Private plate on your E30?

[StuBeeDoo]

The things I insist on, on my car's, are that they should be mechanically perfect, with everything working properly (headlamp levellers excepted) including things like pad wear indicators and headlamp wipers, and that the bodywork should be as good as new from a distance of about twenty metres, if not always entirely visible under the muck.

Yep! That's me too.

[MISSY30]

I thought that you couldn't put a plate on that's later than the car?

[StuBeeDoo]

I thought that you couldn't put a plate on that's later than the car?

You can't!

[MISSY30]

So when people say to make a car look newer, It's more to hide the age yeah?

[StuBeeDoo]

It's more to hide the age yeah?

There are various reasons for doing it and this is one of them.
Some people get hold of a plate that has their name or initials or some other revelance to themselves. Lets face it, before 1963, plates didn't (obviously) put a date to a vehicle, so why change it. The chances are that when a car is registered, it was built months or even a year or more before. I feel that a better system would be to have a dated registration applicable to the build date.
I have spent 30 years working in the motor parts business, and you'd be amazed at the number of people who get offended when you tell them that their car is older than they think it is. For example, my RS was built in September 1989, but registered in April 1990. I know of a 2000 model Mondeo that was registered on a 02 plate. Therefore, it looks 2 years newer than it really is. To my mind, this makes a total mockery of the "can't make a car look newer" rule.

Personally, I have a private plate primarily because I feel that H123 ABC (or whatever) looks poo. AB05 CDE looks even worse!
Secondly my plate, SBZ, has my initials in - so the car is essbee's (get it??)
Stuart.

[Zayyan]

If anyone finds E30 MAB please let me know

If you request that the DVLA put it up for auction there's every possibility that they will......it'll probably have a Ԛ£250 or so start price too I think, so if you're happy to pay that (+the auction buyers premium, VAT and the Ԛ£80 transfer fee of course ) then it's worth requesting it....

[Martinaston]

I saw the plate with two letters on it that were my initials so figured i'd never own it so resigned myself to the fact that if i couldn't have that one then no other one would do.
Then a year later i spotted my initials with the number one after them, rang the company selling it and got quoted Ԛ£40,000
Needless to say i didn't buy it and god know how much my original choise would go for

[Brianmoooore]

A lot of the numbers you see advertised by these traders are not owned by them at all.
They just check the DVLA's lists, see what's available and try to target suitable mugs (sorry, customers), to rip them off for a 1000% mark up or so.
An uncle of mine was contacted by one of these companies, offering him a plate relating to his initials at some ridiculous price. He contacted the DVLA, found the plate was on their books, and bought it for a fraction of what it had been offered to him.

[D2LTA]

I like em, i was lucky with the touring as a private plate K3*** came with the car, its probably worth nearly as much as i paid for the car, thought about sellin it on but it looks quite nice on it, makes it look a bit 'posh'..

[325iSportMark]

My mates thought I was mad paying top dollar for a J reg E30 then sticking my private plate on it, which hides its age.

Fact is though, I've had the plate for 8 years now and its been on my Saab, my Golf and my Polo before that and now the beemer, and I like the fact that once the car has my plate on it it just feels more mine, if that makes any sense.

I was really tempted to sell the J reg plate that was on it though, J320WEG, a plate with 320 in it would probably have been worth something to someone with a BMW320 or a Merc 320 or something. My plate is personal to me not the car, and I reckon that a decent plate can be a finishing touch on the car. The one I would be tempted with on a second car like mine is would have the letters TOY in it.

I understand that they are not everyone's cup of tea, but like I say, when you change your car it takes a while before it feels like home, but when I stick my plate that I've had for years on it its instantly mine.

[Nostrils]

If anyone finds E30 MAB please let me know

That number is on a Micra Collette 3dr Hatchback - Keep and eye out on the trader for such a car.....would be certainly cheap to buy the whole car....make sure it has an MOT and then get it transferred....

[Martinaston]

Brianmoooore wrote

A lot of the numbers you see advertised by these traders are not owned by them at all.
They just check the DVLA's lists, see what's available and try to target suitable mugs (sorry, customers), to rip them off for a 1000% mark up or so.
An uncle of mine was contacted by one of these companies, offering him a plate relating to his initials at some ridiculous price. He contacted the DVLA, found the plate was on their books, and bought it for a fraction of what it had been offered to him.


Yeah i'm aware of the cheapo adds that appear in the papers and most of the plates are still owned by dvla but the one i was after was already registered to someone, who obviously new it was worth a few bob.
My first choice of plate was on an old rover 800 that i spotted down Whitehall a few years ago. I know i won't be buying it whilst on this side of a winning lottery ticket, mainly because my initials are MP.
How's your luck

[StuBeeDoo]

My mates thought I was mad paying top dollar for a J reg E30 then sticking my private plate on it, which hides its age.

