Transfers & retention

How a private plate moves on to a vehicle, how a certificate holds it until you are ready, what the DVLA asks of the vehicle, and what happens to the registration mark already on it.

The certificate

Every private plate we supply has never been assigned to a vehicle, so it comes on a V750 DVLA Certificate of Entitlement. That puts the private plate on a certificate rather than on a car. The certificate is posted to you and you assign the private plate yourself with DVLA Swansea, or, if you chose our assignment service, our trained staff use it to assign the private plate for you and the DVLA sends your new V5C. The process, and what the DVLA asks of the vehicle, are set out in personalised registration numbers on gov.uk.

Holding it without a vehicle

You do not have to put a private plate on anything straight away. The certificate holds it for you and you assign it whenever you like, as long as you renew before it expires.

What happens to your current registration

When a new private plate goes on, the vehicle’s original registration mark goes back to the DVLA unless you ask to keep it. If you are applying to DVLA Swansea yourself, say so on the application and the DVLA will put it on a V750 certificate in your name. If you took the assignment service, tell us before we start and we will ask on your behalf. Once it has gone back it cannot be recovered.

What the vehicle needs

The same conditions apply whether a registration mark is going on to a vehicle or coming off one. DVLA asks that:

• It is registered with DVLA in the UK.
• It can move under its own power.
• It is a type of vehicle that needs an MOT or HGV test certificate.
• It is available for inspection, if DVLA ask to see it.
• It is taxed now, or has a SORN in place.
• It has been taxed or on SORN continuously for the past five years.

Does it need an MOT?

Usually not, and this is the point most often got wrong. The condition is that the vehicle is a type that needs an MOT or HGV test certificate. That is about the class of vehicle, not about holding a current certificate on the day.

A current MOT certificate is only needed on top of that if the vehicle has had a SORN in place for more than five years, or if it is a historic vehicle that would otherwise be exempt from MOTs.

There is a practical reason to keep an eye on the date even so. A vehicle whose MOT lapses part way through a transfer cannot be driven, and DVLA may ask to inspect it. When you give us your vehicle at the checkout we will tell you when its MOT runs out, so there are no surprises.

Tax & SORN

The vehicle has to be taxed now or have a SORN in place, and to have been one or the other continuously for the past five years. If it has been on SORN for longer than five years it needs to be taxed and to have a current MOT before the registration mark can move.

Who applies: the keeper, the grantee and a nominee

The application to put a private plate on a vehicle comes from the vehicle’s registered keeper, the person named on its V5C. The certificate names the person entitled to the registration mark, the grantee, and the grantee signs the application. If the vehicle is registered to somebody else, the grantee names that person on the certificate as the nominee, and the registration mark can then go on to a vehicle registered in the nominee’s name. A nominee must be the registered keeper of that vehicle. An application without the right names on it is returned, so ask us before you apply if you are not sure which you are.

Keeping it on a certificate with a nominee

You can hold a private plate on a certificate without a vehicle and still name a nominee, so that when the time comes it goes straight on to a vehicle registered to them: a private plate bought for a partner or a child, for example. A certificate lasts ten years and is renewed before it expires at no charge.

Vehicles on finance or lease

On hire purchase or a personal contract plan you are usually the registered keeper, so you apply in the ordinary way; check your agreement, because some lenders ask to be told. On a lease the leasing company is usually the registered keeper, so the application comes from them or with their written permission, and most have a form for it. Either way the private plate stays yours: before the vehicle goes back, put the registration mark on a certificate, or it goes with the vehicle.

How long each step takes

Your certificate is with you within 7 to 14 working days of us having everything we need. An assignment made online with the DVLA takes effect straight away, so number plates can be made and displayed as soon as the DVLA confirms it, and the new V5C follows in the post. A paper application takes longer, usually a few weeks. The DVLA’s current timescales are on gov.uk.

Age restrictions covers which private plates your vehicle is old enough to wear, and how ordering works sets out the order things happen in. The conditions on this page are DVLA’s, set out at gov.uk.