Cheap Today, Classic Tomorrow?

Fancy a cheap classic to put your personal plate on but want to shell out as little as possible? What makes some cars reach classic status before others?

Brand plays a big part. Take a look at the Volvo P1800 coupe (the 'Saint' car) and the Jaguar E-type. In the sixties, they cost roughly the same, but now an E-type is worth ten times a P1800.

Often the first version of a car is considered the most desirable. That's why Mk1 Golf GTi's and Mk1 Mazda MX5's have been appreciating for the last five or ten years - if you can find ones that haven't been mucked about with.

Rarity is important. You can still pick up an original Mini for a reasonable sum but the pickup and first Mini Coopers have gone through the roof.

The impact a car makes has a bearing as well. Classics tend to be bought by people that loved them as kids but only now can afford them. Hence the Mini Cooper, the GTi and the MX5 - all were revelations but appeal to different generations.

Most of these are performance cars: for example, a Ford Capri 1300L will cost a lot less today than a 2.8i. Two-door cars and convertibles always appreciate faster than family saloons.

The top five to watch

To finish, we've used these factors to identify five cars which have reached rock bottom prices but in a few years will be appreciated by the people who adored them as children.

1. Mini Cooper S - the later BMW version, go for the earlier one with a supercharger rather than the later turbocharger.

2. Alfa Romeo 156 - possibly the best-looking four-door car ever, which handles superbly too.

3. Chrysler PT Cruiser - dramatically different looks and bargain prices.

4. Audi TT - early Quattros can still be found for around for £2,000.

5. BMW 3 Series convertible - the early Nineties ones (E30) are already well over £5,000 but the slightly newer ones (E36) are still cheap and unlikely to depreciate any further.

Of course, the beauty of putting a private plate on one of these is that it will help disguise their age until trends catch up with you. Contact us today if you're interested in a private plate for your soon-to-be-classic car.

SOURCE: https://www.theprivateplateco.co.uk/news/general/cheap-today-classic-tomorrow.html

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Ultimate Private Number Plate Shows Charity Total

Keep your eyes peeled for a new four-wheeled way to make a contactless donation to a major UK cancer research charity. From the end of May, you will be able to tap your credit, debit or Apple Pay device at a very special, one-off car.

Hyundai Motor UK has shown very visible support for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign by creating a special zero-emission IONIQ Electric car. It's the world's first car that can gather contactless charity donations.

The IONIQ has five contactless donation points embedded into it. As it travels around the UK, members of the public can tap their cards and Apple Pay devices onto it, to securely donate to the campaign. They will be able to specify an amount of either £5 or £10.

The jazzy vehicle also features the ultimate personalised number plate as it changes to show a running total of the amount raised by the car.

The IONIQ even thanks each person who donates, as a contactless payment triggers audio and visual transmissions and electronic movements on the vehicle.

"The world's first contactless car" will be launched on May 22nd at a celebration at London's Kings Cross station. It will then tour the UK up until November 2017.

This will include featuring at various events when the public will be encouraged to sit in the vehicle and take "selfies" to post on social media.

Stand Up to Cancer is a joint campaign between Cancer Research UK and Channel 4 television. The idea to gather donations via a contactless vehicle grew from a trial to equipment the charity's fundraisers with payment devices alongside their traditional "buckets". It appears 25% of the donations during the trial period came from contactless payments.

Hyundai has officially said this is a one-off and has no plans to add contactless technology (and constantly changing personalised number plates) to any other vehicles.

It is believed to be the first car in the world to collect payments. However, it is not actually the first to employ contactless payment systems. Jaguar has a variation in some of its models – such as the F-Pace and XE – to send payments outwards, so drivers can pay for fuel in Shell garages via their infotainment.

SOURCE: https://www.theprivateplateco.co.uk/news/general/ultimate-private-number-plate-shows-charity-total.html

Five of the Most Controversial UK Personalised Number Plates

What's in a name? Well, quite a lot as it happens. Who could ever forget the classic episode of The Simpsons in which Homer changed his name to Max Power and reaped a variety of benefits, including promotion at work and the gaining of trendy, famous new friends?

