Personalised number plates - love them or hate them?

03/02/12

We’ve all seen them – those cheesy personalised number plates where numbers ineffectively masquerade as letters and the car owners do imaginative things with bolts to ensure that their surname (or worse, their ‘hilarious’ nickname) can be plastered across the back of the car for all the world to see. But some vanity plates can be coo l – trust us!

In the US, car owners have a little more flexibility when it comes to their plates, due to the differences  between states and the allowance of creative changes to the shape, colour and decorations on the plate (like political symbols). In the UK, number plates have to be a standard shape, colour, and with regulation lettering, with two portions of the plate showing where and when the car was manufactured, followed by random letters. So if your name (or nickname) has only three letters (we’re looking at you, Zoe, Sam, Bob and Kim) you can easily tag it on after the legal requirements of the plate. Or, you can get super-nerdy and pop some numbers into your name: like JE55 (Jess) or even MA2K (Mark – possibly).

However, lots of people like to get personalised number plates – or vanity plates – where the whole plate becomes an homage to their name. Or their personality. Seeing  a plate with ‘5PEED FRE4K’ emblazoned across the back is unlikely to inspire confidence in people, not to mention it looks super tacky. Personalised number plates, however, remain incredibly popular, with the cost of special plates reaching astronomical heights: last year the number plate ‘9’ was purchased for £1.72 million in Abu Dhabi! Celebrities also enjoy the odd vanity plate, like Theo Paphitis (him off Dragons’ Den) whose plates include LA53 NZA – after his association with the retail giant, La Senza.

But aside from millionaires and celebrities, what about us normal people? A personalised number plate can be a great way to make a used or second hand car individual, as well as being a great present to commemorate a special occasion. After a quick straw poll in the office, we discovered one of our tech lads has a personalised number plate: and what’s more, nearly all the members of his immediate family have them. Each family member (and their partner) has the shortened surname as part of their personalised plate (SUG – for Suggett) and then a variety of three letter nicknames, including lucky numbers and initials, all bought for significant birthdays. The current total stands at eight personalised number plates, and we’ve been informed that they all love them – except at Christmas, when they get some funny looks from the neighbours.

So whether your personalised number plate is flashy, clever, or a special present from your family, it seems that they’re as popular (and varied) as ever. What are your thoughts on personalised plates? Don’t forget to let us know over on our Facebook page!