It's now incredibly easy on-line. Take off - https://www.gov.uk/keep-registration-number You pay £80 and it's valid for 10 years - once the online application is successful, you can use the retention certificate which will be issued by post to assign the personalised registration to a new vehicle. Again it can be done on-line. Put on - https://www.personalisedvehicleregistration.service.gov.uk/assign/vehicle-lookup But beware - this is the new 'Beta' service which only works Monday to Saturday 08:00 to 18:00. At other times those links will say 'Service Unavailable' or 'Page cannot be found'.
Been transferring my plate for 20 or so years, this last time using the online service was sooooo much easier. About time!
I have to confess, I've always been a bit shy of doing it myself and have left it to the dealers but this online system is a breeze! I had the original plate back on the X5 right away and the new V5 within 2 days of the submission. Then putting the cherished plates on the 118d and motorhome took longer to screw the plates on than do the transfer with the DVLA! Brilliant.
If you use this on line system for your plate what do you do about the MOT certificate? I want to take my plate off my car and return it to the original.
When they send you the new V5 they also send you a little note saying that your old MOT certificate is still valid until it expires as all the records kept by police and insurance etc. are electronically updated. I kept said piece of paper with the new V5 so that when i sold the car i could explain to the purchaser why the V5 and MOT had different numberplates on them...
I have done mine for a while without issues, but when I took it off the 640, the new V5 came back with a 11 reg instead of a 61. Fortunately they rectified it pretty quick.
I'm about to go through it again since I bought another cherished plate for the new addition to the fleet (the Polo) Now have: N50 *** - Hymer N60 *** - Polo M50 *** - 118d All the *** are the same initials just to keep the consistency! Can't work out whether it's sad or cool!
How long do you get to swap the plates over? Have bought my first plate so new to all this... hoping to have the plate transfer at the same time as insurance renewal to save fees - only a few weeks left on insurance.
I have just taken my private plate off my car using the on-line system - very easy. I was given a replacement number for my car (probably the original). I can't put the replacement plates on my car until I have the the new V5, which should only take a couple of days. As soon as I get the V5 and put the new plates on my car I will be able to put my private plate on another car. The whole process should only take about 5 working days - hopefully
That's strange, when I did mine (both private plate on and then off), the DVLA screen said I could put the plates on right away and that there was no need to wait for the V5c. The only thing which needed doing in addition was notifying the insurance company.
Here's another interesting link you may or may not have seen. Handy if you are buying a used vehicle perhaps. https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history mak
Can this be done on a car that's on PCP? I'm just wondering if you can hold onto the original VRN or if BMW insist on having the original VRN if it's returned...
99% of the time, the original number will be reissued. If a car is on PCP, you are obliged to inform BMW Financial Services (or whoever your finance company is) of the registration change. Some will charge an Admin Fee for this, but you MUST tell them since they are the legal owners of the vehicle. But as ever, check the Ts & Cs of your contract as every one is different. But I'm speaking from my experience of having had cars on BMW PCP.
Another very impressive experience with the DVLA and their online service. This morning I took the private plate off the Polo and had it transferred to the Z4 in under 5mins. Even with confirmation emails providing the retention certificate copies in pdf form and the requisite reference numbers enabling me to do a retention and transfer back-to-back, without having to wait for new V5c's or Retention Certificates. Impressive stuff!
