Faq

We accept Credit or Debit Card payments and we also accept payments directly from your Bank or Building Society account.

Credit or debit card: You can pay online via our web site using most major credit and debit cards.

Pay directly from your Bank or Building Society account. Transferring credit directly to our bank account can be just as quick as paying by credit or debit card. Please contact us if this is your preferred payment method.

Payment by Finance is not currently available.
 

Government rules are very clear, you cannot display a number plate that makes your car look newer than it actually is. Many registration marks carry an 'age identifier', this is the date when the registration was released. It is important to check the age of the receiving vehicle. For more information, please go to the ‘Year Restrictions’ section of our Information Centre.

We aim to have most of our customers transfers concluded within 7 days, but we often conclude these a lot sooner. If you choose to go it alone and ‘do-it-yourself’ the transfer on to your vehicle usually does take longer. We’ll let you know as soon as the DVLA confirm the transfer is successful and the DVLA say it’s OK to display your new registration on your vehicle.

With the fully managed ‘done-for-you’ service we handle all paperwork processing and coordinate the legal assignment to the vehicle.
We recommend this service for Customers who want the entire assignment process to run as smoothly and quickly as possible. It’s included as standard in our 'all-inclusive' package!
This service includes the administering of all relevant documentation with the DVLA, we will conclude the transfer and send confirmation when it is complete, we arrange for a new V5C to be issued on completion, and confirm the DVLA TAX & MOT computer systems are updated with details of your new registration.

The 'do-it-yourself'’ option is when a customer chooses to go it alone and do the transfer themselves. We will send you the government holding certificate for you to complete the transfer yourself at a later date.

We supply a set of premium quality road legal acrylic number plates as part of the package, The fixing kit contains professional grade 6mm fixing pads and alcohol wipes to attach your new number plates when they arrive.

Its an electronic gift certificate and its included in the package. Perfect if you are buying as a gift, We will send an email with the electronic gift certificate for you to print at home or email to the lucky recipient.

No, you don’t. Just select the ‘do-it-yourself’ transfer service and we will supply the rights to the registration on the government holding certificate. You can then assign the registration mark to your vehicle at a later date. The government holding certificate will allow you to own the rights to the registration for up to 10 years, this can also be extended thereafter if required.

No, you do not need to own a vehicle to buy a number plate. Big Reg will provide the right to the registration on a DVLA holding certificate (V750 certificate of entitlement or a V778 certificate of retention). The holding certificate allows you to keep the number for use at a later date, the date is specified on the certificate, the certificate is valid for up to 10 years.

We advise you to speak with your Leasing or Motability Company prior to purchase, you need confirm that there are no restrictions in assigning a personalised registration mark to your Leased or Motability vehicle.

Most leasing and Motability companies are happy to assign registrations to their vehicles but often they request to handle the transfer themselves. Therefore, you should always check to see if the Leasing or Motability company require your personal details or their own to be printed on the government certificate as the ‘nominated’ user. (In order for the transfer to be successful, the nominated user name should match the registered Keeper)

If you are looking at purchasing one of our featured registrations, (all of which are pre-owned), we advise you contact a member of our sales team who will be able to discuss the options available to you for your chosen registration mark. This is because, due to data protection laws, the process can vary for pre-owned registrations.

We would also advise you speak with your leasing or Motability company to confirm that the private registration will be retained into your details once it has been removed from the vehicle in the future.
 

For Big Reg to transfer your new registration on to your vehicle, we will need you to provide the information contained in your latest vehicle’s V5C registration certificate (logbook).
These details can be entered at time of purchase when selecting our fully managed ‘done-for-you’ service. We will contact you on the rare occasion that the DVLA require the physical documents to be sent.

If you do not wish to transfer your new registration immediately, then no documents are required.

Please note: The vehicle must have a valid MOT (where applicable) and be taxed in accordance with Government regulations at the time of Transfer. Un-taxed vehicles will not be able to receive a new Registration Mark unless they are tax exempt or have a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) in force at the time of the application to assign. Any unexplained gaps in the tax periods which are not covered by a SORN, will delay or prevent a Transfer or Assignment. Big Reg will not be held responsible for being unable to assign a Registration Mark due to MOT or TAX issues with the vehicle.
 

