Vanity Number plates

mr_eddy

Can anyone explain why there are some obviously expensive number plates on really naff cars ? Maybe its evidence of a long since gone glorious vast bank account or some kind of investment thing ?

I have seen 2 cases of the above recently - The first was the plate 'CW 45' on a dodgy V reg Pug 206 then the other day a S reg Rover 45 with the numberplate 'B055 XXX'

I don't get it ?! Seriously surely no right minded people would drop £2k+ on a reg number then stick it on a £500 car

ODD

homers_double

I bought my daughter a number plate several years ago. My sister was Tracey L and had T24CY L as her plate and paid well over a grand for it plus the relevant fees, I paid £250 for the same number/lett configuraton including assignment fee.

Some people loath them and see tham as an image thing, some people dont.

chris_bass

mr_eddy wrote:

I have seen 2 cases of the above recently - The first was the plate 'CW 45' on a dodgy V reg Pug 206 then the other day a S reg Rover 45 with the numberplate 'B055 XXX'

you cant put a newer plate on an older car can you?

tangled_metal

Sorry but some of them are tenuous at best. T 24 CYL (I am assuming the actual plate conforms to the right standard with the right font, letter size and spacing) does not look much like TRACEY L. Of course no one is going to stop you with a dodgy number plate made to look a little more like TRACEY L. You do see judicious use of black fixing covers and use of spaces to make these tenuous links to people's names or nicknames.

It is of course up to the individual whether they want to spend that level of money on these plates but I do believe that if you get stopped for say speeding then you should also get pinged for dodgy plates. My particular dislike is italics on plates or anything that makes it hard to recognise the registration number. It is a form of identification for your car and the owner for a reason. If you are deliberately trying to make it harder for people to see the number / letter combination then that is wrong. I'll get off my high horse now.

One thing though. I often see new and sometimes expensive cars with really old number plates. I think the strangest one was when I saw a brand new car with the really old number plates with the numbers after the 3 letters not before like the previous number style, e.g. LYC 42T. There was no reason or obvious meaning in the registration so I can only think that the owner is transfering his or her first car's number plate to each new car bought. Makes it easier to remember I guess.

The other game is to try and work out the meaning behind vague vanity plates. You know the ones that look like normal plates but are on newer cars than the plate indicates. Where there does look like some meaning but it is just not easy to spot. Then chuckle that they spent £250 plus on something that only says something to them.

chris_bass

three letters? their initials maybe?

Velonutter

On all my vehicles I have private plates, on my old Harley Davidson F-150 Pickup truck I had V8 J**, and I now have that on my Indian Motorbike so that I don't have to pay the £25 a year retention, On my 911 I have P9 J** and on my other car I have J9 J**

Certainly not vanity, I just like the personalisation factor, my wife and son both have private plates, my daughter will probably in the future, certainly not because of the elitism of owning a private plate, just enjoy it, I work hard and very long hours and it saves me having to remember the different numbers.

JackPozzi

Tangled Metal wrote:

One thing though. I often see new and sometimes expensive cars with really old number plates. I think the strangest one was when I saw a brand new car with the really old number plates with the numbers after the 3 letters not before like the previous number style, e.g. LYC 42T. There was no reason or obvious meaning in the registration so I can only think that the owner is transfering his or her first car's number plate to each new car bought. Makes it easier to remember I guess.

A lot of the top level managers at my company (public transport) have these style of plates on their company cars, originally registered to various buses but now used by the directors. Not sure why, they do mean absolutely nothing without knowing the background story.

southdownswolf

Many years ago we did look at buying plates for when our children turned 18, we could get one for our daughter - T14RNE (Tiarne) but our sons was already sold and was going to cost a lot to buy C4LEB or CAL3B (Caleb) .
We bought neither in the end as didn't feel it fair to buy for one and not the other.
Neither myself or my wife have "Vanity" plates...

cougie

Top tip there - have a look what numbers are available and name your child after the plate. You'll save hundreds.

lesfirth

If you buy your wife one of these plates you save a fortune. Nobody knows how old her car is and she wont want a new one.
I think there is nothing worse than a plate that needs an explanation in little letters at the bottom. To me it says I want a personal plate but I cant afford a proper one.
A guy I know has his three initials and number 1 on a Micra. He says when he had it on a Roller it was too much hassle. If you found a parking place big enough some low life would vandalise it. A Micra was much handier.

Pituophis

They're not for me personally, but then they don't bother/offend/infuriate me in the slightest.
If that's what people want to spend their money on and it brings them a bit of pleasure, then what's the harm in that?
You can get a bike for about £100 brand new believe it or not!!! What muppet in their right mind would spend more than that? :shock: :roll:

pblakeney

I know someone that was given a personal plate for their 30th.
That plate cost £2500.
A few years on and the car went wrong and was scrapped.
With the plates still on it.
Whoopsie!

slowmart

The worse offenders are the desperate fudges to spell something that's vaguely coherent? The dots, font or spacing.

small dick syndrome....IMHO.

bikes`n`guns

Some people seem to have a real complex about people having personal plates.

