New Keeper Supplement. If you prefer, we can complete the transfer for you, saving you the time and hassle!
If the previous keeper has already sent part of the V5C Registration Document to change the keeper details, you can still submit the V5C New Keeper's Supplement with your application to assign a private registration. We advise however that you wait for the new V5C to arrive from the DVLA as the New Keeper's Supplement often becomes invalid by the time it reaches us. Submitting a full V5C document will allow us to complete a transfer for you.
Once your transfer is completed, you will receive your new full V5C Registration Document showing the new keeper's details and your new private registration mark.
Please note that you will need to re-tax the vehicle as the new keeper before submitting your transfer application to the DVLA. You can read more about transferring a registration mark in our DVLA processes and regulations area.
If you have found a registration that you would like to purchase but you aren’t ready to transfer it straight away, we can help you to arrange a later transfer. You can still place an order for the registration even if you don’t have a vehicle yet. It will be removed from general sale for you immediately so that no one else can buy it.
New registration marks
Initially, the registration mark will be held on an official government certificate valid for 10 years. If you haven't assigned your new registration mark to a vehicle within that time, you can renew the registration mark for a further 10 years.
If you have opted for the Done-For-You Transfer service, we will start processing your transfer as soon as we receive your vehicle documents. Alternatively, if you would like your transfer completed for a specific date such as a birthday or anniversary, simply let us know and we will do our best to accommodate.
To read more about our gift options, take a look at our Buying as a gift area.
Pre-owned registration marks
As these registration marks are owned by a third party, the most secure way to take possession of them is to transfer them to a vehicle straight away. If you don’t have a vehicle or would like to delay the transfer, this is possible but there are different processes involved which are dependent on whether the registration mark is held on a government certificate or assigned to a vehicle.
If the registration mark is currently assigned to a vehicle, we can retain it for you so it will be held on a government certificate for 10 years. You can renew the certificate every 10 years until you are ready to use it and once it has been assigned to a vehicle, there are no on-going costs.
If the registration mark is already held on a certificate, the process is different. The DVLA retention scheme prevents the change of ownership of government holding certificates (V750 Certificates of Entitlement or V778 Certificates of Retention). In order to transfer the rights to a registration mark, we will need to assign it to a vehicle and then re-retain it onto a Government certificate in your details (as the new owner).
We can offer a donor vehicle service for this purpose or, alternatively, you can choose to have the registration mark assigned to the vehicle of a friend or relative and then retain it again in your details. If would like us to offer a donor vehicle service for the transfer of rights, please see the additional price breakdown below:
Price breakdown for this service
Donor vehicle
£83.33
Administration fee
£22.92
VAT
£21.25
Standard Government Retention Fee
£80.00
The registration mark will then be held on a government certificate that is valid for 10 years and can be renewed after this period. You can keep renewing until you are ready to use it, keeping a private number plate on a certificate until your son or daughter is old enough to drive. What a fabulous idea for a seventeenth birthday present!
For more information, please visit the following areas:
In this section you will find a wealth of information relating to the documents you may need whilst owning a vehicle with a private number plate or just keeping the rights to a cherished registration number on a DVLA certificate.
There are also detailed procedures for assigning, transferring and retaining a personal car registration mark and also information about DVLA regulations relating to the displaying of registration marks.
How to transfer
Perhaps you've opted for a Do-It-Yourself transfer and feel like you have bitten off more than you can chew? Or you simply want to transfer your private registration mark from one vehicle to another but you don't know where to start? Are you selling your car and you're worried that you'll lose your precious number plate? These instructions are designed to make what can seem like a daunting process very straightforward.
Assigning - Certificate to vehicle
If you hold a registration mark on either a V750 certificate of entitlement or a V778 certificate of retention and would like to display your registration mark on your vehicle, you will need to submit your application to the DVLA with the following document:
V5C Registration document.
N.B: - If you have a new vehicle and haven't received the new V5 document within 10 days of taking ownership, please contact DVLA by calling 0300 790 6802 to enquire further.
