Advice on finding Cheap Number Plates

Personalised number plates allow the owner to add a touch of individuality to their car. It is the ultimate in vehicle personalisation.

Over the years, stories of how much celebrities, wealthy businessmen and families have paid for their personalised mark has made headline news.

And why not? I mean who doesn't want to know that the most expensive number plate ever bought was for the Number 1 - the plate reads '1'. This simple and solo digit on the plate was bought for £7 million, back in 2008. Saeed Abdul Ghaffer Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family bought the plate because "it's the best number."

And what about the UK's most expensive number plate ever bought? It was bought by Bradford entrepreneur, Afzal Khan and has one digit and one number - 'F1'. A number plate made up of this one number and one letter sold for a whopping £440,000 back in 2008. 'F1' has become the most expensive number plate in the UK and Northern Ireland.

I'm sure many a fan of the 'F1' series would love to have that on their cars, driving around town.

Number plates to suit every budget
However, you don't have to be Abramovich (who paid over quarter of a million for his plate - VIP 1) or Mr Singh (who bought 51 NGH for £254,000) to have your own personalised number plate. When it comes to personalised number plate, yes, the sky is the limit but there is a plate to suit every budget.

Here are some tips to find your perfect plate...the inexpensive way.

1. Create something unique to you
You don't need 'VIP 1' on your plate to signify your independence or individuality. Think of something that suits you; that only you and your nearest and dearest would understand. This opens up a myriad of options for you using a mixture of letters and digits to suit you. The more obvious the number plate, the more expensive it will be. Try to keep your number plate special for you and you will find a cheap personalised plate.

2. Use year letters
Using year letters cleverly can save you a fortune. You can create cheap personalised plates easily this way.

You could pick a year letter at the prefix, followed by the digits, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then the three letters to show your interest. These type of number plates are a cheaper way to show your uniqueness. Here are some examples to get the creative juices flowing:

- A5 BOB (if your name is Bob)
- B3 TEE (if you like golf)
- C4 FSH (if you like fishing)
- D1 CAT (if you have a cat)

3. Combine initials and interest
You can also use your initials using the current style of numbering, (two letters, followed by year numbers and then three letters). Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

- SF51 FAY (you could use your initials first, then your surname as the last digits)
- SF 55 ANN (you could use your partners initials or your childs and your name)
- SF61 TEE (you could use your initials and your interest in golf)

In order to get a cheap personalised number plate, you need to think creatively. It can be done. Play around with a few ideas and always seek the advice of a company selling registration plates. They offer advice on the clever use of numbers which will also help you.

If you are one of the many million Britons and Northern Ireland residents who spend time washing, polishing and valeting your car on the weekend, the chances are that your car does not look its age.

If moisturiser can delay the signs of aging for women (and men!), then surely taking care of a car can do the same thing.

The one thing that will give away a car's age, however, is the number plate. Since 1963, all cars registered on the road have a year number.

It all started with A for 1963, B for 1964, C for 1965 etc. So all cars registered from 1963, have the County Borough identifier using the original three letter system and number (introduced in 1932) but with a letter signifying the year suffixed to the numbers. So in Chester, cars had number plates such as AFM 1A, AFM 999A etc.

In 1983, because of the amount of cars registered, the system changed and this time the signifying year was added before the number, as a prefix. Using Chester again, car registrations would start A21 AFM (Number plates began at 21 with 1-20 being kept back as select numbers).

Since September 2001, the current style of number plates or registration marks is to have two letters, two numbers (or digits) and three letters. The first two letters show which local office issued the number plate. The two numbers indicate the six-month time period the number plate was issued. The last three numbers are just random numbers assigned to the car.

So all in all, since 1963, every car, no matter how well cared for it is, has a signifying year on it.

Hide your vehicle's age
One way to "cover up" the age of your vehicle is to use a dateless plate. By 'cover up', I don't mean change the year of registration. The year of registration can never be changed and by law, you can not make your vehicle look younger. You can make it look older, but never younger.

Use a Northern Irish plate
The cheapest way to hide the age of your vehicle is to use an Irish plate. All plates registered in Northern Ireland do not have a year identifier. So you can mask the age of your well-cared for car with a Northern Irish plate. With prices starting from as low as £50, they are the ideal way to hide the age of your vehicle.

