Private registration purchase
 

Hello all,
I am in the process of purchasing a private registration from one of the big registration sellers, the number is on retention held by a private owner so the company are acting as the middle man.

I have been asked to send in the V5 log book from the car I want the registration transferred to. I asked if I could deal with the transfer directly with DVLA and said that it would cause an issue of GDPR.
Does that sound right?

One other question, has anyone gone through the process of getting the original registration transferred back on ...were there any problems?

Thank you

Paul

i put a private plate on my BMW then when i got my rover i transferred the private plate to the rover and and transferred the original plate back to the bmw no problem

Have you looked if the plate you want is available on the governments own website?

A lot of companies use this to obtain their registration plates, simply purchasing from the government then adding a "finders fee" onto the price before selling it onto you.

When I bought my plate, many moon ago, I was offered it at £800 plus £80 transfer fee from a "we sell plates" type company. I bought it direct from the government for £500 inclusive of transfer fee.

When you buy a registration number you should get a retention certificate, which from memory remains valid for 10 years, which allows you to transfer the number to a vehicle of your choice.
No everyone who buys a number plate has a vehicle they immediatly want it transferred onto.

As a word of caution these companies do not always own the number plates they advertise, or even have permission of the plate owner to advertise it.

A friend of mine has a 3 digit plate, xx1, which I saw advertised on the internet for a fee of £6000 - which for a 3 digit plate is mega cheap! When I next spoke to my friend I asked him why he was selling his plate, to which he replied "I'm not, but companies keep listing plates they don't have or can't get in the hope of selling you something when you contact them"!

Tell them that you don't currently have a car to transfer it to and see what happens?

Hi Paul.
The part about GDPR does not sound right to me, as already stated above what if you are not ready to add the reg to a car yet, but want to purchase it for the future ? what would be there excuse then ask.

I took personal reg off the MGZT last year it is on retention for 10 years and would pay no other fee other than the £80 to hold it,

Thanks for your replies
 

Hi,
Thank you for all the replies, the number plate is not on the DVLA website , it is currently registered on a car, the private owner has it on retention.

I've checked it out, I couldn't find a way of contacting the owner directly.

The company did have contact but of course won't share any details. Hence why I think they won't reveal anything.

They said if I didn't want to transfer straight away they would hold the paperwork until I did.

Bottom line they want their cut of the money, I accept that as they are making the plate transfer possible

Cheers

Paul

Sounds like they have got you over a barrel!

What happens if they are holding it and they go bust? Without a retention certificate you could never prove ownership.

When I last transferred mine across, I simply took my retention certificate and registration document of vehicle I wanted it on to the local DVLA office - there were offices then and it was in Chelmsford - and 15 mins later it was all done.

Safer than to risk documents, I would ask to put it on retention, because then you are in control.

Hi Steve,
They are saying they will get the paperwork from the owner and then transfer the registration to my car.
The company is National Numbers.

I know the transfer process is easy to do, unfortunately if they make it the only way to do ...to guarantee their cut.

Now you've got me concerned ...will I actually officially own the number plate at all....will they have some hand in it?

Paul

Hi Paul.
Just been reading through their reviews and they seem to be good.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www...lnumbers.co.uk

That is if i have the right company.
https://www.nationalnumbers.co.uk/

Phone them with your concerns and see if they can answer your questions outright.