The primary difference between vehicles and car number plates is that you do not own the latter in the same way in which you own your vehicle.  You can fork out hundreds or even thousands of pounds when purchasing your car number plate and it won’t matter because you can only own the rights to use its allotted index mark.  What this means is that you can lose those rights as well as the money spent to purchase them.  This is an all too common event as most individuals here in the UK are not very knowledgeable of registration rules and typically have no clue what they have actually paid for.

In the UK, there are two ways in which you can protect the rights to your plate registration.  You can have your number plate registered to a specific vehicle or you can retain that number by virtue of what is referred to as a “retention” certificate.  When you have completed the purchase of your number plate, it is imperative that you protect your rights as being the registered owner.

The V5 document (or logbook) is your proof of ownership and contains your name.  If the number plate is held by retention certificate your name typically appears at the top of that document.  Retention certificates have a one year lifespan, although you will need to have it renewed (for a £25 fee) within 28 days of the certificate’s expiration date.  If you fail to pay the fee, you could lose the number completely.