Cheap Car Plates Explained
Dateless Number Plates
The origianl format for uk registrations are termed dateless plates and these can be assigned to any age of vehicle. The first dateless format was a combination of one letter and one number with for example A 1 being the very first number issued to a vehiclke in the UK. All engine driven vehicles have had to display number plates as a unique identifier for the vehicle since 1904.
It was the Motor Car Act of 1903 that introduced this as a legal requirement and all local authorities were charged with the responsibility of ensuring unique registration numbers were issued to vehicles and that number plates were displayed of a regulation shape and size.
The most sought after dateless registrations are the original format 1 by 1 or 2 by 1 formats whilst the cheap dateless formats tend to be irish registrations issued in Northern Irelend at no cost to the vehicle owner. Combinations such as FJZ, LIJ, LJZ, NUI are typically the cheapest formats and these numbers are an effective way of hiding the age of a vehicle.
Prefix Number Plates
Registration formats known as prefix number plates were first issued to vehicles in 1983. The prefix format was based on a single letter at the start of the registration indicating the year of issue. The combination of letters and numbers are very popular as they represent excellent value and prefix registrations are considered to be a very reliable investment for the future. The single number combinations are increasing in value in particular.
A prefix number allows the personalisation of your vehicle at a reasonable cost but they are becoming more expensive as there are less DVLA un-issued numbers available. They are ideal for replicating initials or part of a name.
Current Style Registration Plates
The current style registration plates as they are referred to were first introduced in 2001 in response to the prefix registrations running out of number and letter combinations. The current style formats have increasing popularity as available combinations of prefix registrations reduce. They are popular for combining a year of birth with names and initials whilst also offering full name combinations such as RU55 ELS, or BE11 AMY.
Current style numbers are becoming increasingly attractive as they tend to be a lower cost option due to the healthy supply of these un-issued registrations by the DVLA.
The disadvantage of the current style registrations is that they cannot be assigned to older vehicles and this is one of the reasons why dateless irish number plates are attractive to owners of older vehicles.