Fact is though, I've had the plate for 8 years now and its been on my Saab, my Golf and my Polo before that and now the beemer, and I like the fact that once the car has my plate on it it just feels more mine, if that makes any sense.

I was really tempted to sell the J reg plate that was on it though, J320WEG, a plate with 320 in it would probably have been worth something to someone with a BMW320 or a Merc 320 or something. My plate is personal to me not the car, and I reckon that a decent plate can be a finishing touch on the car. The one I would be tempted with on a second car like mine is would have the letters TOY in it.

I understand that they are not everyone's cup of tea, but like I say, when you change your car it takes a while before it feels like home, but when I stick my plate that I've had for years on it its instantly mine.

Spot on Mark! This is sort of what I was getting at. I never really thought about it before, but you're right.
When I got my Touring. I drove it 200 miles home and parked it in the garage. Went out in it next day and somehow it didn't feel "right".
A week later, the transfer came through and suddenly it all dropped into place.
Stuart

[zaust]

Iv got the number plate DXI 5000 so i wouldnt change the reg of the car
but it was on a beetle of mine for years and now iv had it on my mini for
a few years but it suits thoese cars. not shure if it will look wright on an
e30 ?

[Zayyan]

not shure if it will look wright on an e30 ?

I don't think so.

[StuBeeDoo]

Iv got the number plate DXI 5000 so i wouldnt change the reg of the car
but it was on a beetle of mine for years and now iv had it on my mini for
a few years but it suits thoese cars. not shure if it will look wright on an
e30 ?

Zaust.... Go for it Dude!

[StuBeeDoo]

I know this is slightly But can I give those of you who do have private plates a bit of advice??
A few years ago, I had a car written-off (not my fault!). The insurance company wouldn't pay out until they had the registration document. I wasn't in a position to wait two months or more for the money, and so I lost my plate. It had been valued at over Ԛ£1k and it also had sentimental value, as it had been handed down through the family.
DVLA refused to re-issue the plate to me when the insurers scraped the car even though I could prove that the plate had been "mine". This was when I found out that you never actually own a plate. If you buy one, you're only buying the right to use it.
The moral of this story is;- if you've got a private plate and don't wanna loose it, get yourself armed with a retention application (V778/1). If the worst should happen and you think you may be in a write-off situation, get the application in before you hand-over any documentation to your insurers.

[StuBeeDoo]

you could keep the orig. plate on retention? then if you want to change it back at any time it would match the etched number then

No need to put the original on retention. The DVLA will normally reissue the original whan you take the private plate off, especially if you give them a good reason (like etched windows).

When I transferred my plate from the RS onto the Touring, DVLA re-issued the original plate to the RS without even being asked!

[StuBeeDoo]

I thought that you couldn't put a plate on that's later than the car?

You can't!

But, here's the stupid bit..... My plate is a 1997 one! So if DVLA know what they're doing, why did they let me put it on 2 successive cars first registered in 1990 and 1991??
Like I said before, I know of a Mondeo that was built in 2000 and registered on an 02 plate. DVLA make up the rules (and move the goalposts) as they go along!

[Daryll]

I don't have one on the E30 at the moment but there is one in the pipe line which will read BMW DJ (my initials)

On my Shogun I have N4T DJ (Wifes real name is Nat and not Satan like I normally call here)
I did until recently have N17T DJ (which also read NAT DJ) on my colt, but the twat of a 'mate' I sold the car to was supposed to giveit back to me after the sale inorder for him to get tax but didn't.

[Zayyan]

I thought that you couldn't put a plate on that's later than the car?

You can't!

But, here's the stupid bit..... My plate is a 1997 one! So if DVLA know what they're doing, why did they let me put it on 2 successive cars first registered in 1990 and 1991??
Like I said before, I know of a Mondeo that was built in 2000 and registered on an 02 plate. DVLA make up the rules (and move the goalposts) as they go along!

However yours is an "ageless" plate is it not? Without the prefix/suffix. And so even if it was first issued to a 1997 car it can be put on an older one?

Nothing wrong with the 2000 model Mondeo on an 02 plate either; what about the cars that are held for years at dealers before being registered?

[Karan]

i wwas gonna change mine along with dave.... we were gonna both get'

'** LSD'

but i cant really change mine now as its become known as GUG

[ingham]

My mates thought I was mad paying top dollar for a J reg E30 then sticking my private plate on it, which hides its age.
.

no we just think your mad for paying so much for it(the car)

[325iSportMark]

My mates thought I was mad paying top dollar for a J reg E30 then sticking my private plate on it, which hides its age.
.

no we just think your mad for paying so much for it(the car)

So, tell us about your E30 then Jase?

[Dan318-is]

i would love one like D4N IS but they just cost to much for something that doesnt improve speed or handling