What could be a cooler, more modern upgrade to a vehicle than a personalised number plate?
People are prepared to pay all sorts of prices for custom plates: one of the most expensive plates ever recorded was the plate ‘X1’, which cost the owner £502,500 – and it is now worth a whopping £1 million today!
Have you ever wondered, does a personalised number plate increase insurance?
We will outline the answer to this question in this article, so keep reading to find out more.
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Does a personalised number plate increase insurance?
So, does a personalised number plate increase insurance?
In most cases, a personalised number plate does not count as a modification to your car. Hence, it won’t increase your insurance premiums.
You should always inform your insurance provider if you have installed custom number plates on your vehicle, and check whether this counts as a modification to your car. Your insurance provider will let you know if your new plates will affect your insurance in any way.
What if I don’t inform my insurance provider that I have a personalised number plate?
If you don’t tell your insurance provider that you have installed personalised number plates on your vehicle, then this could invalidate your insurance cover.
If you are driving a vehicle with illegally or incorrectly displayed number plates, then this may impact your car insurance. The police will pull you over and fine you up to £1,000, as the number plate is not identifiable on ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition).
Your insurance rate could bump up too if you have been handed a hefty motoring fine by the police. Your insurance premium could rise by up to 86%, which means you could be paying nearly twice the price.
Will my personalised number plate be covered by my insurance if my vehicle is stolen?
That depends on your insurance provider’s policy. Not all insurance providers cover the loss of a custom number plate.
If you put a custom number plate on your vehicle and your vehicle gets stolen, inform your insurance provider immediately, and ask them whether their policy covers the loss of a custom number plate.
How much is the fine for illegal number plate?
An illegal number plate is one which is incorrectly displayed. It could contain the wrong spacings, font, colours, style, material, and so on.
If your vehicle is displaying illegal or incorrectly displayed number plates, you could be fined up to £1,000 and your vehicle will fail its MOT test.
If you are a first-time offender, police will issue you with a ‘vehicle defect rectification notice’, giving you 14 days to get the plate made legal and get the form stamped by an official supplier, which then gets handed in at your local police station.
It is important to keep your private plate clean. If it gets cloned by criminals, you could receive speeding tickets or parking fines that do not belong to you. If this happens, return the tickets and fines to the issuing authority, and explain what happened, providing any evidence to prove this. You should also contact the DVLA and the police if your private plate gets cloned, so they can help you.
Will a personalised number plate affect my MOT?
If your number plate is illegally or incorrectly displayed, then your vehicle will fail its MOT test.
If your number plate is perfectly legal, then you won’t fail your MOT test.
During your MOT test, your registration plates will be checked. But what aspects of the number plate are they actually checking?
- condition.
- secure attachment.
- colour.
- characters correctly formed and spaced.
As long as all of these conditions are met, you will pass an MOT.
At Bespoke Plates, we offer installation on all of our plates, guaranteeing you will pass your MOT. Self-installation may result in you damaging the plate, or not securing correctly, which is why we offer this service to you. The only exception to this is show plates.
What are the legal requirements for a number plate in the UK?
The UK has strict laws about what your number plate should look like on your vehicle.
Firstly, private plates must have either a V750 certificate or a V778 retention document to prove you have legal ownership and the right to use the bespoke design.
The V750 is the document that assigns the actual registration mark to the new owner. This document will be needed for assigning a plate and for selling in the future.
The V778 is the retention document needed to keep ownership of a private plate and to be able to use it legally on the roads. Valid for ten years, it only needs to be renewed if the plate is not currently assigned to a vehicle.
Also, your number plate must meet the following conditions:
- be made from a reflective material – for the purpose of road safety
- black display characters on a white background (front plate)
- black display characters on a yellow background (rear plate)
- not have a background pattern – so as not to distort the readability of your plate
- be marked to show who supplied the number plate – to assist with thefts and sourcing queries
- be marked with a British Standard number – this is ‘BS AU 145e’ for plates fitted after 1 September 2021
- The characters must not be removable or reflective. If your number plates were fitted after 1 September 2021, they must also be a single shade of black.
Your personalised number plates can also:
- have 3D (raised) characters
- display certain flags, symbols and identifiers
- display a green flash, if you have a zero-emission vehicle
Further recommendations also state the British standard number should be permanently marked, non-retroreflecting, a single colour, and be no less than 3mm x 10mm in size.
At Bespoke Plates, our team will guide you in creating your number plate so that it is perfectly legal to drive on the road.
Where can I buy a personalised number plate for my vehicle?
You can buy a personalised number plate from us at Bespoke Plates!
We are a trusted supplier of number plates, offering options for your car, van, motorbike, or lorry. We also sell number plates for electric cars.
From 3D plates, 4D plates, standard number plates, and gel plates, our products are durable, weather-resistant, and eye-catching.
Customers are increasingly going for our 3D and 4D number plates, as these offer a sleek, three-dimensional appearance, which gives any vehicle an instantly contemporary finish.
If you need a number plate which is road-safety compliant, then there’s no need to worry: at Bespoke Plates, all of our custom number plates are 100% legal for use on the road.
Looking for a decorative, promotional number plate instead? Well, our number plates are available in show form, so this is for you!
For each of our products, as a custom number plate maker, we have all bases covered as far as your customisation options are concerned. Our product pages let you choose the style, tint, border, badges, and type of plate, with choices for both legal and show plates.
How to buy a Custom Number Plate from Bespoke Plates
At Bespoke Plates, our process is very straightforward:
- Head to our website, and choose between 3D or 4D plates under the ‘build your plate’ tab.
- Enter your registration for a preview of the plate.
- Specify whether this will be a legal plate or a show plate.
- Choose your style.
- Select whether your plate will be for the front and back of your car or just one of them.
- Select your size.
- Select additional customizable options.
- Have it delivered to your home.
About Bespoke Plates
As one of the established number plate makers in the UK, we at Bespoke Plates have all the options you can ask for. From 3D plates, 4D plates, standard number plates, and gel plates, we offer outstanding craftsmanship with every plate we produce.
We are an approved license vendor, so we can guarantee that your modification abides by the DVLA rules, whilst offering same-day collections and full fitting service.
So, what are you waiting for? Browse our options today to get the plate that speaks to you, and speaks for you, with Bespoke Plates.
To get in touch and discuss the full fitting service we offer with our plates, you can talk to one of our friendly team members by:
- Email – info@bespoke-plates.co.uk
- Phone – 0333 006 7878
- Visit in-store –36A Broughton Street, Manchester, England, M8 8NN.
We hope this article has answered the question ‘does a personalised number plate increase insurance?’
Want to read more about all things custom number plates? Check out our blog here.
