Warning to owners of personal number plates

Don't lose your cherished registration number

This week I came across a man who is still battling with the DVLA to get his personalised number plate back. Why? Well this is the story, as I understand it. His car was in an accident, and declared a write-off by the insurance company. And it was sporting a personal number plate, which he didn't want to lose.
He did everything according to the rules advised by the DVLA, including obtaining a letter from his insurance company which stated they had no interest in the private number plate. He then sent the paperwork to the DVLA.

Unfortunately, his application was declined. It's not quite clear why this was the case....I'm guessing that the insurance company had already completed a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) for the vehicle, before the application to retain the number plate had been received by the DVLA.

The result? Personalised registration number has been lost. And so far pleading the case with the DVLA numerous times hasn't resulted in a positive outcome. The rules are very black & white, and there's little room for flexibility in their application. The DVLA have told him his number plate has been 'retired' and will not be re-issued.

Now, in this case I don't believe it was a particularly expensive number plate. But that's hardly the point. The same would've applied whether the number plate was worth £50 or £500,000!

So be warned. If your car is written off, act quickly to retain your number plate. Before the vehicle is either declared destroyed (on a CoD) or sold on by the insurance company. Or you risk losing your cherished registration!
More on what to do with a personalised number plate when a car is written off.


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