Of course, you don't have to go to Homer's lengths in order to get a ridiculous moniker – personalised number plates are a great way of standing out from the crowd. With plenty of cheap private plates on offer you won't have to worry about breaking the bank in order to get the personalised car registration you deserve.

DVLA Number Plates: how far is too far?

While almost anything goes as far as personalised number plates are concerned, the DVLA do have a number of terms and conditions which ban certain combinations of letters and numbers from being used, on the off-chance that they might offend people.

With this in mind, we've decided to give you a run-down of some of the most inappropriate private plates requested in the UK over the past few years that have actually managed to pass DVLA guidelines:

1) AR15 OLE

It's clear what this personalised registration is attempting to convey. It might be immature, but it's certainly eye-catching – and let's face it, when it comes to attracting attention on the road, there can fewer easier ways then purchasing a cheap personalised registration plate!

2) BO11 LUX

After paying £399 for this number plate, Alan Clarke from Chesterfield faced a backlash from the DVLA – however, the 49-year-old Telecoms Director appealed and won! He's now free to spread amusement across the UK's roads without falling foul of the law.

3) POO 11E

An unnamed Lexus owner has owned this particularly smelly personalised number plate for a number of years – it's possible they were looking for the registration to read "Poolle" without having the foresight to understand how it would be construed by daily commuters.

4) P3RV P

This number needs some serious rethinking in our opinion – but each to their own! After all, it could just be an in-joke between friends – personalised number plates make great gifts, so this might've even been a joke birthday present.

1) PEN 15

It's hard to believe, but a marketing manager in London actually drives around with this registration on his car. It's certainly an eye-catching (albeit embarrassing) means of getting his company noticed!

SOURCE: https://www.theprivateplateco.co.uk/news/general/five-of-the-most-controversial-uk-personalised-number-plates.html

Personalised Number Plates Hitting Peak Popularity

According to figures released earlier this year by the DVLA, a staggering £102m was raised in 2015 alone courtesy of personalised number plate sales. That's a huge increase of £15m when compared to 2014.

The DVLA, which started selling personalised plates back in 1990, revealed that approximately 335,000 specialised registration plates were purchased by car owners in 2015, a fourfold increase since 1995 when around 70,000 were sold.

To date, the sales of personalised plates have raised over £2.3 billion – that's money which goes directly to the Treasury. And, with the value of particularly rare plates continually on the rise – the plate 25 O was sold for a record £400,000 in 2014 – it would seem that figure is going to increase drastically in the coming years.

Sales have hit a record high, but with more than 47 million personalised plates still available to buy direct from the DVLA, the trend seems likely to do nothing but grow in popularity.

Investing in Private Plates for the future

When considering how best to make your money grow, buying a number plate might not be the first thought that crosses your mind. However, the chairman of the Cherished Numbers Dealers Association, recently said that rare plates are a "surefire investment", while Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, is quoted as saying: "Cars rank amongst many people's most valuable and cherished possessions. It is no surprise there is demand to personalise them."

If you are looking to add a little something extra to your pride and joy, why not get your hands on a personalised plate? There are quite literally millions of options to choose from, and the cost of buying one with a special meaning may cost far less than you think.

The Private Plate Company has been in business since 1993 and has sold over 150,000 personalised car registrations in the last two decades. If you are looking for a plate, whether as an investment, gift or for personal enjoyment, then there really is nowhere else you need look.

To get in touch call us on 01639 888833 or email info@the-ppc.co.uk, and we will help you find exactly what you're looking for.

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Registrations hit record high in September 2016

The first nine months of 2016 showed a total of over 2.1 million cars registered in the UK, up 2.6% from the same period last year. September – always a busy month for new car registrations – totalled almost 470,000, a 1.6% rise since September last year. Buyers keen to snap up a new 66 registration plate are said to be responsible for the rise.