Northern Irish plates allow you to have 2 or 3 letters followed by up to 4 digits and unlike the English, Welsh and Scotish plates, the letters I and Z can be used.

Examples of Northern Ireland registration you could use include:
Barry (BAZ)
Gary (GAZ)
Katherine (KAZ)
Catherine (CAZ)
Darren (DAZ)
Raza (RAZ)
Sarah (SAZ)
Jeremy (JEZ)
Terry (TEZ)

Use a UK dateless plate
You can use a UK dateless plate, i.e., a plate that predates 1963 will help hide the age of your car. The car registration system changed a number of times over the years before 1963. So you can have any combination of the following as a dateless registration:
FM 1 to FM 999
AFM 1 to AFM 999
BFB 1 to BFM 999 (right through to Y)
1 AFM to 999 AFM
1 BFM to 999 BFM (right through to Y)

So if you are clever about your numbers and want a number plate that signifies something for you or just any combination of numbers and digits, then you can hide the age of your vehicle.

Some 'cherished', dateless registrations (which have no year letter) have increased in value over the years. Especially those ones that have wide appeal to the mass audience.

Of course the less digits you have, the more cherished the number plate. Using the above example FM1 would be more expensive to buy than FM 991. So if you're buying a number plate to cheaply hide the age of your vehicle, pick a plate that has more numbers and digits on it.

The numbers can mean something to you but not mean anything to anyone else. That's the beauty of personalised plates.

Christmas comes each year and with it comes the season of gift-giving. We all want to give our loved ones, friends and family a token of how we feel about them and how much they are appreciated.

But it seems that every year, it gets harder and harder. To the person who has everything, what can you get them? What will be a unique gift for them? And perhaps more importantly, given the economic climate that we are living in, what to get as a unique and cheap gift for Christmas?

Personalised number plates
An answer to this particular problem might be easier than you think. Personalised number plates have become more popular over the years and despite the headline news of large amounts being spent, there are good bargains to be had.

With over 31 million cars on British roads as per road statistics at the end of 2009, private, personalised or cherished marks allow a car to be unique, to stand out from the crowd or have its own identity in the world.

Here are some ideas to help you buy a unique and cheap gift this Christmas:

1. Sentimental Personalised Plates
If you opt for a personalised number plate that is sentimental in nature rather than much in demand, the price will be much cheaper. If the plate reads something personal to your giftee, then they will use it for a long time. Typically, plates that don't immediately mean something to the masses but do mean something to the owner are cheaper. They'll make a perfect unique and cheap gift this Christmas.

2. Personalised Name Plates
You could also opt to buy a plate that has your giftee's name on it. What could be more special than having your own name on a plate? It shows that you care and recognise their individuality. We can help you get the right combination of numbers and digits. Here are some ideas to help you:
MP54 RAH for Sarah
JUII ETT for Juliet
12 ORY for Rory
SUS 1AN for Susan

If you find that some name plates are a bit out of your budget, have a look at initials. Plates that contain year letters typically will sell for less than dateless ones. So put your initials at the front, combine it with perhaps your year of birth and you'll have an ideal gift for Christmas. The three digits at the end can then be random numbers.

DF61 ABC
JH 51 DEF

3. Interest or hobby plates
People the length and breadth of UK and Ireland have hobbies and extra curricular activities outside of the family and work. Fishing, music, gardening, art, bird-watching are among our favourite pastimes. Your giftee would really appreciate seeing their beloved hobby on their plate. You can try something like these:
WA11 YYN
FL54 SHY
DF57 MUS

In summary, these are just three ideas to help you give a unique and cheap gift this Christmas. If you talk to an authorised registration company, they can give you even more suggestions. Happy Christmas shopping.

With over 31 million vehicles on the road, it's hard to stand out and be unique. One way to show your individuality is to use a personalised number plate.

A personalised number plate is just that - a plate that signifies something personal to you. You simply remove the assigned number plate that comes with your car and you add on your own plate.

Anyone these days can get a personalised number plate. Previously personalised number plates were generally associated with the rich and famous but those days are gone.

There are a number of reasons why personalised number plates have grown in popularity over the past several years. Investment, fun and branding come to mind straightaway. But the one I wanted to talk to you today about was fun.

Give a unique gift this Christmas
You don't have to have a number plate that makes sense to everyone else. You can have something that makes you smile everytime you get into the car. e.g., you could use something like DO57 COW for your girlfriend perhaps or MS61 TCH for your mother in law.

