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Original poster

Personalised number plates

238 replies

PrincessWellington · 30/09/2013 08:51

Why would someone pay money to have a misspelt version of their name on their car? Or words?

E.g. M41HEW, A11CET, OF55IDE T

I get the initials ones, not that i would want one, don't get this.

I have a theory though!

OP posts:
MardyBra · 30/09/2013 09:31

"I always think it a sign of lack of imagination, if buying a number plate is really the best thing that you can think of to spend money on, other than warning others to your state of mind it is entirely pointless."

I agree. If I had money to spare, I would spend it on something beautiful, or a party, or a holiday. Not a collection of plastic letters and numbers, which marks me out as a plonker.

FrightRider · 30/09/2013 09:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

borraxohastaelalmanacer · 30/09/2013 09:34

My parents have on each - they make me cringe so much. I don't have an issue with people spending their money on 'useless' stuff per se, but there's just something about personalised plates which strike me as being so incredibly naff.

BeerTricksPotter · 30/09/2013 09:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnonYonimousBird · 30/09/2013 09:39

I dont care if people have them or don't, but we have a lady who drives around with "BOOZSER" or very similar using letters and numbers, i mean, how thick are you?! Asking to get stopped!

And the bloke in our village who spent all the money he had from selling his car on one and now can't afford to make the repayments on the new car! Doh! Put the money from the old car towards the new one!!!

We have another bloke who has R55 EXX..... really really grim.

Yes, I live in Essex!

poppydoppy · 30/09/2013 09:43

Certain number plates are an investment. I got mine 2 years ago i was offered double what I paid for it the other day.

AKAK81 · 30/09/2013 09:44

I think if anyone has the excess money to waste on a personalised number plate,that money should go to charity.For something that is actuallyneeded.

Really? Are you for real? People spend their hard earned money on whatever they choose - are you the fun police?

Sparklingbrook · 30/09/2013 09:44

That's good poppy-you have made a profit then. Will you get another?

Calloh · 30/09/2013 09:44

PrincessKitKat that is such a lovely story. Must be getting a bit pre-menstrual because I started to well-up a bit. How fab to feel that loved and that you being his wife is a matter of such pride and that you remember it every time you see it. I think your pp is great.

However I viscerally loathe other personalised number plates on the whole. Because:

a) it suggests you have so much money you can unthinkingly spend it on possibly the most boring and useless part of your car. Which seems a bit vulgar.

B) it suggest that you are some how so special you need to be identified above the standard prosaic plate. Which seems a bit vulgar.

C) that you are defined, in some way, by your car. Which seems a bit vulgar.

But now, having read KitKat's story, I wonder if it really matters that much. Particularly if it's a gift as supposed to self-selected.

Plus bragging ones are hilarious. B18 D16K being a fave

Sparklingbrook · 30/09/2013 09:45

Since when were Personalised Plates 'fun'? Confused I could think of lots of things more fun.

Original poster
PrincessWellington · 30/09/2013 09:47

If plates are an investment then they can sit in the attic. I'd buy them if I thought someone was stupid enough to pay me double! But, I would store it in the attic!

OP posts:
FrightRider · 30/09/2013 09:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thebestlaidplans · 30/09/2013 09:48

We have a chap locally who drives a red Ferrari, an overly tacky vehicle anyway (in my opinion). His licence plate just tops it off though ..." BL0W ME". He seems like a charming sort.

Original poster
PrincessWellington · 30/09/2013 09:51

If my DH bought me a MR5 plate, OMG! I would have to have it on my car! I would just hate it! Couldn't hurt his feelings though.
Also, it's a bit like those T shirts with child's name on. Your number plate could cause stranger danger!

OP posts:
DameDeepRedBetty · 30/09/2013 09:51

B1G KEV and T1PSY both drive around here.

My mother still transfers her father's very old registration to every car, it's Letter Letter Numeral and was originally issued in 1920 something. The two letters aren't anyone's initials or anything, it's just sentiment.

AKAK81 · 30/09/2013 09:54

B18 D16K

No such plate in the UK. Also worth noting that you never own a personalised reg merely the rights to use it. It remains the property of the DVLA.

Original poster
PrincessWellington · 30/09/2013 09:54

DameDeep that's not the sort I mean. It's the ones that are misspelt. Drive me mad. Your name is Kelly not K41LY

OP posts:
BrokenSunglasses · 30/09/2013 09:55

It's not the actual piece of plastic that sits on your car that's worth the money OP. it's the right to use that combination of numbers and letters, so it makes no difference if you store it in the attic or on the front of your car/house/pony.

That said, I agree that they are pointless and they are not something I'd ever waste money on, but each to their own. If people like them and they have one then good for them, it's not doing anyone any harm and I don't expect to be judged on what I spend my disposable income on so I wouldn't judge anyone else for it.

As for the pp who thinks that any money spent on something frivolous should be given to charity, well I hope she never buys so much as a bar of chocolate in favour of giving a pound to charity. That was a ridiculous thing to say.

IwishIwasmoreorganised · 30/09/2013 09:56

B1G JOE lives up the road from me!

DH has one in his company car. He has no choice.

Some make me laugh, others make me cringe on the drivers behalf - none of them cause me any harm so what's not to like?!

Sparklingbrook · 30/09/2013 09:58

It gives us something to laugh at when we are out driving. And when their driving is bad we can shout them by their name if they have one that's supposed to spell their name. Sort of.

NoisyBrain · 30/09/2013 09:59

PPs don't wind me up as a rule, but one of the worst examples of nasty, aggressive driving I ever witnessed was by a van driver whose plate was obviously supposed to look like it said 'stud'. When he got closer - or rather, I managed to pull away to put more than 2 inches between him and my rear bumper Angry - it actually spelled 'situd'. Loser.

Original poster
PrincessWellington · 30/09/2013 10:00

I just think it says 'I can't spell my own name' or 'I can't afford to buy the plate that spells my actual name'.

OP posts:
Sparklingbrook · 30/09/2013 10:01

I think if you have to replace a letter with a number it's a bit crap. It doesn't work.

GinAndIt · 30/09/2013 10:14

PPs just scream 'I've got more money than I know what to do with', which I suppose is probably the point. Very naff.

Although I do think the 29MPH one on a very fast car shows a glimmer of imagination...

flowery · 30/09/2013 11:02

"I think if anyone has the excess money to waste on a personalised number plate,that money should go to charity.

For something that is actually needed.

It makes me angry"

Goodness. Presumably if you hold that view you would also apply it to anything that isn't "needed" by the owner, including new clothes when they could get them from a charity shop, any holiday, any expensive handbag, any expensive hobby, etc etc? Isn't it exhausting getting that angry over what other people buy all the time?

People do seem to get very worked up about personalised numberplates and make some astonishing negative sweeping assumptions about the people driving the cars, when many of them wouldn't do the same about other expensive needless purchases. Very strange. Don't know where they get the energy tbh.

I have a personalised initials one, although it hasn't actually been on the car for a few years now. DH bought it for me as a gift.

I understand from MN that people assume I am all sorts of awful things because of it, but tbh that just says more about them than it does about me.