To fulfil our legal obligations as a number plate supplier it is a legal requirement that we see proof of identification from the purchaser (i.e. the person who places the order, even if it is for someone else) prior to the dispatch of the new number plates.
We need you to provide one document from the list below:
A driving licence, with or without a photo (whether or not it was issued in the United Kingdom). A bill from an electricity, gas or water supplier, a landline phone bill, a council tax bill or rates bill in Northern Ireland (issued within the last six months). A bank or building society statement (issued within the last six months). A passport (whether or not it was issued in the United Kingdom). A national identity card issued by the government of a state or of a territory (other than the United Kingdom). A debit card or credit card (issued by a bank or building society). A police warrant card, or An armed forces identity card
As soon as we receive one of these documents, we will arrange for your plates to be dispatched by Royal Mail.
 

Confirmation emails are issued by both Big Reg and the DVLA to advise a registration assignment / transfer is complete. Once you receive the confirmation emails you can then fit your new set of acrylic plates to your vehicle. Note: Acrylic plates should not be fitted to your vehicle until you have received confirmation the registration transfer is complete.

Yes, they do. Once the transfer is confirmed by the DVLA, it is your responsibility to tell your insurance company about your new personal registration number that is now assigned to your vehicle. Most insurance companies don't charge you for issuing an updated insurance certificate, but on rare occasions, some companies do still charge an admin fee.
We also advise that you inform your insurance company in writing that in the event of a vehicle write off, or a claim for stolen and not recovered, the rights to the registration mark will remain with you. Also request that they acknowledge this in writing.
 

Officially you can’t own a private registration. It’s similar in many ways to a Passport, you don’t own it, but you have the rights to use it. Ownership of the registration remains with the Government (Secretary of State for Transport). When you buy a private registration, you gain the rights to assign and display the vehicle registration mark on your vehicle or to retain it on a certificate for future use. Once the vehicle registration mark is on a vehicle it’s yours for as long as you wish, you may also transfer on to as many subsequent vehicles that you own in the future.

As the Company supplies bespoke services and customised goods, returns, refunds and exchanges are not normally possible. This is because we enter into legally binding contracts with the DVLA and third parties on your behalf, which cannot be changed or cancelled. For further information on returns, refunds and exchanges, please refer to the terms and conditions listed on our website.

To assign a registration mark on to a vehicle, the vehicle must be of a type which requires (or will require, depending on the age of the vehicle), a MOT test or Goods Vehicle Test (GVT) certificate. There are certain vehicles you cannot transfer your registration onto. Non-testable vehicles such as tractors, steamrollers and milk floats, are outside the scope of the DVLA Cherished Transfer Scheme. The DVLA do not allow Transfers or Assignments to or from ‘Q’ registered vehicles, ('NIQ' for Northern Ireland registered vehicles)

The DVLA do not allow Transfers or Assignments to or from ‘Q’ registered vehicles, ('NIQ' for Northern Ireland registered vehicles).

If you are selling the vehicle, you must take the registration off the vehicle and put it on retention. The ‘Retention’ refers to the process of moving a vehicle Registration Mark from a vehicle onto a V778 Certificate of Retention (holding document). You need to this before you sell the vehicle or the registration will still be assigned to the vehicle and will go with it to the new owner of the vehicle.
You can retain a registration online using the government website, it is very easy to do and only takes 5 minutes to do so. You will need your current V5C to take the registration off the vehicle and you will have to pay a £80 retention fee to move it from your vehicle onto a holding certificate (the £80 fee is for the next assignment). Presently there is no VAT charged on Government transfer fees.
The DVLA will issue you with a V778 Retention Document for your registration which you can then use to assign the registration on to your next vehicle or retain for use at a later date. The holding certificate will be valid for 10 years from the date of issue.
 

No, this is not possible. The £80.00 assignment fee must be paid in full at the time of purchase. The DVLA will not issue certificates prior to receipt of this payment.

If you are buying a new, unregistered vehicle, you have two options:

1. Wait until your new vehicle is registered and you have the new V5C log book with your name on it, and then ask us to transfer your new personalised number plate onto it,
OR
2. If we are able to supply your new personalised number plate on a holding certificate, you can in most cases give the certificate to the dealer you are buying the car from and ask them to do the transfer when the car is registered.
 