This made for some great news in the face of the Brexit vote, as consumers are bucking predictions and buying cars in record numbers. Amidst industry uncertainty, auto manufacturers in the UK can look at this strong sales performance and breathe a sigh of relief. Consumers have attractive choices with new cars, as many dealerships adjust their Personal Car Leases to include low-deposits and low monthly repayments to incentivise buyers.

New 66 Registrations

Of course, with the new 66-plate comes a huge array of new personalised number plates, topping up the 4.5million personalised number plates sold by the DVLA since 1989. And with the affordability of new cars comes the affordability of number plates: cheap personal plates are no longer a pipe dream, but a reality that British drivers are relishing. After all, figures show that 335,000 DVLA Number Plates were sold over the past year - another record high for the UK.

£1.8bn has been totalled since personalised registration plates were available. Some of the more expensive personal plates that have added to this total are:

- 25 O: £518,000

DVLA sold this registration plate to John Collins, Ferrari dealer, in 2014, which now sits proudly on a Ferrari 250 SWB, worth a cool £10 million.

- F 1: £440,625

Afzal Khan, a Bradford businessman, recently turned down an offer of £6 million for the plate that he bought in 2008.

- S 1 - £404,000

Is this the first ever number plate of Scotland? It looks right, and many believe this was in fact owned by one of the first car owners of Scotland. Bought in 2008, it now resides on a Skoda.

- VIP 1: £285,000

A great plate, bought in 2008 by Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch. The plate has an interesting history, as it was sold for just £62,000 in 2006.

Why Should You Get Private Number Plates?

Previously private number plates for vehicles were very luxurious and exclusively used by people with lots of wealth. 

That's because getting them was very expensive. Well, today many people are boasting with private number plates all over the country. If you are thinking about getting one for your vehicle, here are some of the benefits you should enjoy.

Standing Out 

If you are looking for a way to stand out from the rest of the motorists, getting private plates for your vehicle is the best way to do it. Currently, most of the vehicle manufacturers are finding it hard to come up with new and unique ideas for their cars. Therefore, it's quite hard to stand out if there are thousands of people driving the same car as yours. So, why don't your personalise your number plates and become unique?

Creativity 

If you are very creative, you should think of these number plates as a blank canvas where you can put your talent to good use. Millions of letter and word combinations can be created to come up with a unique number plate for your vehicle. There is no limit to what you can come up with as a brand for your vehicle and stand out from the rest of the motorists on the road.

Value 

Depending on the private plate you choose for your car, it's quite common to increase the value of your vehicle. Yes, the plates can be regenerated anywhere else and most vehicle salespeople might not appreciate selling a used car with a personalised plate. However, there are people who collect these number plates and you can make a small fortune selling your car to them. Therefore, dig deep into your creativity pool and come up with a special number plate that might increase the value of your car, especially to private collectors.

Hide The Age Of Your Car 

With normal number plates, it's easy to know when a particular car was manufactured or released into the market. However, if you have a private number plate, you can hide the actual age of your vehicle. If your car is in an excellent condition regardless of the age, you can make it look brand new with these number plates.

On the other hand, you can always add the plates to classic cars giving people the impression that the vehicle is older. Nobody would be able to guess the age of your car. As a matter of fact, most of them would assume that you recently bought it.

Better Resale Value 

Without the original number plate, you can keep the car in a good condition and actually sell it for a higher price. As mentioned above, you can choose to sell to private collectors or in used car sales lots all over the country.  Therefore, if people can't guess the age of the car, they are likely to pay more for one that looks brand new, thanks to the private plates.

Enjoy these benefits by personalising your number plates!

DVLA number plates from Martyn Davis on Vimeo.

We have over 45 million registrations on our DVLA number plate search system at the cheapest prices. https://www.theprivateplateco.co.uk/dvla-number-plates.html