To ask people with personalised number plates.......why?

[itsgoodtobehome]

Genuinely interested. I see more and more personalised number plates (Sha70n) on my way home which inspired this thread. Why do you do it? Do you want people to know your name? Do you wear your name on the back of your jacket or on the front of your t-shirt?

I am really intrigued as to why people would flaunt their name, initials, nickname, whatever.....on their car.

MN enlighten me please!!

I think they're daft, but whatever floats your boat.

And why does anyone want to "hide" how old their car is? I really don't understand that. What does it matter?

Pointless imho.
But many years ago i did see a filthy muddy landrover with the plate MUD 1. Made me laugh

I am amused when people squish the letters to look as though they’ve paid for it. It’s like carrying around a fake designer handbag but being loud and proud of it

Vanity plates - no idea why anyone has a strong view either way on them, surely a personalised number plate can't possibly harm/offend anyone else? (DVLA don't allow offensive plates) As to the "show-off/rich "factor" - it's their money they're spending not yours.

I actually do have one, not actually gotten round to putting it on a car yet. Just a bit of whimsical fun that concatenates DP's name and mine. Cost me about the same as a case of decent wine or a full-head colour in a good hairdressers.

It hides the age of the car.

This!! I’ve alwas thought this too DogInATent

Just read that back - yes it's an upmarket version of the "Gary and Shazza" sun strips of the eighties.

Fifty five years ago my grandfather bought an old car as it had his initials on and he found it amusing. This wasn’t a “thing” at the time. He had the plate on all his cars, and then my dad inherited it, and when my dds are older they will have it ,coincidentally it has their initials too. This is a little link to my Grandfather who I loved very much, so it means a lot to me.

ON P1LL
DIK

Both of you are mistaken there I think as neither would be possible

Not personalised ones, but I remember reading in 2007 that Edinburgh, where the 'SN' prefix is used, had been given permission to use 'TN' for cars that would otherwise have looked like they said 'SNOT'. I bet ones starting 'SC' were in extremely high demand that year from patriotic-minded people.

I don't know if the same concession was made last year for cars in Glasgow due to be registered with 'SH17' (or maybe it's not considered a rude word there without an 'e' on the end)?!?!

I have one because it came with my car when I bought it and I am really not bothered about it so have never got round to changing it - I am not even sure how you would do that?

I assume it was the previous owners initials and a significant number to them. Don’t know why they didn’t want to keep it? Maybe it was their ex or something? I doubt it is worth anything as it is not a name - just a set of three letters and a number.

It has no connection to me or my name at all so probably confuses anyone who wonders why I have it on the car!

I have one but it is just my initials. DH has one which was on a car he bought many many years ago. He liked the plate so kept it. We get notes left on the car sometimes offering us money for it. We bought DD one when she passed her test. Again just her initials.

All my friends wave at me as they know it's me.

I really don't care if you judge me for it. I also drive a big fuck off 4x4 so I presumably piss people off just by my very presence on the road.

And why does anyone want to "hide" how old their car is? I really don't understand that. What does it matter?

I don't think they do, but people who dont understand the appeal of private plates assume this is one of the reasons why.

@Sparklingbrook I have my initials monogrammed on two handbags

I have one. I inherited some money after my father passed away. I was married and whilst he was dying and my 'D'H was telling all his family that 'we' would be coming into some money soon and HE would be spending it on x y z. He must have spent my inheritance 10 times over and my dad hadn't even died yet! Roll on 8 months, my divorce was finalised along with clean break order. 2 days later my DF passed away. My newly ExH couldn't touch a penny of the inheritance! It wasn't a life changing amount but I was able to buy a couple of nice pieces of jewellery, a car (and stash money to cover tax/insurance for 3 years) and I put a private plate on it. Nothing obvious, just my initials. It's something I'll keep forever (the car is long gone) and it was a big 'up yours' to my ex. He was pig sick he didn't get any of that cash!

(NC as everyone who knows me knows this story!)

Randomnumbers7483
I had the same on a car I had for a while - in fact it would have been time and probably money to swap it off so I left it, in spite of not really liking them.

I have one, I bought a car that had private plates and it needed to be re-registered and so I looked at private plates. They cost £100 and I have had them for 20 years on 3 cars. They include my initials but it isn't a name. I did wonder what it was worth about 5 years ago and got back an offer for £350. A similar one on the DVLA is £399 -£499 (just checked)

I once saw a white van with what was obviously N16 EUL (going back a bit, here), but it had been clearly stylised to look like it said NIGEUL. Either Nigel had gone out of his way to misrepresent it to look cool and failed very badly or his parents had loved the name Nigel but thought it needed a random 'u' adding to it.

Unless, of course, they'd bought the plate before he was born, named their baby when he arrived to match the plate and then kept it for 17 years!

Laughing at disguising that age- mine have been put onto 3 brand new cars.

Lots of people have new cars with private number plates, they aren't solely to hide a cars age.

It came with the car. I keep meaning to switch back to the normal plate but can't be bothered with the faff!

Exploding, great minds!

I went to boarding school and one girl had 'nouveau rich' parents. She got a personalised plate for her 16th birthday. She went on and on about how it was worth so much more than others because it really spelt her name, and they are only worthwhile if they spell a name and a number clearly, and blah blah blah. She always cares more about the price of something than the quality. I've always thought they are utterly stupid, for stupid people.

I call them Vanity Plates as that's what they are.

We happen to have a family name that has one 'S' and one 'I' so can be spelled legitimately with the initial of a given name.

We space them legally for example:

QPA 51C
WPA 51C
EPA 51C
RPA 51C
TPA 51C

It started as a silly joke with one of my boys and as they were cheap we all have them now. A little like buying those sets of three ceramic ducks to fly en echelon across the chimney breast. Or 'upmarket version of the "Gary and Shazza" sun strips' or 'Bruce and Sheila'.

If you know who I am you can 'read' my name. If you don't it's just a random set of digits of an age that clearly doesn't match the car - except one.

One unplanned advantage - my wife actually knows the registration number of the car she is driving.

The ones with illegal spacing, or worse 'strategically' placed screws, are a bit naff though.

I rather regret not paying the modest fee to retain the registration number of my first car though - just for sentimental reasons.

I'd like to ask the people who illegally re-arrange them why they think the law doesn't count for their plates?

Haven't read the whole thread so someone has probably already said this, but it does mean that it's easier to remember the registration when you change your car.