When your car reaches the end of its life, you may be feeling rather sad at the idea of parting with its number plate. To some, there is sentimentality attached to this. It can represent the memory of their first (or any) car, or it may spell out an important set of initials, perhaps a date. You may feel better knowing what happens to the registration plate when you scrap your car; perhaps there’s a possibility of you even keeping it! This is a common question our team is faced with, which is why we’ve created this short blog post.

Can I keep the same number plate and still scrap my car?

The answer to this question is absolutely! However, you must understand that this is not a given and that you’ll have to complete a form regarding your right to retain the number plate. The DVLA offers the opportunity to do this either online or via post, and both are easy enough processes to follow. But before you make this submission, we recommend that you ensure your vehicle has the correct road tax or a SORN that is at least five years old. If not, you could see an instant denial of this request.

In some cases, the DVLA may request to inspect the state of your vehicle, but don’t be alarmed, this is standard procedure. You must not scrap the original car before having obtained an answer.

How to transfer a number plate

If your request to the DVLA was successful – happy days! You may now want to know how you can transfer the sentimental number plate over to your new car. This can be done online on the 'Assign a Private Number to your Vehicle' page on the DVLA’s website. To complete this process, you’ll need to have either an online reference number, a V778 retention document, or a V750 Certificate of Entitlement. However, the V778 retention document is probably the easiest to have as this is what the DVLA will directly issue to you upon approval of your request.

What happens next?

After the two processes above, the DVLA will issue the car you want to scrap a different registration number. This means that you can go ahead with the scrapping process and records will not be confused.

For more information on how to keep your old number plate, contact the team at Motorwise today.