How to replace number plates

A registered number plate supplier must see original identity and entitlement documents. Government does not set the retail price or the production time, so this page shows those as not published. You might need new plates if they are lost, damaged or stolen, if you are importing a car, or if you have just assigned a private number.

To prove who you are, take a driving licence, a recent utility, Council Tax or rates bill, a recent bank statement, or a national identity card. A passport, a bank card, a police warrant card or an armed forces card can confirm name only, so you still need an address document. To prove you can use the registration, take a V5C or V5CNI, a green new keeper slip, a V750 or V750NI, a V778, a V11 or V11NI tax reminder, a V379, a stamped V948, an eV948, or a fleet letter of authorisation quoting the V5C reference.

Plates fitted after 1 September 2021 must carry the required British Standard and supplier markings. This page does not rewrite the display rules. The number-plate rules page on this site is that material. Replacing the physical plates does not change the registration assigned to the vehicle. A stolen plate is still that vehicle's number until DVLA changes it.

Assignment can be immediate online. The plates cannot. You still have to walk into a registered supplier with original documents. A print-at-home sheet is not a legal plate. The supplier, not DVLA, sets the price and the wait.

Stolen plates are still that vehicle's registration. Replacing them does not issue a new number. Tell the police, tell the insurer, and have a registered supplier make a new pair on the same mark unless DVLA has given you a different number. A cloned plate on someone else's car is a police and DVLA matter, not a DIY number change.

Northern Ireland suppliers use V5CNI, V750NI, V11NI and V379NI as the entitlement list GOV.UK publishes. The idea is the same: original ID plus a document that shows you may display the mark. DVA, not DVLA, holds the NI vehicle record.

A trailer has its own INF291 rules. A motorcycle has smaller plates but the same supplier and entitlement idea. A show plate sold as 'not for road use' is not a legal road plate. Fitting one on the public road is a display offence, not a clever font.

That any market stall can make them. Only a registered supplier. That a passport is enough on its own. It confirms name, not address. That a screenshot of the V5C is an original. The supplier has to see original documents. That 3D gel digits are a style choice. Display rules are on the rules page. That a stolen pair means you get a new registration automatically. You usually replace the same number, unless DVLA says otherwise.

GOV.UK's entitlement list includes the green new keeper slip from the V5C or V5CNI. Take that original slip, plus original ID and address documents. A photo of the slip on your phone is not the published original. If the slip is missing, wait for the V5C or use another document from the list, such as a V11 tax reminder if you have one.

A fleet driver should ask for the fleet letter of authorisation quoting the V5C reference. A lease driver should ask the lessor. Do not expect a registered supplier to accept a welcome email from the lease company as a substitute for the GOV.UK list.

Import plates after a personal import still need entitlement. The V5C, once issued, is the usual document. Until then, the import paperwork is not automatically on the supplier list. Take what GOV.UK lists, not what a forum says is 'close enough'.

Stolen plates: same registration, new physical pair, police and insurer told. Cloned plates: someone else is displaying your number. That is a police and DVLA problem. You may still need replacements, and you may need DVLA to consider a different number if the cloning continues. This page does not invent a cloning-compensation fee, because none is published.

Show plates sold as not for road use are not legal road plates. Fitting them is a display offence. A registered supplier making a legal pair is the road route. A novelty seller is not. The British Standard markings after 1 September 2021 are how a legal pair is identified.

A motorcycle's smaller plate still needs a registered supplier and entitlement. A trailer follows INF291. Do not take a car pair and screw it onto a trailer as a workaround. The mark on the trailer has its own rules.

Original ID and original entitlement, in person. A driving licence plus a bill from the last 6 months is the common pair. A passport without an address document is short. A phone photo of a V5C is short. A fleet letter must quote the V5C reference. The supplier is checking that you may display that mark, not that you have paid DVLA £80.

After 1 September 2021 the plate itself must carry British Standard and supplier markings. Ask to see them on the pair you are handed. A cheap pair without markings is not a bargain. It is an illegal display waiting for a stop.

The supplier sets the price. Two suppliers in the same town can differ. This site does not publish a typical figure, because government does not. Compare like a legal part, not like a DVLA fee.

Assignment can be immediate. Plates cannot be faster than the supplier in front of you. Do not drive in the gap. If you assigned in the morning, make the supplier the next stop, not the school run. Take the V750 or V778 and the ID with you so you are not turned away.

After a theft, the police reference helps the insurer. It does not replace the GOV.UK document list at the supplier. Take ID and entitlement as well. The registration usually stays the same. You are buying a new pair of the same mark, unless DVLA has told you otherwise because of cloning.

Northern Ireland documents work at a supplier who is set up for them. Take V5CNI or V750NI, not a GB V5C for an NI car. The list on GOV.UK already includes the NI suffixes. Use the one that matches the register.

Ask which document was missing. Name and address, or entitlement. A passport is name only. A bill older than 6 months is stale on GOV.UK's list. A photocopy of the V5C is not original. Fix that, then go back. Arguing that another shop once accepted a photo does not change the published list.

If the registration on the V5C does not match the plates you want, you are in the assignment job, not the replacement job. Assign first, then make plates. A supplier who offers to print a mark you cannot prove is not following GOV.UK.

A fleet driver without the authorisation letter will be turned away. Get the letter quoting the V5C reference. A new keeper with only a text from the seller will be turned away. Get the green slip or wait for the V5C. Those are the documents on the list, not close substitutes.