Many motorists presently enjoy adding accessories to their vehicles, and private registrations are the icing on the cake. The industry in the last decade has experienced incredible growth with a lot of patronage from average vehicle owners.
Private number plates add value to their vehicles by making them stand out. The beauty of having a unique registration is that it gives people a sense of individuality on the road.
Value of private number plates
There are currently over 61 million personal number plates available, with prices ranging from around £100 to tens of thousands, and in some cases, more than £100,000. As a result, almost everyone can afford private registration.
Private registration plate valuation employs the awareness and familiarity of number plate dealers. Different factors deduce the market value of a private registration plate.
What makes them valuable
In general, the age and novelty of a number plate are the most important factors determining its value. Older plates command a higher price and are also scarcer because there are fewer of them.
Limited numeric digits in a registration plate boost its value. 1’s remain the most demanding and thus the most expensive.
The popularity of initials influences the value of private registration plates. The more popular the initials, the more expensive the registration.
For example, A 1 – are the most valuable because they are dateless and the shortest registrations with one letter and number
Registrations that represent words, such as W4 TER and AR53 NAL, are also highly valued. Because these plates are so appealing. Also, there aren’t many variations on the words, the age makes less of a difference.
There is no evidence of a decline in the private plate market, with annual sales increasing. The British public’s interest in these novelty items appears to be growing.
It is rational that many investors seek to venture into this interesting market as an alternative to housing, stocks, and shares considering its yearly increase.
The hidden value of your private plate investment
Investments such as classic cars, wine, and jewelry have invariably increased in value in recent years, often beating traditional stocks and bonds.
Over the same time, the value of private registrations followed a similar pattern. Top-quality private registrations have surpassed classic cars, watches, art, wine, jewelry, and antique furniture in terms of percentage appreciation.
When we look at our top sales from the previous year, as well as some of the great plates sold at DVLA auctions every year, the perseverance of the private registrations market is clear.
Do private license plates maintain their value?
If you want to make your car stand out with a private number plate, you can expect to pay a premium for the most popular number and letter combinations.
However, it is certainly possible to obtain inexpensive private number plates – so it is critical that you first establish a budget for how much you wish to spend.
Purchasing a private number plate is similar to trading stocks and shares in that it involves speculating on their future value. They may rise, fall, or remain constant, and they will undoubtedly fluctuate over time.
At the end of the day, something is only worth what someone is ready to pay for.
If someone has the money and is willing to pay whatever it takes to get their hands on it, the price can skyrocket.
If you have something that many people want, you may find yourself in a bidding war, with the price gradually rising.
Private license plates as a cost-effective option
If you want to make money off of private number plates, you must first pay the right price for them. The cost of a private number plate ranges widely, starting at around £200 and rising into the thousands.
Back in 2014, one of the most costly private number plates ever sold in the UK with the registration plate ’25 O’ was sold for £400,000 (which increased to £500,000+ after taxes and fees were deducted). It is now estimated to be worth more than £10 million.
And what about the most expensive car registration in the world? It was a single-digit ‘1’ and was purchased by Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri in 2008 in Abu Dhabi, UAE for £7.2 million.
Your plates are unlikely to be worth anything close to these figures, but they may have appreciated since you purchased them.
The key is to locate a private license plate that will appreciate over time. You’re unlikely to find a buyer for the randomly assigned registration plate that came with your car when it was new.
Short private number plates, also known as cherished number plates, such as T1 and R19, tend to return a profit because they are rare and desirable, whereas a plate with your initials may not be as valuable to most people – unless they have the same initials as you.
Specific names, such as D4 VID and L34 NNE, are expensive to purchase at first, but you have a better chance of finding a buyer if you can find someone looking for that exact name and the same combination.