1. Home
  2. Classic Cars - UK
  3. Cherished Number query - Retention Nominee (long)

Cherished Number query - Retention Nominee (long)

Hi I have a problem with my hubbies personal plate as its on a vehicle we no longer own and the DVLA tell me I cant apply for it to go onto a retention certificate because I dont own it anymore.The new owner can make such an application, but the certificate of retention he'll get is non-transferable. Am really looking for advice on the best way round it.

Full story is this: My hubby and I bought matching plates in March this year and had them put on our respective cars. Shortly after that I changed my car, p/xing it for a new one at a dealer. The dealer advised that the best way was for me to leave my plate on my old car, register my new car in my name, and then transfer my number onto the new car. He seemed to know what he was talking about so thats what I did, and all went exactly as planned - my new car now carries my personal plate.

Cue jealous hubby - I had a new car and he didnt, so he sold his Jag privately, putting something on the sale document to say the car came carrying the personal plate but that it wasnt included in the sale and would be transferred back when hubby got his new wheels.

Then hubby decided instead to buy another classic car (sigh, another old banger on the drive). Unfortunately his new car is too old to carry his personal number so he asked me to get it put on retention instead. Thats when I found out that because the Jag is now registered to its new owner, only he can apply for a retention, and while he can put me down as 'nominee' for that certificate, he cant actually transfer it to me. There is no requirement that the nominee is the only place the plate would go, so theres nothing to stop the new owner then selling it to whoever he wants (unless you count the note on the sale ticket that says it isnt his). Not only that, but the new keeper has to apply each year to continue his retention, and if he forgets it (we wouldnt be notified) or doesnt bother, the plate is 'lost' and reverts to the DVLA for re-issue!

I cant believe they make it so damn difficult - they were more than happy to grab my damn money when they sold it to me! My hubby is now considering nipping down the local auction and buying a banger for £50, dont care what as long as it has a months tax and ticket, registering it in his name, transferring the registration to that, then applying to have the reg taken off and put on retention and the banger getting its original plates back, then shoving the banger back in at the auction. Apart from the grief involved in all that, it will cost a fortune in transferring plates all over the place! I had a different idea, to ask the new owner to transfer the Jag back to my hubby who would then get the plate put on retention, then transfer the Jag back to its new owner. That works fine, and certainly involves less of those expensive transfers, but it adds two more owners to the Jags history as it goes back and then forward. Anyone got any better ideas - this is driving me nuts!

Reply to
michelle
Loading thread data ...

Can't you find a friend or relation who wouldn't mind the indignity of driving around with a stupid number plate and have it transferred to their car for a while? Not that I have much sympathy.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Stupid number plate? Bloody cheek ;o) No, we already thought of that, but absolutely all the cars that would be feasible ALREADY carry cherished numbers of their own.

Thanks! Can I take it youre not a personal plate fan then? ;o)

Reply to
michelle

There's a *big* difference between an age related plate and a 'cherished number'.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Do you live in Cheshire by any chance?

I find they usually say more about their owners than their owners probably intended. Mind you, I'm still trying to decifer what T11NA on the red Ferrari I saw the other day was saying about the bloke driving it!

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

. . . that he's a Toyboy? :-)

Reply to
red--NOSPAM--squirrel

There you go.

Back to the topic, is the transfer a purely paper exercise or does it involve a visit to the local DVLA office for an inspection?

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Depends on where the plate came from. My wife's car carries a cherished J-plate which we bought when it came out in 91. Fine. What I dislike is the practice of buying a perfectly good classic for its number plate. The lucky cars get an age-related plate, many sadly get scrapped. I've been offered cash several times for the plate on my A40 - nothing special, except it has no year letter. The plate stays with the car!

Reply to
Chris Bolus

Only involves an inspection if you're transferring the plate off a car which had it as the original number. If the plate was bought from the DVLA or has been transferred before then they don't usually inspect.

However I believe they have the right to inspect any car involved in transferring a number off if they so wish to.

Alex

Reply to
Alex

Ta. It just occured to me that I weighed in a car for scrap last week but haven't got around to sending off the V5 yet. It's still taxed for this month as I forgot to remove the disc before it went into the crusher.

Still a bit naughty though...

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Willy Eckerslyke saying something like:

He was a piano Tuna?

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Ah, I see where we're going. Sorry, I may have allowed some misinterpretation before - my car has C5 ( my initials), my hubbies plate has C5 (his initials). Nobody bought any nice old classic purely to 'rob' it of its original plate; the cars they came off would have received an age-related plate instead. As it happens, we've already had an offer from someone wanting to buy his new car from him, for ITS plate - a mob called Lauras Rolls Royces who want the ***LRR reg.

Reply to
michelle

Are you both completely unimaginative and vulgar?

Reply to
Ben Blaney

Ah yes, now that you mention it, there was a grand piano shaped parcel on his roofrack.

Saw another sad one last night, ****RAV on a RAV 4. Now why in heaven's name would anyone pay good money...

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Now I do agree with you there - I've never understood the 'value' of having a registration that duplicates information we already have. All those 911s with a number plate containing '911', MGs with 'MG' in them, and so on. I like a bit of imagination, something that shows a bit of thought, though.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

In the early '50s, University Motors who were the London MG agents block booked chunks of numbers with 'MG' in them. Including a large number of UMG ones. Hence 'MG' being very common in the reg of MGs from that time.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I'm not far from the circuit used by Channel 5's motor programme, so I suppose it's possible that the RAV 4 in question was a press car going home from a feature.

Reply to
Willy Eckerslyke

Not that I'm aware of. Are you judgemental and antisocial?

Reply to
michelle

Lucky guess.

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

I don't know if UM were to blame but the practice started pre-war. Back in the mid 60s I almost bought a 30s MG with an MG xxxx number. I think he wanted £60 for it but couldn't get the engine to start. I am not sure what model it was but it was a 4 seat tourer with IIRC a 1.5 litre engine.

Reply to
Roger

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.