buy number plates - Guide to buying cherished number plates

Think carefully about why you want a Private number plates first - this can save you time and money later. Do you want to buy the plate as a means of masking the age of your vehicle? A way of showing off? is it a gift?

There are a few main reasons for buying a private reg:

>As an investment - see Number plate investment
>As an accessory for your car
>As a special gift
>To show off / stand out
>You're a number plate enthusiast

Which number plate to buy

Buy number plates

With over 30 million combinartions offered for sale by the DVLA alone - in addition to the millions of number plates in circulation it's fair to say there's a wealth of choice when it comes to buying number plates.

It boils back to why you want the plate and what you want it to say or mean - most number plates fall into these categories:

Name number plates- J4MES or similar - a plate which reads your first name.

Surname number plates - Easier to find and purchase, surname number plates are a great second choice

Nickname number plates - Even easier (as we do have some odd nicknames%u2026) nickname number plates can be a real bargain and have a great impact.

Word number plates - More often than not the preserve of number plate enthusiasts and collectors - word number plates such as V3RSE can look very attractive - but also can carry a hefty price tag
Word number plates

Vehicle related number plates - Often described as the finishing touch to most vehicles- a number plate which relates to the car can help increase it's value - think F13STA or COR5A.

Dateless / neat number plates - think ABC 1 or BBB888 - numberplates with no specific meaning but which look neat and hide the age of the vehicle.
Dateless number plates

Which number plate to buy

Choosing a number plate to buy

Ok so we all have heard that number plates cost the earth. Some sell for as much as £400k (think F1) and some sell for as little as £250 direct from the DVLA.

what you decide to spend depends on not only how much money is at your disposal but also the quality of number plate you desire.

An example of this would be J4MES which sells for perhaps £60k whereas B20 JMS could go for a few hundred - one is the ultimate way of saying James - the other is an abbreviated version but with similar effect.

Number plate valuation is all well and good but you need to decide your top limit for spending on a number plate- too much and you'll feel cheated - too little and you'll feel you could have done better - WOW we're making this sound awful!
- it's fun really :-)

When looking to buy a private number plate the internet is pretty much the one stop shop for all your needs.

From number plate dealers to Ebay to classifieds to Smashing Plates - there are a number of different places to look - each with their own merits.

Firstly ebay - with over 7000 reg plates for sale (at the time of writing) this represents a good deal of choice. From our experience though the lots do tend to be poor quality, some require illegal spacing and others are look alike number plates.

General classifieds websites cater for number plates - amongst other things- but due to the complex nature of searching for plates it can be tricky to find what you want - you end up having to browse adverts- usually with little success.

Finally Smashing Plates - the dedicated Number plate classifieds website- we dont want to turn this into a spammy salesy squidoo page so check out our website to find out what makes it so cool :-)

If you have spent time looking for your ideal number plate you know it can be tedius and long winded - that's why we have created the first number plate wanted advertising service.
So take it easy and let the buyers come to you!

Number plate wanted adverts