National Numbers
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Cherished Number Plates

 

National Numbers is one of the UK's most reputable personalised number plate suppliers, and we have a huge range of dateless and cherished private number plates available for sale with a simple checkout process.

The cherished number plate format is incredibly popular, and is often considered the perfect plate for older or more distinguished vehicles on the roads. As opposed to new number plate styles that have regular release dates every year, cherished car registration plates do not feature an age identifier and many of them have been around for over a century. In fact, they've been around longer than any other number plate format and were the original vehicle registration style introduced in 1903.

This makes them very popular as a personalised vehicle registration option because they look more unique than new registration plates, but are still road legal and original government stock.

As a cherished number plate provider, we have a massive selection of cherished car number plates from the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency available to buy today.

In fact, we stock all formats of private plates online, and can even provide acrylic plates from our parent company, Jepson & Co Ltd, the oldest DVLA number plate manufacturer in the UK.


Featured cherished number plates


What are cherished number plates?

As far as private registration plates go, cherished, also known as dateless registration marks, are extremely coveted and much sought after by UK buyers. With unique spacing compared to current style and other DVLA personalised registration, cherished number plates adhere to British Standards but offer something special for your vehicle.

As well as adding a layer of character to your car with something truly unique, you can also hold cherished registration plates on a retention document to accumulate in value and use as an investment.

National Numbers is a recognised reseller of DVLA registrations and replacement number plates, and we're one of the oldest dealers in the country. This means that if you’re looking for a place to buy cherished number plates, you've come to the right place.


How to transfer a cherished number plate

Cherished number plates exist in two states - on a certificate of entitlement (showing you as the legal owner), or on a vehicle. You can transfer a cherished plate from a vehicle to a certificate, or vice versa, with a DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) fee of £80 payable to make a registration 'transferable'.

The transfer process for registrations can be carried out online or via the post; but will require the V5C log book for any vehicles involved. The vehicles must be taxed and tested, and of course any certificate must be valid and not expired.

If you remove a registration from a vehicle to a certificate or another vehicle, the vehicle will receive another registration mark to take its place. This will typically be the original registration from before it was given a cherished number, or a random reg of suitable age for the vehicle.


How to sell cherished number plates

Firstly, we give you a FREE valuation with a suggested sale price you can modify. We then advertise your plate, find you a buyer, and handle the transfer.

Finally, you get paid what you agreed with no deductions. The buyer pays all transfer costs.

Cherished private registrations are valuable investments in the UK and can fetch a pretty penny to private buyers. Browse our range of dateless number plates to find your own cherished number plate investment, available to buy instantly with debit or credit card options available.

If you own a cherished number plate, or any format number plate that you want to transfer to another vehicle, be it current style, a Northern Ireland car registration, suffix, or prefix, you can find out how to transfer number plates from vehicle to vehicle here.


History of cherished number plates

Cherished number plates have existed since DVLA registrations were originally issued in 1903, and they were the first number plate format to be released. This means that they came before prefix number plates, suffix plates, Northern Ireland number plates, and new style registrations.

The reason for the release of number plates in the first place came about due to the Motor Car Act of 1903. This new form of legislation focussed on driving licenses, setting formal speed limits, and the ability to distinguish between vehicles on the road by using number plates.

Take a look at the below graphic of DVLA number plates to examine the history of number plate formats in more detail. And you can find out more about the history of UK number plates here.

Dateless Plates

1903 - 1962

REG 1

1, 2 or 3 letters followed by a number. Later reversed so that the letters followed the number.

Suffix Plates

1963 - 1982

REG 123A

3 letters, 1, 2 or 3 digit number, and an age identifying letter.

Prefix Plates

1983 - 2001

A123 REG

An age identifying letter, 1, 2 or 3 digit number, and 3 more letters.

Millennium Plates

2001 - now

NU51 REG

A 2 letter area code, age identifying 2 digit number, 3 random letters.


Cherished number plate FAQs

We get asked a lot of questions about cherished number plates at National Numbers, so let's take a look at some of the most commonly asked queries we're often presented with.

The most expensive cherished number plate is 25 O, which classic car dealer John Collins paid £400,000 at a DVLA number plate auction in 2014. However, A 1 was the first number plate released in the UK, and is said to be worth around £10 million in today's market, although it hasn't been up for sale since 1989.
The value of your registration depends on many factors - if it clearly spells a name or a word, that will hugely influence it's worth, as will how many similar reg with the same letter combination are available on the market (if they're particularly scarce, that would indicate demand). The best way to find out is to request a free valuation for your number plate from National Numbers.
The first step in selling is to decide upon your asking price. If you request a free valuation, you can then proceed to promote your number plate for sale with us. We don't charge for this service, all we ask is that if you decide you no longer wish to sell (or sell it elsewhere) that you keep us informed. Once we find an interested buyer, we'll be in touch.
Cherished number plates can exist in two states - on a vehicle, or on a certificate. Most transfers can be completed online, as long as you have the V5C log book for any/all vehicles and/or the certificate (V750/V778) for the registration. We have guides for each type of transfer - if you want to transfer from a certificate to a vehicle (assignment), if you want to transfer from vehicle to certificate (retention) and if you want to transfer from one vehicle to another.
It's really easy to buy a dateless or cherished private registration number, and you can do so the same way you'd buy any kind of personalised number plate in the UK, by using a trusted number plate supplier. Luckily for you, that's exactly what National Numbers is, and we're one of the oldest recognised resellers of DVLA registrations in the UK, having celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2021. Browse our cherished number plates here.
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Proud Members Of

Proud members of ALL number plate dealership trade organisations.

CNDA and RMI
Cherished Numbers Dealers Association
Retail Motor Industry Federation
Cherished Numbers Guild
Institute of Registration Agents & Dealers


We're also DVLA recognised - meeting the terms and conditions of the DVLA's ethical trading practices.

We're also DVLA recognised - meeting the terms and conditions of the DVLA's ethical trading practices.
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