Please note:
Most registration marks can only be assigned to vehicles of a certain age. To see what registrations you can have on your vehicle, use our Transfer Age Rules checker
Only MOT testable vehicles can take part in the scheme, i.e. not tractors or agricultural vehicles
When the transfer is complete, you will receive the following:
V5C Registration Document showing the change of registration mark
Upon receiving your new V5C document, you may legally display your new number plates on your vehicle. Before doing this, please remember to inform your insurance company of the change to your policy. Your road tax and MOT record will be updated automatically and the expiry dates will remain the same.
If you've bought a registration mark from Plates4Less and want some advice about completing your assignment, just contact our friendly after-sales team (opens in new window). Why not let us do all of the hard work by upgrading to our Done-For-You Transfer service?
Transferring - Vehicle to vehicle
When you wish to transfer your registration mark to another vehicle, you will need to fill out a V317 form and send your application to the DVLA along with the following document(s) (for each vehicle):
V5C Registration document OR completed V5C/2 New Keeper’s Supplement with V62 form
Cheque for £80 made payable to 'DVLA'
Please note:
Most registration marks can only be assigned to vehicles of a certain age. To see what registrations you can have on your vehicle, use our Transfer Age Rules checker
Only MOT testable vehicles can take part in the scheme, i.e. not tractors or agricultural vehicles
You cannot transfer a registration mark from a vehicle if the words 'NON TRANSFERABLE' are printed in area 3 of the V5C
The vehicle that you have removed the registration from will be issued with an age-related registration mark. When the transfer is complete, you should expect to receive the following for each vehicle:
V5C Registration documents showing the change of registration mark
Upon receiving these documents, you may legally display your new number plates on your vehicle. Before doing this, please remember to inform your insurance company of the change to your policy. Your road tax and MOT record will be updated automatically and the expiry dates will remain the same.
Retaining - Vehicle to certificate
The retention scheme enables the keeper of a vehicle to hold its registration on a certificate for a period of up to 10 years. The certificate can then be renewed every 10 years until you are ready to use it on a vehicle.
To keep the rights to a registration mark on a certificate (separate to a vehicle), you will need to fill out a V317 form and send your application to the DVLA along with the following document(s):
V5C Registration document
A cheque for £80 made payable to 'DVLA'
Please note:
Only MOT testable vehicles can take part in the scheme, i.e. not tractors or agricultural vehicles
You cannot retain a registration mark from a vehicle if the words 'NON TRANSFERABLE' are printed in area 3 of the V5C
Your vehicle will be assigned with a non-transferable age related registration mark. When the retention is complete, you will receive the following:
V5C Registration document showing the change of registration mark
A V778 certificate of retention
Upon receiving these documents, you may legally display your new number plates on your vehicle. Before doing this, please remember to inform your insurance company of the change to your policy. Your road tax and MOT record will be updated automatically and the expiry dates will remain the same.
Number plate rules and regulations
If you’ve just bought a new private registration mark, make sure that you follow the law when displaying your new number plates. The information below will help you to avoid failing your MOT or receiving a hefty fine!
Overview
The law states that you must not alter, rearrange or misrepresent the letters or numbers on registration marks. Characters must not be moved from one group to the other (e.g. A242 ABC must not be displayed as A242A BC).
Offences may result in any or all of the following:
A fine of up to £1,000
The registration mark may be WITHDRAWN
The vehicle may FAIL the MOT test
General rules for displaying number plates
Your number plates should:
be made from a reflective material
display black characters on a white background (front plate)
display black characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
not have a background pattern
Fonts and spacing
From 1st September 2001 all new number plates must display the new mandatory (compulsory) font. This, combined with the
new style format registration mark is designed to make number plates clearer and easier to remember. Number plates
fitted before 1st September 2001 need not be changed provided the character font used is similar to the new font. Characters
on a number plate can be 3D.
Number plates must be replaced if they have been customised with:
Stylised letters and/or figures such as italics
Number plate fixing bolts that alter the appearance of the letters and/or numbers
The 'Characters' are the individual letters and numbers. The 'Space between characters' refers to the spaces within
a group of characters together, in the prefix style example below A555 is one group and WOW is another group. The 'Space
between groups' is the legal required space between those 2 groups of characters (shown as 33mm in the example):
Number plates fitted after 1st September 2001:
Number plates fitted after 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown below.