Personalised private numbers make great fun gifts, instead of the usual perfume or jewelery. So this Christmas, plan on giving a gift of individuality or uniqueness to your friends and family.

Pay using a few methods
The beauty of the personalised number plate as a gift is that you have a variety of ways to pay for it. And this Christmas, that means a lot to cash-strapped people.

Cash
Everyone loves cash. Business owners know that getting cash today means that they can pay their bills tomorrow. Christmas shoppers know that they can walk away with a gift, knowing there is no debts to be paid after Christmas. It suits some people.

Credit card
Credit card has pros and cons aswell. All the major suppliers of personalised cards accept credit card. It's a good way to pay for Christmas presents, as long as you know there is a bill waiting to be paid after the festive season.

Finance
Have you ever found the right present but it was just a teeny bit out of your budget? An alternative to paying with cash or credit is to pay using finance. Finance isn't new; it's just a new way to pay for a personalised number plate. The term that is regularly used is 'Buy Now, Pay Later'.

Some suppliers will let you buy a registration plate now and you can pay for it after a set period, say, 6 months or 12 months.

Generally speaking, you can avail of 'Buy Now, Pay Later' on a set amount, so that means, it's not available on really low priced items.

You simply apply for finance with your supplier and you'll know within a day or two that you've secured the finance or not. It can ease a Christmas shopping burden.

Talk with an approved registration provider to get more information. But with various payment options, buying the right personalised plate for Christmas is within your budget.

Northern Irish plates are different to those in the rest of the British Isles. And they have one incredibly useful advantage - they are considered dateless. There is no letter in any series to indicate years.

The format of Irish plates is typically 2 or 3 letters followed by up to 4 digits and unlike the English, Welsh and Scottish plates, the letters I and Z can be used.

If at one time, the Northern Ireland number plates were considered 'the poor relation', they can not be considered like that any more. With dateless plates increasing in demand and the ease of which you can create name plates, some Northern Irish plates have become investment plates.

At the same time, however, they do allow a lot of people join the personalised plate ladder. Lots of younger drivers want to personalise their plate as much as they personalise their car and having a Northern Irish plate allows them to do that. With prices starting from as low as £50, they are a very real option to get a cheap personalised plate.

Northern Ireland is divided up into eight separate licensing areas. They are:
Belfast which issued the '_AZ' and 'IFZ' registrations (e.g., BAZ, DAZ)
Enniskillen which issued '_IL', 'IIG' currently issuing 'KIG' (e.g., GIL, BIL)
Downpatrick which issued '_BZ' and currently issuing 'SJZ' (e.g., ABZ)
Ballymena which issued '_KZ' and currently issuing 'DRZ' (e.g., UKZ)
Coleraine which issued '_NZ' and currently issuing 'RNZ' (e.g., LNZ)
Londonderry which issued '_UI' and currently issuing 'TUI' (e.g., OUI)
Omagh which issued '_JI', '_HZ' and currently issuing OHZ (e.g., PJI, CHZ)
Armagh which issued '_IB' and currently issuing 'CXZ (e.g., GIB, RIB)

Clever use of names
The most sought after plates are those dateless plates that spell out names or nicknames. Because Northern Irish plates use 'I' and 'Z', there is room or scope to spell out names.
Here are a few to get you thinking:
Barry (BAZ)
Gary (GAZ)
Katherine (KAZ)
Catherine (CAZ)
Darren (DAZ)
Raza (RAZ)
Sarah (SAZ)
Jeremy (JEZ)
Terry (TEZ)
JIL (Jill)
GIL (Gillian)
PJI (Patrick James or Peter Joseph)
And while the Northern Irish plates have formats and words that suit names, they also work well with interests.
Here's a few more to get you thinking:
Show your love of France or your French nationality - OUI
If you have a Mercedes, feel free to use - MBZ
If you have a Volkswagen, car, you can use - VIW
Show your passion for the Welsh when you use - WLZ
Display your nationality with pride with - UKZ

So in summary, you can use a personalised Northern Irish number plate to:
Hide the age of your vehicle
Get a cheaper personalised number plate
Display your name
Show your nationality.

When thinking about a personalised number plate, Northern Irish number plates should be top of your list.