Buyers Guide to Making an Offer

How can I buy my ideal Personalised Registration Mark… 4 Less?

Well, you are definitely in the right place to save money on your purchase!

Our margins are the lowest in the business and we pass the savings on to buyers and sellers alike

This means that the seller is more likely to accept your offer through us because you can be sure that the largest amount of the sale proceeds goes to the seller… of any comparative agency. Good to know if you become a Seller one day too.

If the buyer had gone elsewhere, he could have easily paid over £50,000 more in agency commission.
We saved him the price of a brand-new top end executive vehicle and got the seller the big 6 figure number, their private plate was worth.

Our business is about ‘volume’ and making a little bit of profit, lots and lots of times

It’s not about Under-valuing the plate to the Seller and Over-pricing it to the Buyer to make a hefty chunk of margin or ‘mark-up’ in between.

That means that our Buyers always pay a market-led price for their new personal registration mark and our Sellers always get a fair price too.

Your 6-Rule Guide to saving money and time

Rule 1 - Don’t go around all the dealers placing offers everywhere for the same number plate, even for the same amount

Why? The Seller will think that there’s suddenly lots of buyers interested in his private registration and hold firm on the price. Worse still, they may take it off the market and up the price later. Even if you offer the same amount to everyone the figure that the dealer then offers the seller will be lower and be different. Dealers should never mention buyers’ names for Data Protection Act compliance so the Seller will have no clue what’s really going on. Of course, you may be unlucky and there really could be more than one interested buyer though.

Rule 2 - Always make your offers reasonable and respectful

At Plates4less we refuse to list registration marks for sellers who want to ask for ‘silly money’. If we don’t think a mark is worth it, we won’t list it. After all, what’s the point of dressing our shop window with lots of overpriced number plates that will never sell? The sellers asking price should therefore be competitive and likewise your offer should be in line with what it’s really worth. We ask our sellers if they are ‘open to offers’ or if their price is ‘negotiable’. Many are, and just as many aren’t. The ones that are negotiable help us set a Reserve price under which they do not wish us to bother them. It’s simply not worth their time considering silly low offers and we respect them for that.

Rule 3 - If you have the time, do some research and look at similar marks, what the asking prices are and where they are being offered for sale

If you find some useful comparisons let us know as that information could be useful in establishing the price you are willing to pay and your subsequent offer.

Rule 4 - Unlike the housing market, don’t assume that just because a plate has been on the market a long while, the seller is getting desperate to sell

Private Registration Marks are a luxury item just like luxury watches. There is a thriving second-user market for both, with established prices. At Plates4less we stay in touch with all our sellers on a regular basis and ask them if they wish to adjust their selling prices, up, or down. You can be sure that if it’s listed for sale with us as an ‘available now’ item then it’s very likely to be available at the stated asking price as it will have been recently checked. We can’t say the same for other dealers though and so you are very likely to see number plates that are no longer available elsewhere.

Rule 5 - Don’t forget that your offer must include the DVLA £80 transfer fee and any VAT which can be especially significant if the registration mark is owned by a VAT registered company.

It’s a burden on all of us but taxes and transfer fees (another form of tax we are campaigning to reduce or eliminate) must be paid and these can take a significant bite out of your offer before it gets to the Seller. Your only crumb of comfort is that you can recharge these costs to your buyer, when it comes to your time to sell.

Rule 6 - Don’t expect a counter offer every time

As previously mentioned, many prices are fixed by the Seller (or non-negotiable). This usually means that they are already at the rock bottom price set by the Seller, giving us just enough margin to run our business properly. The Seller is never obliged to negotiate and we can’t force them to do so. Whenever we can afford to do so, we will reduce our margin to get a sale over the line, but we have our limits too and we can’t be expected to work for nothing.