I’ve got a private number plate that I want to put onto my next vehicle that I ordered yesterday.I was told by the dealer that the new vehicle has to have the original number on it and I have to retain my private plate and change it myself.Now when I had the vehicle I’ve got now it never came with a registration number on it.How do I find out what number I have to put on and how do I do this.Also when do I start doing all this as my dealer is about as much use as a chocolate fire guard.
As an alternative, I let the dealership assign a normal registration number and I get the private plate assigned at a later date (usually once the reg is no longer the ‘current’ one 😂). I have adopted this approach with both private and Motability cars and it’s worked really well for me
When I want to get the private plate assigned I drive to Halfords (with the required documentation) and when parked in their car park I unscrew the original plates and hand them to the technician so that they can drill the holes in the same places on the private plates.. I then pop the new plates on before I leave.
The advantage of this approach is that whilst it’s more work up front, it makes it very easy when I’m about to sell the car (if private) or hand it back (Motability). I simply put the private reg on retention and the DVLA automatically re-assign the original reg number, which I already have the original plates for, so it’s a 5 minute job to swap the plates over. Job done. Repeat process with next car!