DVLA Number Plates

The DVLA creates and records vehicle registrations and so has a key role to play in the provision of private number plates. 

Many DVLA number plates are offered directly from the huge database of stock, comprising over 50 million unissued number plates which are available to purchase from us immediately.  The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency whose Head Quarters are in Swansea, South Wales, are a Government department set up who act on behalf of the Department for Transport and began commercially selling personalised registration numbers in 1989.

This stock mainly includes Current and Prefix plates. You can browse and buy unissued DVLA Govenment stock using our Make Your Own Number Plate service.   We also provide acrylic plates and an easy transfer service.

Within the industry, terms like “DVLA Number Plates” or “DVLA Registrations” identify cheaper, unissued registrations sourced directly from the DVLA as opposed to those from private sales.

The DVLA have been selling unissued combinations of personalised registrations directly and through its official auctions for thirty years, which began with the sale of A and H prefix number plates from just £250.  However some short, highly desirable numbers made significant sums of money with some registrations resembling words or names.   

The first DVLA auction of registration numbers was at Christie’s and later Bonhams, selling numbers like ‘1 J’, ‘1 A’ & ‘K1 NGS’ (for £240,000). ELL 1E sold for a big price back in 1991 for £35,000 and in 1996 both N1 CKY & P1 LOT sold for £55,000 and £66,000 respectively. 1 D went under the hammer and sold for a record £285,000. 1 RH made £196,000 and 1 O sold for £170,000.  More recently in December 2014 the record was broken once more with registration “25 0” making £400,000 on the hammer (for the valuable classic Ferrari 250).

Expensive numbers sold at a DVLA number plate auctions include: 25 0  £400,000 (THE UK AUCTION RECORD HOLDER!), DAV 1D, S1 MON, N1 GEL, ANN 1E, as well as short numbers like 1 0, 1 A, 1 00, 6 B. All made significant sums when sold at the time. 51 NGH raised £245,000, whilst S1 NGH “only” made £86,000 during a similar auction!

Since then DVLA have played an enormous role within the personalised registrations industry releasing millions of new DVLA number plates into the UK vehicle registrations system every year. It was reported in the media that DVLA have raised over £2.5 Billion for the Treasury over the last 30 years.  DVLA had a record year in 2017 raising over £111m

The next DVLA number plates auction will be held on The Crowne Plaza, Reading, RG1 8BD on 15th-17th May 2019. Find more DVLA Auction information here.

CarReg are a Registered DVLA Number Plates Supplier

By law, every company in the UK that supplies actual perspex number plates has to be registered with the DVLA under the RNPS (Register Of Number Plate Suppliers). This Government scheme was introduced in 2003 to help combat vehicle related crime.

All companies accepted within the scheme have to adhere to the laws;

• The number plates must conform to British standards or the supplier can be fined up to £2,500 and/or be banned from supplying number plates.
• The supplier must keep records of the number plates supplied or the company can be fined up to £1000 and/or be suspended from the register.
• Records must include: The registration number the customer’s name and address and entitlement to the number plate a number that can be used to trace a customer and is taken from an original document from an accepted form of ID, such as a driving licence or V5C.
• The supplier must keep records for 3 years.
• The supplier must let DVLA, the police and Trading Standards see these records if they ask.The supplier must report changes to register details to the DVLA within 28 days of the change or be fined up to £1,000. This includes if the supplier stops supplying number plates.

DVLA Number Plates - RNPS membership number 27154.

CarReg are a recognised reseller of DVLA registrations

There are now two different formats of DVLA registration, “Prefix” style which are of the A12 ABC format and the “Current” style which are of the AB** ABC format.

Today, you can buy a DVLA registration number “off the shelf” from only £155*. You can browse the different combinations available or make your own DVLA number plates here with CarReg.

Would you like to make your own Prefix DVLA number (Example: T222 JWR) OR would you like to make your own Current style DVLA number plate (EG: AB18 ABC)? Choose either from only £155, they make great gifts!

Choose which type of DVLA plates you would like in three easy steps from our Make Your Own DVLA Number Plates page:

1. Select a prefix letter; A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,J,K,L,M,N,P,R,S,T,V,W,X,Y (excluding I,O,Q,Z)
2. Select a number; 1 to 20, you can also choose multiples of ten (20, 30, etc + 22, 33, etc) and higher numbers like 100, 200, etc and 111, 222, etc.
3. Select the letters you require, most people go for initials here but you may be lucky and find an abbreviation of your name like CRG for Craig, RUS for Russell or JAS for Jason.

It is easy to make your own DVLA registration, if the number plate is a gift we suggest you buy online and also select to buy the actual perspex number plates. We will then we send you the number plates ready to gift wrap and the official DVLA V750 Certificate of Entitlement ready to insert into a card!  We have sold thousands of numbers this way as gifts, it really is that simple.  (* prices are subject to VAT and £80 DVLA assignment fee).