Cherished Number Plate Market
The original "cherished" registrations marks (i.e. those dateless number plates without a year-letter identifier at all) have all increased significantly in value over the years - some to an incredible extent.
Remember, the cherished market covers the years 1904 to 1963 so, by definition, even the last car registration marks issued are now over 50 years old, with the earliest ones being over 100 years old. We liken this end of the number plate market to the antiques market and many collectors have secured some of the rarest plates which are now worth millions of pounds.
Irish Number Plates Market
The Northern Ireland number plates, once considered the "poor relation," providing cheap cover number plates only, can no longer be regarded in this way.
The most sought after are probably cherished registration marks spelling names, for example the "_AZs" from Belfast, the "_ILs" issued by Enniskillen, the "_IGs" from Co Fermanagh and not to mention the "_IBs" coming out of Armagh. The new "_EZ plates are also proving very popular.
So you can make BAZ (Barry), DAZ (Darren), GAZ (Gareth / Gary), JIL (Jill), GIL (Gillian), BIG, DIG, HIG, plus GIB (Gibson), and many other popular combinations all of which have increased considerably in value over the years and will further increase in price going forward.
DVLA Suffix Year-Letter Number Plates Market
If you want to start investing and you havent got thousands to spend, this is where you should start.
There has always been a reasonable interest in car registrations marks such as SUE 57W - in other words, anything spelling/containing a name, but there has been a marked surge in interest recently. These marks are becoming very collectible as people try to wrestle with the new format number plates, and so are likely to go up in value.
The aforementioned holds true for popular initials too, where people now regard these suffix year-letter number plates as the "new" cherished plates. In other words they are looking at the index at the front rather than the year letter, so initials such as "JAS," "ABC" and "MJB" appear first, followed by numbers and lastly the year letter, for example ABC 123A.
The shorter the number plates, the better, as with the "proper" cherished marks. Obviously, such a mark on a new BMW/Mercedes etc.. is clearly a cherished number plate since suffix marks finished in 1983 so, even the later car number plates are some 40 years old.
DVLA Prefix Year-Letter Number Plates Market
Masses and masses of number plates have been bought and sold in this market. This is where the vast majority of people started "making their mark." As with any mass market, most of the examples will not increase in value and represent a bit of fun for their owners.
However, there are some exceptions, - top class A1's and A11's, not to mention M1s, H1s and M12s would all command massive profit margins. Furthermore, prefix number plates are worth investing in where thehy represent names, e.g. the most expensive prefix number plate ever sold was K1 NGS at over 230,000 some years ago.
DVLA New Style Number Plates Market
When the prefix car number plates ran out in 2000, a new type of car registration mark was invented with the two, area-identifier letters at the front plus two numbers (e.g. '51' representing Sept 2001), followed by 3 random letters.
These have a limited following, with some clever plates like WE57 HAM, DE51 RES etc.. having become available, but are generally limited apart from their ability to allow two sets of initials on one plate e.g. AB59 ABC. There are a handfull of popular sets for example BO55 plates for Boss, BE57 for Best, HU11 for Hull amongst those on offer or sold in the past.
Finally, you cant flash your building society book or your share certificates at people, but your special car number plate makes a public statement about you, while increasing at the same time. Number plates are a proven investment over time and make an everlasting gift that genuinely can be cherished for generations.....to quote Quentin Wilson from BBC Top Gear to say "If you buy your number plates wisely it will honestly be better than money in the bank."
If you've got it, flaunt it!
Search your ideal personalised car registration number plate online at www.r4v.co.uk