News, how-tos, and bite-size analysis of what's selling in the UK's private number plate market.
How NI registrations came to look the way they do, why they were never aligned with the GB suffix system, and what the DVLA has done with them since 2014.
29,952 plates left DVLA's marketplace and went into someone's safe instead of onto someone's bumper. The year code on them is the cleanest tell we've found.
Twice a year, every year, DVLA changes the two-digit year code on the back of every new car. Here's the full list — March and September — from 2001 to the next release, with a search link for each.
The average UK car is now 10 years old, the highest on record. 43.4 per cent of the fleet is over a decade old, and the year code on the plate is doing the announcing.
Sailing, fishing, golf, aviation, hunting, cycling, skiing, gym or rugby — nine search shortcuts to a present that beats another bottle of aftershave. Father's Day is Sunday 21 June 2026, so order with a couple of weeks in hand.
DVLA figures obtained by Churchill Insurance show 7,381 plates stolen in the latest 12-month period — up from 5,683 a year earlier, and more than double the rate of four years ago. Tamper-resistant screws, £15 a set, are the fix.
DVLA cloning reports hit 11,394 in 2025 — up 54 per cent on 2020. Innocent drivers are picking up ULEZ charges, council PCNs and even police investigations they had nothing to do with.
DVLA data on 55,123 plate-to-vehicle assignments reveals which UK car makes over-index in private-plate ownership — and what their owners are spelling on the plate.