This will affect you if you want us to conclude the transfer on your behalf (done-for-you service).
It does NOT affect you if you only want us to supply the registration on a holding certificate (do-it-yourself service), when you to do the transfer yourself at a later date.
If you have lost your current V5C logbook, you will need to apply directly to the DVLA to have a new one issued.
If you have just purchased a new vehicle, you will need to wait on the new V5C arriving with your name and address on it. Please let us know at point of purchase if you DO NOT have the V5C for your vehicle. In these circumstances we are happy to hold the certificate on file until you are able to send us the latest V5C document, we expect you to send us this within 4 weeks of purchase. After 4 weeks, we will issue the Government Holding Certificate to the Purchaser, it will then be the Purchasers responsibility to complete their own transfer when they are in receipt of the latest V5C.
If you’re unsure what you need to do, please contact us, we are here to help.
 

If we cannot supply the registration you have ordered, you will receive a full refund. We will always provide a full refund to Purchasers who suffer a failed purchase, transfer or assignment due to a fault on behalf of the Seller or Big Reg. However, our liability will be limited to this full refund and not extended to claims for damages, interest on monies lodged with us, consequential loss, expenses or other disappointment.

Any Registration Mark currently held on a Government Holding Certificate (either a V750 Certificate of Entitlement or a V778 Retention Document) is deemed to be genuine. Big Reg always aim to transfer the Registration Mark in accordance with the DVLA Cherished Transfer Scheme before any money is released to third party vendors. This helps to protect everyone involved. 
Please note, if any discrepancy is found in a Government Holding Certificate, the registration transfer can be unsuccessful, Big Reg cannot be held responsible in the very unlikely event of this occurring. Should anything unforeseen occur, you will receive a full refund.
 

If you already have a private number on your vehicle, you may want to apply to take it off first. Especially if it has a value and you wish to use on another vehicle, or perhaps sell it later. You could lose the rights to the registration if you don’t. You can apply online at the DVLA if you want to take the number off the vehicle, occasionally you may need to apply by post. You need to pay the £80 transfer fee when you apply. On successful application to remove the existing private registration, a new replacement number will be issued (usually the original number), a new V5C vehicle log book and V778 retention document will also be issued.

There are five different styles of registration numbers which can be assigned to road vehicles in the UK and Northern Ireland today. 

Current style - First issued in Sept 2001. This style consists of two letters, a two number digit year identifier, followed by three letters. Examples would be AC02 ANN and RE63 CCA. Note: Current Style numbers do not contain a letter 'I' or a 'Q', and do not contain a 'Z' in the first two letters.

Prefix style - Issued from Aug 1983 to Aug 2001. This style is made up of a year identifying letter, up to three number digits, followed by three letters. Some examples include D24 AVD, M4 RTY and X999 ALS. Prefix Style numbers do not contain letters 'I','Z' or 'Q', and do not contain a letter 'O' or 'U' as the first letter.

Suffix style - Issued from Feb 1963 to Jul 1983. This style consists of three letters followed by up to three number digits and a year identifying fourth letter. Some examples include DAV 9S, CHR 11S and JAM 355S. Suffix Style numbers do not contain letters 'I','Z' or 'Q', and do not contain a letter 'O' or 'U' as the last letter.

Dateless style - First issued in 1903. This style has no year identifier and constitutes up to three consecutive letters and up to four consecutive number digits. They can be made up of letters followed by numbers or vice-versa. If a Dateless registration does not contain the letters 'I' or 'Z', the maximum number of characters is six. The rarity and overall appeal have a propensity to make dateless marks the most expensive range. Classic examples include DC 1, REG 15, and 123 MAT.

Northern Irish style - Also first issued in 1903 and like the dateless style, contains no year identifier. The inclusion of an "I" or a "Z" distinguishes these marks from the dateless style. Generally, this style offers a cheap way to conceal the age of a vehicle. Some examples include, RJI 990, SUI 556, and GAZ 774.

Rights to the registration (VAT included)

The £80 assignment fee (No VAT)

New set of number plates and fixing kit

Nominee is added to the certificate

*The legal transfer to your vehicle

*Updated V5C logbook is issued

*TAX & MoT systems updated

*eGift Certificate for the lucky recipient

Postage and packaging.

*As required to suit your order requirements