How to assign a private number plate

DVLA does not charge to assign a registration you already hold. You need a V750 certificate of entitlement, if you bought the number, or a V778 retention document if you took it off another vehicle. The vehicle must be registered with DVLA, able to move under its own power, of a type that needs an MOT or HGV test, available for inspection, and taxed or SORN'd continuously for the past 5 years. If it has had a SORN for more than 5 years it must be taxed and have an MOT. A historic vehicle needs a current MOT even if it is usually exempt.

If you just bought a used car, wait for DVLA to send a V5C in your name before you apply. If the car is brand new, give the dealer the V750 or V778 and ask them to apply. You cannot assign a number that makes the vehicle look newer than it is, for example an 07 mark on a 2003 car. You cannot assign a Q or QNI number, and you cannot put a private number on a Q registered vehicle.

Online assignment is immediate if no inspection is needed. Put the new plates on before you drive. Tell the insurer. The new V5C usually takes 4 weeks. If it has not arrived after 4 weeks, contact DVLA. If it has not arrived after 6 weeks and you have not told DVLA, the replacement costs £25.

The buyer holds a V750 bought from DVLA or a dealer. The car is 2018, so an 18 or 68 age identifier is legal and an 19 or later mark is not, because that would make the car look newer. The assignment fee is £0. The plate maker's bill is separate and unpublished.

The insurer, first, before the car is driven. Then any automatic payment account: Congestion Charge, Low Emission Zone, Ultra Low Emission Zone, Dart Charge, and clean air zones. GOV.UK says you may get a penalty charge if you do not update those accounts. If the vehicle has Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation scheme certification, tell them the new registration too.

You must not sell or get rid of the vehicle until you get the new V5C. The original plates should be kept, because DVLA usually restores that mark when the private number is later removed. Displaying the private number before assignment is complete is displaying a mark the vehicle does not hold.

A nominee can be added on section 2 of the V750 or V778 if you are assigning the number onto someone else's vehicle. A company fleet still needs the V5C. A hire car is rarely a vehicle you can assign onto, because you are not the keeper.

Scotland uses DVLA. The £0 assignment, the V750, the V778 and the age rule are the same in Glasgow as in Exeter. Northern Ireland uses DVA, with V750NI and V5CNI. A GB V750 is not a Northern Ireland assignment document. Use the office that holds the vehicle record.

A car imported into Great Britain still has to meet the eligibility list: registered, movable, MOT type, inspection, tax or SORN history. A personal import with a blank year on a Q plate cannot take a private number. Q vehicles are excluded.

Finance keepers and lease companies are why some assignments go through a dealer or a nominee. The DVLA fee is still £0. The delay is the V5C in the right name.

That DVLA charges £80 to put a held number on. The £80 is retention or transfer. Assignment of a held number is £0. That a used car can be assigned on the seller's V5C the day you pay. Wait for the V5C in your name. That a 2016 car can take a 21 plate because 'it looks smart'. It would look newer, so it is refused. That you can drive on paper plates from a printer. You need a registered supplier and the British Standard markings for plates fitted after 1 September 2021.

GOV.UK says the vehicle must have been taxed or had a SORN in place continuously for the past 5 years. If it has had a SORN for more than 5 years, it must be taxed and have an MOT. A historic vehicle still has to pass a current MOT for this purpose. Those tests stop assignment, not because of the £0 fee, but because the vehicle is not eligible.

A barn-find that has been off the record is the usual failure. Tax it, MOT it if required, then assign. A car that cannot move under its own power also fails. Trail it to a test only if the law allows that movement. Do not assume a private number will sit on a dead car until it is rebuilt.

DVLA may inspect. Have the car available. Online is not immediate if they want to see it. The new V5C still follows by post. Do not sell the car in that wait. GOV.UK says you must not sell or get rid of the vehicle until you get the new log book.

Section 2 of the V750 or V778 is where you add a nominee if the vehicle belongs to someone else. A dealer assigning onto a brand new car is the published new-car route: you give them the document. A used car still wants the V5C in the keeper's name first. A finance company that is the registered keeper has to be the applicant or the nominee path has to be followed. You cannot assign onto a log book you do not control.

A lease driver who wants a private number on a leased car needs the lessor's agreement. The V5C is usually in the lessor's name. That is a nominee or a lessor application, not a £0 button on your personal account. The DVLA fee is still £0. The permission is the hard part.

After assignment, the nominee or keeper still has to fit plates, tell the insurer, and update camera-charge accounts. Those duties follow the vehicle, not the person who clicked the form.

Add a nominee on section 2 if you are putting the number on someone else's vehicle. A V750 in a partner's name can still be assigned onto your car that way. A V750 that has expired cannot. Renew first, in the last 28 days, then assign. There is no DVLA assignment fee after that. There is also no assignment if the certificate is dead.

A SORN car can be eligible if the tax or SORN history is continuous for 5 years. If the SORN is older than 5 years, GOV.UK says the vehicle must be taxed and have an MOT. An MOT certificate is still required for a historic vehicle in this situation. Do the MOT first. Then assign. Then fit plates. Then tax if you are taking it off SORN to use it.

A used car whose V5C has not yet arrived in your name is not ready. Wait. A green slip may get you plates made, from the supplier list, but GOV.UK's used-car assignment route is to wait for the V5C in your name before you apply online or by post. Do not mix those two jobs.

The usual failures are the age identifier, a Q vehicle, a missing V5C in your name, and a car that cannot move. The fee is £0, so you have not lost £80. You have lost time. Fix the eligibility, then apply again. Do not fit the private plates while the record still shows the old number.

If you assigned onto the wrong car, take the number off again for £80 and start over. There is no published 'undo button' that is free. Removal is the £80 process on the keep page. Tell the insurer twice: once when the wrong mark went on, once when it comes off.

If the new V5C has not arrived after 4 weeks, contact DVLA. After 6 weeks of silence without that contact, a replacement is £25. Diary it. A sale in week 5 without a log book is the delay GOV.UK tells you not to create.

A historic vehicle needs a current MOT to take a private number, even if it is usually MOT exempt. Tax or SORN must be continuous for 5 years. A long SORN then needs tax and an MOT before assignment. Those tests are on GOV.UK's assign page. They are not optional because the DVLA assignment fee is £0.

Once assigned, the MOT record follows the vehicle, but the tester may ask for evidence of the first-used date on a cherished mark. That is in the MOT inspection manual: a cherished registration can make the year letter on the plate a poor guide to the test standard. Carry the V5C.

Tax follows the vehicle too, but automatic Direct Debit and camera accounts follow the registration. Update them. A SORN you meant to keep on the original mark does not automatically sit on the new mark. Check the record after assignment before you drive.