Registration Numbers Club

Another Word of Warning

Thousands of cherished registrations are bought every year either through dealers or from the DVLA. Some of these are extremely expensive and, I am sure, will be retained for many years becoming an inseparable part of the family and even passed down through the generations as with any other valuable heirloom. Some will just be kept for a short while and will inevitably be sold on, hopefully at a profit, when the purchaser needs the use of the money again. Others will simply be given up to a new owner when the vehicle is sold because the purchaser no longer feels any affinity with it.

With this intense interest in cherished plates, I find it surprising that the Registration Numbers Club, which is the only UK based club catering for enthusiasts of personalised vehicle registration numbers, does not have hundreds of new members.

We do have significant interest and in recent times have recruited many new ones, but if only one in a hundred new purchasers of a cherished number joined us we could swell our membership greatly and represent a higher percentage of owners. Joining us costs very little and the benefits could be substantial.

The club was originally founded in 1977 during a strike at the then DVLC in Swansea and very quickly gained around 2000 members. The RNC was instrumental in lobbying Parliament and many other organisations eventually leading to the excellent transfer system we have today enabling motorists to purchase, transfer, retain and sell cherished registrations with few problems.

The quarterly newsletter, RNC News, which is the original independent club publication and is available free to subscribing members, features useful information covering cherished plates along with any updates on legislation.

We also hold an annual rally which this year is on Sunday 27 June 2004 at Holker Hall near Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. Members compete for various prizes with the registrations being split into several classes. Full details of this and the members pre-rally dinner is available on the club’s website www.registrationnumbersclub.org.uk or from any of the contacts shown below.

I make no apologies though for repeating a word of warning when disposing of your vehicle. Unless you have another vehicle to transfer your cherished number to, it is essential when selling it to transfer its cherished number onto a retention certificate and obtain a replacement number before the sale.

Failure to do this could lead to your cherished plate ending up belonging to the purchaser of your vehicle. Your numbers dealer can help you with this if you are unsure what to do.

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