2008 July | Antiques Collectibles

Back Plates

July 30th, 2008 admin No comments

Back Plates

The Price of Number Plates

One of the most popular motoring accessories with drivers today is their very own personal number plate. Private number plates enable drivers to add their own mark to an otherwise standard vehicle. When searching for personal number plates you will find prices range from as little as £99 to more than the price of a family home. With over 30 million number plates on there market however there is an affordable option for everyone. When valuing number plates there is no hard and fast rule yet by drawing on industry knowledge number plate dealers will take into account various factors to provide a fair and realistic price for the registration.

When valuing a number plate, number plate dealers will look at the age and rarity of the registration in order to put a price on the private plate. Older number plates are generally worth more money and the number of registrations released in a series affects the current value of the number plate. For example private registrations from the A prefix series are issued from 1 to 20 however number plates from the M prefix series include many more private registrations up to 999. This makes private registrations released in shorter series rarer and more valuable. In general the lower the number, the more the number plate is worth with number 1 registrations being the most expensive and highly sought after.

Valuations also take into account how popular the initials are. Registrations with strong initials such as R, T and P will have more demand than number plates with X or Y in them and therefore be valued at a higher price. Number plate dealers will also look at the amount of similar marks on the market when valuing personal registrations. Very rare numbers will obviously be valued higher than private registrations that have many similar alternatives available.

The most valuable private registrations are typically short, dateless registrations with a single digit and letter. Dateless number plates are those which have no age identifier Dateless registrations with the letter first followed by a number are more valuable than registration with a number first followed by a letter. This is because they are the original issue and are therefore older than their “wrong way round” counterparts. For example the registration A1 would be worth considerably more than the registration 1A.

When obtaining valuations be wary of dealers who provide unexpectedly high valuations. These quotes are usually to get the mark onto their books however there is little chance of actually selling at that price. Number plates valued over their market price take longer to sell, if at all. There is no set timescale for how long a number plate can take to sell. For a quick sale advertise your private registration at a low price or ask a dealer for a cash offer. Most reputable number plates dealers offer to value and sell your registration free of charge.

The value of number plates continues to increase year on year and with the growing number of buyers and collectors this trend is set to rise. Based on past performance a number plate bought now will be worth much more in 10 years time. The returns on many private registrations are considerably better than money in the bank and an increasing number of investors are turning to number plates to diversify their portfolio. Many investment number plates are bought at the registration auctions held every few months. Typically 1500 classic registrations go under the hammer and are sold for wholesale prices and are a good place to buy cheap number plates.

About the Author

Ross O’Donnell writes from Cape Plates who provide free online valuations for UK number plates and cherished registrations. Customers can also advertise and sell their plate free of charge on the Cape Plates website.

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