Personalised plates raise almost £2.5bn in the UK

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) said it sold 374,968 plates in the 2016/17 year – 39,968 more than in 2015/16.

The rise coincides with an increase in the number of registrations made available by the DVLA, it says, combined with a sharp rise in the value of rare plates over the past two decades. Since the DVLA started selling personalised number plates in 1989, it has generated almost £2.5 billion for the Treasury from five million registrations. There are currently more than 51 million plates available on the DVLA’s website, starting at £250. But many of the more ‘exclusive’ plates are sold at higher prices – a lot higher!

Available at special auctions, the top-selling registrations have included 25 O (£518,000), 1 D (£352,000), 51 NGH (£254,000), 1 RH (£247,000) and K1 NGS (£231,000).

Jody Davies, DVLA personalised registrations senior sales manager, said: ‘The 2016/17 financial year was another successful year for the sale of personalised registrations, which clearly shows that they continue to be popular with motorists. People enjoy displaying a personalised registration number for many reasons – it’s a fun and affordable way of personalising your car. Recent research has shown that many customers choose to display a personalised registration as a way of marketing their business or their job, while others want it to reflect their name. We find many of our customers are choosing to buy them as gifts for family members.’

Plates largely come from registration numbers that were never sold or placed on vehicles when originally issued.