[EVLAD]

I am thinking of getting a personalised plate to transfer onto my new Motability car  next month when it arrives at dealers.A few years ago i tried to do the same on my last motability car but it was very stressful as the transfer  kept failing, causing delay and  the   company i got the plate from was unbelievable rude and kept saying it was not their fault despite eventually  admitting the car reg was infact  attached to another vehicle.I am in N.ireland and the personalised plate  i plan to get will be a typical northern irish dateless car reg.The plan is for the new personalised plate  which will be already on a retention certificate with my name added  as nominee…i am not sure if that part is done online but the last time i tried this paperwork had to be sent off to DVLA for this part adding extra few weeks to process..has anyone ..ideally in northern ireland been through this process recently and any tips to avoid extra delays?

Topic

[Belf1]

Hi Evlad!

Do you already own the personal plate you wish to put on the new car?

 

If you do, and you are the nominee on the Retention Certificate you just need to give the certificate to your supplying dealer and they will register the car with your personal plate. This way it will come on the car at delivery.

 

When you then take the plates off the car, a new registration will be allocated. In Northern Ireland this will just be whatever the latest plates are.

[belfast4]

I don’t think that is correct a lot of dealers used to be able to do this but the DVLA stopped it. I think some manufacturers can still do it but most can’t. They need to register the car as normal then put the private plate on. When you take the private plate off the number that the car came with goes back on. I have had this 3 times now.

[Belf1]

I have always gave the retention certificate to the dealer and had the car registered and delivered on my personal plate. This includes my current car and the other half’s which was just delivered in November from an Agnew group dealership on Boucher Crescent.

There is no reason why a dealer cannot do this. It’s the same as if they give you a choice from a selection of available plates when they are registering it.

Any dealer saying they can’t do this are either incompetent or just lazy.

[EVLAD]

Thanks for the replies…i have not bought the plate yet..i am just weighing it up as would hate for it to cause a delay again when collecting my new car. The plate is on a retention certificate..it is a matter of adding my name if i plan to go ahead with purchase ..it is my sons car…i am the only driver. Did anyone who has gone through this process confirm they had to wait a week or 2 for DVLA to add the nominee to certificate? Seems a bit outdated to do that by snail mail in 2025.

[Belf1]

https://www.gov.uk/personalised-vehicle-registration-numbers/keep-or-assign

[EVLAD]

Is the process straight forward at the end of lease to keep the  personalised plates / transfer on to a new motability car…i am guessing i just pay the £80 fee again or whatever the fee is at that point.

[Belf1]

Are you purchasing the plate from a plate dealer/someone that already has it on retention or are you buying it directly from DVLA?

If it is a plate dealer it’s worth checking if the plate is available with DVLA. Often dealers just re-list publicly available plates for a markup and purchase them if someone orders it.

When buying from DVLA direct you pick what names should be shown on the retention certificate.

https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk

[Belf1]

Yes very straightforward.

when you log in to your Motability account online you will have a “Remove Personal Plate” button. £80 to take it off and a new registration will be issued for the car (if it had personal plate from registration).

[EVLAD]

Thank you for the helpful replies…the n.irish plate i am thinking of getting is from a reseller website not directly with DVLA. It is listed  slightly cheaper with a local company as they say it is their stock but i wanted to pay slightly more for it from another company as had bad experience with this particular company and wanted to avoid  them if at all possible. The difference is about a tenner so i feel it is worth it.

[Belf1]

If multiple different sellers have the plate I would imagine it’s still available with the DVLA and they are just trying to resell.

Check this section of the DVLA website to be sure it’s not there and you’re not being overcharged.

https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk/nifixed/

[EVLAD]

Belf1 wrote:

If multiple different sellers have the plate I would imagine it’s still available with the DVLA and they are just trying to resell. Check this section of the DVLA website to be sure it’s not there and you’re not being overcharged. https://dvlaregistrations.dvla.gov.uk/nifixed/

Thanks  for info…the plate is not registered on DVLA…it is on about 3 reseller sites

[kdwolf]

Belf1 wrote:

Hi Evlad! Do you already own the personal plate you wish to put on the new car? If you do, and you are the nominee on the Retention Certificate you just need to give the certificate to your supplying dealer and they will register the car with your personal plate. This way it will come on the car at delivery. When you then take the plates off the car, a new registration will be allocated. In Northern Ireland this will just be whatever the latest plates are.

Ditto – just gave the dealer my number plate and he did all the rest. Plus charged £85 (I think).
As it was my first time to move personalised number plate from one Motability vehicle to another, I was concerned he won’t be able to do until I will return the old one, but the dealer advised it is legal to have two cars with the same number plate in this instance.

Sent from a mobile device.
Apologies for briefness and spelling mistakes.

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[EVLAD]

 

 

Ditto – just gave the dealer my number plate and he did all the rest. Plus charged £85 (I think). As it was my first time to move personalised number plate from one Motability vehicle to another, I was concerned he won’t be able to do until I will return the old one, but the dealer advised it is legal to have two cars with the same number plate in this instance.[/quote]

 

I think you can do it online now from motability account..remove personalised number plate..i am not sure if this generates a new retention certificate or perhaps it links to DVLA to pay the £80 fee then hand new  retention certificate to dealer to transfer on to new motability car…apologies if i got that wrong.

[Author]

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