Cherished Number Plates

Until the early 1990's, all number plates that were sold in the UK were classed as Cherished number plates. This only really changed when the DVLA became actively involved in the sale of prefix car registrations. The prefix registrations changed the whole industry.

Until this point cherished number plates were not as abundant as they are today. When the DVLA first issued the "A" prefix number plates, it opened up a huge opportunity for people with the more unusual initials to now buy the personal number plates that were so difficult to find up to that point. Initials such as MJB and DJW were now widely available for sale.

Nowadays we consider Cherished number plates to be the personalised registrations that were issued before 1963. That means the style that does not have a year character or indicator to show when the plate was issued by the then called DVLC.

Number plates such as AB 2367, MW 9 are classic examples of this type of registration. As they are significantly older (and can be as much as 100 years old now), these car registrations have a much higher market value than the usual prefix, suffix or new style number plates that are common place on today's busy roads.

In fact, the most expensive private plates that have been sold over the last 10 years have virtually all been the Cherished registrations. Number plates such as F1, M1 and S1 have made well over £300,000 and The Private Plate Company themselves sold B1 for over £200,000 back in 2006. As you can see, Cherished number plates have been exceptional investments over recent years.

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