Characters
Group 1
Height
79mm
Width (except Number 1 or letter I)
50mm
Stroke
14mm
Space between characters
11mm
Space between groups
33mm
Top bottom and side margins (minimum)
11mm
Space between vertical lines
19mm
Number plates fitted before 1st September 2001:
Number plates fitted before 1 September 2001 must display characters that meet the dimensions shown in one of the two groups
below
Characters
Group 1
Group2
Height
89mm
79mm
Width (Except Number 1 or letter I)
64mm
57mm
Stroke
16mm
14mm
Space between characters
13mm
11mm
Space between groups
38mm
33mm
Side margins (minimum)
13mm
11mm
Space between vertical lines
19mm
19mm
Display of vehicle registration marks on imported vehicles (which have a restricted space for a standard sized
number plate):
Certain imported vehicles may be permitted to display number plates with smaller characters if the vehicle does not have
European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval and the vehicle's construction/design cannot accommodate standard size number
plates
Characters
Group 1
Height
64mm
Width
44mm
Stroke
10mm
Space between characters
10mm
Display of vehicle registration marks on motorcycles and tricycles
Motorcycles and tricycles registered after 1st September 2001 must only display a number plate at the rear of the vehicle.
Motorcycles and tricycles registered before 1st September 2001 can display a number plate at the front but are not required
to.
Characters
Group 1
Height
64mm
Width
44mm
Stroke
10mm
Space between characters
10mm
Space between groups
30mm
Top, side & bottom margin
11mm
Space between vertical lines
13mm
Motorcycles registered on or after 1st September 2001 must display a two-line number plate. Motorcycles registered prior
to the 1st September 2001 may display a three-line plate, but one-line plates are illegal, irrespective of the date of registration
of the motorcycle.
Logos and emblems
The Department of Transport state that you should not display any logo or symbol on the registration number plates. You may exhibit a GB EU, GB, England, Scotland or Welsh flag but no other sign/emblem, even if they do not interfere with the visibility on the letters and numbers. Football crests etc. are not allowed.
Towing a trailer
Your trailer must display the same number plate as the car you’re towing it with. If you’re towing more than one trailer, the number plate must be fixed to the trailer at the back.
Getting number plates made up
You can only get a number plate made up from a registered number plate supplier.
The supplier will need to see original documents that:
prove your name and address
show you’re allowed to use the registration number
If you have bought a registration mark from Plates4Less and would like to add a set of number plates to your order, just contact our friendly after-sales team.
I have just purchased a registration mark — what do I do now?
If you supplied us with an email address, you will receive an email containing a link to a page detailing the process. We will also send you a postal confirmation detailing the process.
I have received my number plates — when can I put them on my vehicle?
Please do not display your new plates on your vehicle until the transfer has been completed and you have received the new V5C Vehicle Registration Certificate (the 'logbook') showing the new registration.
I have received my new V5C Vehicle Registration Certificate (the 'logbook') — when will I receive my MOT certificate?
You will not receive a replacement MOT certificate. Your current MOT certificate will remain valid until the expiry date. Your MOT and road tax records will be updated electronically. Once you have received your new V5C document, you will know that the transfer has been completed and you can affix the new number plates to your vehicle.
What happens to my old registration mark?
Your existing registration mark will be removed from your vehicle and held by the DVLA. If you have the space, then put your old number plates into storage because you may be able to re-instate your old registration to your vehicle when you come to change it, although there are no guarantees (you may just get a registration mark which relates to the age of your vehicle).
Do I need to inform my insurers that I have a new registration mark?
Yes, remember to tell them in writing that 'In the event of a total loss claim...' whereby they effectively buy your vehicle (or what's left of it) off you due to theft, or as a 'right off', '...the registration mark will remain your property'. Get them to acknowledge this request in writing. They do not normally make a charge for issuing a new cover note in these circumstances or for complying with this request.
Once I own a private number plate can I transfer it when I change my vehicle?
Yes, provided your next vehicle is the same age or younger than the one you have now. The transfer fee is presently £80 and this includes putting an age-related number plate on the vehicle you are selling, although you will also be required to buy a new set of plates to match, before you sell it.
