To not see the point in personalised reg plates?

[Flexilexy]

As I sat in traffic this morning trying to work out if someone's reg was their initials or if it was meant to spell a word out, I wondered why they even bothered.

If you have a personalised registration plate, why?

This is one of those things I've just never understood why anyone would spend money on it. I'd have to have a LOT of disposable income before this is something I'd part with cash for.

Google says "The cost of a personalized number plate can range from a few hundred pounds to hundreds of thousands of pounds."

I'll be honest, and show my judgemental side. Most (not all) of the people I know with personalised reg plates are skint, or just scraping by month to month. So it really baffles me that this is something they'd chose to do with their money.

But also, even if I could afford it, what's the appeal? I'm genuinely interested to know what makes you want one?

And yes, I'm fully aware it doesn't have any impact on my life at all, but one is allowed to ponder. This entire site is full of people complaining about things that aren't relevant to them, it's just a discussion.

YABU - Personalised reg plates are wonderful and not just an expensive bit of plastic that collects dead bugs
YANBU - They're totally fucking pointless

Mine isn't obvious at all, it's just something meaningful to me. My dad got it for me on my 18th birthday
Looks sort of like a normal reg but it's (obvs not the real one) D100BAG type lay out

I have one.

I don't have it for anyone else, I have it for me. It's personal to me.

In the US it only costs $30 for a personalized plate.

I saw
LITIG8R - most likely a lawyer
TOETAGR - probably worked in a morgue
4FT 11 - yes the driver was short

I can see that, you wouldn't want it ending up in the lost property box. Have you considered saving yourself a few grand and writing your name on the bumper with a sharpie though?

Mine came with a 2nd hand car and was probably worth more than the car!
it's been transferred oto 2 different second hand cars as we've replaced them.
if I'm ever skint I can sell it

I've got one on my car, it reads as my surname (very accurate) and DH inherited it when his dad sadly passed away last year - his dad had had it for YEARS

It's very sentimental to me, I'm honoured to have it on my car (we only have one car between us, but we both use it, just me more so) and I hope it stays in the family for generations to come. DFIL was incredibly well loved in our town and I love that people will still see the reg plate and know his legacy lives on

if you don't like personalised plates, don't get one. Simple as that

This old chestnut.

The myth is that personal plates are expensive, most aren't expensive at all.

Yes.

I do like the Chanel vans that say "N0 5" or "C0C0". Basically if it's on brand or funny I'm a fan!

It’s to hide the year.

We have one on our coverted camervan. It cost £499 and it's just part of our van. We aren't skint.

Not in our case.

That's hilarious and also interesting.
How does that work?
Do you accept the quote then wait for them to arrive and if they have a personalised quote you send them away?
What if they have to park up the road? Do you ask if they can walk you to their car so you can see their plate?
Do you ask at the quote stage if they have a personalised plate?
Do you go to wherever they are based and see if you can see a car with a personalised plate?
So many question!

My reg plate has my dc’s initials on, but is just a standard plate randomly allocated with the car, although I know people who have paid for the same sort of plate with their initials

Who cares though?

I have a private number plate on my car but the numberplate was on my late dhs car and I just couldn’t bear to let it go for sentimental reasons so I think I just paid the fee to swap it to my new (to me) car. It doesn’t spell out any initials etc.

id never pay stupid money for a private numberplate or have one that spells out my initials but that is one reason why some people have private plates.

judge away

I haven't voted as I'm not bothered either way. I wouldn't spend my own money on one - I really don't care if people know how old my car is - but it doesn't bother me if other people want them. DH has one on one of his cars that relates to the model of car. It's a bit naff really but it was on when he got the car so would have been more trouble to change it than keep it. Sometimes I see quite amusing ones that make me smile on a dull day. They do no harm and people can spend their own money as they see fit. I expect we all enjoy something that other people view as pointless.

I have one that spells my name. It was a gift for a big birthday. I’d never spend money on one but I wouldn’t want to offend the person who bought it by not using it.

Well surely that’s obvious- some people care what passers-by think about the age of the car they drive.

I wouldn't get one, but I'm not a car person. I imagine if you are a car person then personalising your car is fun and important to you.

I don't think what people spend their fun money on is anything to do with anyone. It isn't required to be practical or seen as useful to others.

My eight year-old! His favourite thing to while away a journey is to tell me the age of all the cars we pass!

My son has one. He bought a 17 year old sports car that looks as good as when it was new and looks exactly the same as a current model.

There aren’t any sports cars I can think of that look exactly the same as a model from 17 years ago. He’s delusional, anyone who cares will know roughly how old it is.

I don’t get the rancor in the UK for personalized plates. It’s really not that big of a deal in the US and they only cost about $40 — $60 depending on the state. New York State’s cost $60 for the first year and then $31.25 annual renewal. Motorcycles are even cheaper at $35 initial fee then $18.75 renewal. https://dmv.ny.gov/plates/personalized-plate-numbers

Maybe all the derision here in the UK is based on the price of them? I was shocked when my husband told me they cost thousands of pounds here!

For those trying to hide the age of the car.... You are not fooling anyone. If it is ten years old it looks ten years old.

Not something that I would spend money on, but doesn't bother me either way.

Personally, I think people who spend thousands to lie next to a pool getting skin cancer for days on end are batshit, but we all like different things