You may wonder what’s the best way to sell your second hand car with a private registration number that you want to keep. We will buy your car with a cherished number plate but before we do, if you want to retain your personalised number plate, contact DVLA to ask them for the relevant form(s) to fill in. On the form(s) you enter the information about whether you have a car for your private plate to be transferred to or not.
If you haven’t bought a new car yet, you should transfer the number onto a retention certificate which will incur some costs. Bear in mind that the vehicle must be available for inspection prior to retention and should also be taxed. You can find more about how to retain a registration number on this government website.
The best way to go about it is to ring your local DVLA office and make an appointment with them so they can go through the forms with you and inspect the vehicle while you are there (if necessary). This can make the process a bit faster and your application should be approved within 2 weeks.
Once you have all the paperwork sorted for your private plate, you can start the car selling process online by obtaining a free valuation for your vehicle, although you could get this done earlier, but it will only be valid up to a certain date.
Learn about how we value your car.
Car valuation by registration