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

But (why) is that a big deal? Are people trying to prevent thefts or something?

I also thought people were going to say that regular plates have the car’s model year number on them but it seems like they don’t?

It’s an opinion - you have yours and I have mine.

If anyone made an “unintelligent” comment it was you by implying that the op had nothing better to think about.

All of our cars have personalised plates. i love them. All my friends and family have them, we couldn't be further from "chavs" 🙄
The only vehicle i have without one is my horse lorry, but that's only because i haven't found one i like yet!

We have them , matching in that same format and our initials - I wouldn’t have bothered but husband got mine for 50th and I then returned favour for his. They were £250 so not crazy money and I didn’t want anything else really for a special birthday and I think they look cute side by side on the drive

But who cares?

It's everyone knows that KEV in his bmw drives like a twat. It's a bit like people who have sleeve tattoos on one arm so they know which is their right and which is their left. Useful during a game of Twister.

That's wasn't me. So again a silly comment.

I've completely lost track of what the numbers on regular plates mean so have no clue how old a car would be by just lookingat the plate ( neither would I care)

Why do people spend £££ on designer bags?
Why spend £££ on designer clothes
Why go on expensive holidays?
Why have a luxury car not a cheaper brand?
Why do people have jewellery?

Because different people like different things. Different things make people happy.

£350 for a plate plus £50 or whatever it is to change it every... 4/5 years isn't exactly wild spending.

I have one it was a wedding gift from DH, it's not currently on my car as the current reg is coincidentally my initials anyway.

I think the majority of people with personal registration plates have the ones in the £200-£300 section. We have personal plates on two of our cars. Just a bit of fun really. We’re definitely not scraping the bottom of a barrel financially either.

No.

He was parking in the car park of the people who were paying him at his rate, determined by him and market forces.

If they thought he was changing his car every 2 years, some people would have said he was being paid too much.

Then there would have been bitter talk amongst directly employed staff, which builds resentment.

Believe me, this happens, I've been there!

It's nothing to do with theft.

DH's family are all petrolheads. He likes driving but is in no way in the same league as his dad and brothers with their flashy cars. He did, however, have to go through the family ritual of receiving a personalised plate for his 18th birthday. He's now nearly 50 and we still have the plate. Aware it makes us look like knobs. Grinds my gears (no pun intended) whenever we change the car and we have to pay a fee to move the plate to the new vehicle. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Seems it would offend his family too much to consider getting rid of it though.

Ok so how is me pointing out to the pp that people can have a range of thoughts about all kinds of different things, related to what you perceive to be an “unintelligent comment” when it is fact just my opinion (which others agree with) that personalised plate = ego.
They’re two separate things (and that’s why I assumed without checking that you must be the pp).

It's not about hiding age. You can easily look that up. My grandad had a private plate which I inherited because the initials are the same. It's worth £20k now.
They can be an investment plus

I bought one when I was young and frivolous. It cost about £300 to get my exact name, which was unusual. I don't have it on my current car because I haven't bothered to go through the process and I'm not young and frivolous anymore! But in answer to your question - it was a bit of (relatively inexpensive) fun when I was in my 20s.

It's nothing to do with EGO.

Just because it is your opinion it doesn't mean it's true.

There are many different people with private number plates for many different reasons.

If it makes you feel better then carry on being narrow minded.

I’m a knob.
I like other people to ponder as to whether I am, in fact, a knob.
I enjoy being earmarked as a knob.
It gives me carte blanche to drive like a knobhead. My vehicle of choice is pretentious and large which enables me to play to the stereotypical driver of that particular vehicle - the plate adds to the stereotype.
I own my vehicle outright but I enjoy the thought of the people scattered in my wake wondering if I’m a member of a lucrative drugs cartel or on universal credit.
My plate means I am easily identified on the village Facebook page, where the unfortunate victims of my knobbish driving tend to voice their grievances.
Hope this helps!

They seem to be a lot more common in the north. When I used to live in leafy, affluent west London, I didn’t see one. When I moved north, I see them all the time. I think they’re totally naff and would never buy one but one of my dearest friends has one-but obviously I’d never voice my opinion because it’s of no importance. And comparing them to luxury holidays or clothes? Totally different-staying in a luxury hotel is a lovely experience, wearing nice clothes feels good-having letters on your car adds nothing to the experience of driving-you can’t even see them!

Probably not to you but you can't talk for everyone - it certainly does add something to my life! Each to their own!

My FIL and I have them. He’s had his for about 25 years, and mine was from my first car which just happened to have a reg very similar to my nickname by total chance. It’s sentimental to us but no one else would know what it meant and I don’t really want to either 😄

I agree, I think they are extremely vulgar and stupid.

Regular plates do have the year the car was first registered on them. It’s in code though, you can Google it. My son loves that he learned the code.

My husband bought me mine for a valentine present, why? Because I struggled to remember a number plate, we are not broke and if people wanted to know how old my car is they can look it up on MOT checker. If you don't like it fair enough, don't buy one!

My neighbours bought them for their kids as presents, can't remember if it was 18 or 21. They can be an investment, my husband bought his 30 years ago, he was recently injured, home and bored and he just did it, didn't cost much. It would sell for thousands now apparently. He's wasted alot more money on things that are now worthless so I can't say it bothers me although I wouldn't do it myself.

It wasn't really obvious to me because I had no idea people even were able to figure out the age of the car from a number plate. So I was genuinely confused about what advantage there could be.