Small dick syndrome, really ?? how sad. Perhaps someone with a personal plate put you to shame at some point ,no?.

pblakeney

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

Some people seem to have a real complex about people having personal plates.

Small dick syndrome, really ?? how sad. Perhaps someone with a personal plate put you to shame at some point ,no?.

So.
What is your plate then?

Ber Nard

I can see the point on well looked after prestige cars where they can hide the age of the car and save them looking dated. Never understood why people want their name on their car, though. Presumably they don't write their name on everything else they own.

Frank the tank

I'd like to buy the gaffer at work a private plate

C1JNT .

bikes`n`guns

PBlakeney wrote:

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

Some people seem to have a real complex about people having personal plates.

Small dick syndrome, really ?? how sad. Perhaps someone with a personal plate put you to shame at some point ,no?.

So.
What is your plate then?

B16 COK

metronome

W45T3 0F M0N3Y

pblakeney

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

Some people seem to have a real complex about people having personal plates.

Small dick syndrome, really ?? how sad. Perhaps someone with a personal plate put you to shame at some point ,no?.

So.
What is your plate then?

B16 COK

You will find it is a Brooks B17, not 16.

bikes`n`guns

Serious question.


Why do so many people bother about what other folk spend their money on. ?

Is it a jealousy thing ?
Is it some feeling of inferiority ?
Is it a class hate thing ?
Is it a humanitarian issue that the money isn`t feeding starving children ?

What is it that makes other care so much about what other people do with their hard earned.?

southdownswolf

cougie wrote:

Top tip there - have a look what numbers are available and name your child after the plate. You'll save hundreds.

I tried that, but the Mrs didn't want to call my son BON3R

the playing mantis

fine for someone under 25 but older than that MOSTLY bought by orange people who are new to money and have no taste, who have a 4x4 but have never been off road and live in an 'executive house' in a gated area with another 10 houses that look exactly the same, but each to their own, doesnt bother me, just a fact.

something that does grind my gears, is those who buy a sh*t beemer and have the designation of the engine capacity removed from the back as they are embarrassed and or/get a fake exhaust silencer on it too to make it look like a better car ...why buy the car in the first place if your embarrassed by it???

people will claim people do it on expensive ones too. they dont, i have mixed with m3 and schnitzer tuned owners at a track day for example, and none to a to a man have done this or known other to. if you are ashamed of your low level beemer, just buy a high level mondeo for the same cash.

the playing mantis

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

Serious question.


Why do so many people bother about what other folk spend their money on. ?

Is it a jealousy thing ?
Is it some feeling of inferiority ?
Is it a class hate thing ?
Is it a humanitarian issue that the money isn`t feeding starving children ?

What is it that makes other care so much about what other people do with their hard earned.?

i think its perhaps a bit of each bar number 3, unless its higher classes hating the working class. genuine middle classes dont touch with a barge pole and its mostly those 'done good' who like to spend their new found wealth on such babubles. the upper classes are absolved as they only have it on older rollers, or when a chaffeur is driving when it is kind of mandatory.

pblakeney

the playing mantis wrote:

if you are ashamed of your low level beemer, just buy a high level mondeo for the same cash.

But then they wouldn't have a BMW badge. It is not that hard to understand.
It is a stupid mentality though.

the playing mantis

or save up till u can afford one your not embarrassed about!

slowmart

Bikes`n`guns wrote:

Some people seem to have a real complex about people having personal plates.

Small dick syndrome, really ?? how sad. Perhaps someone with a personal plate put you to shame at some point ,no?.

Er, no? How?

Its more illuminating of the individuals who feel the need? Interesting article on the personality types who feel the need.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240 ... 0386002034


Not to mention forum names?

slowmart

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... mid=233211


Lots of small dicks by the looks of it..

MountainMonster

Tangled Metal wrote:

Sorry but some of them are tenuous at best. T 24 CYL (I am assuming the actual plate conforms to the right standard with the right font, letter size and spacing) does not look much like TRACEY L. Of course no one is going to stop you with a dodgy number plate made to look a little more like TRACEY L. You do see judicious use of black fixing covers and use of spaces to make these tenuous links to people's names or nicknames.

It is of course up to the individual whether they want to spend that level of money on these plates but I do believe that if you get stopped for say speeding then you should also get pinged for dodgy plates. My particular dislike is italics on plates or anything that makes it hard to recognise the registration number. It is a form of identification for your car and the owner for a reason. If you are deliberately trying to make it harder for people to see the number / letter combination then that is wrong. I'll get off my high horse now.

One thing though. I often see new and sometimes expensive cars with really old number plates. I think the strangest one was when I saw a brand new car with the really old number plates with the numbers after the 3 letters not before like the previous number style, e.g. LYC 42T. There was no reason or obvious meaning in the registration so I can only think that the owner is transfering his or her first car's number plate to each new car bought. Makes it easier to remember I guess.

The other game is to try and work out the meaning behind vague vanity plates. You know the ones that look like normal plates but are on newer cars than the plate indicates. Where there does look like some meaning but it is just not easy to spot. Then chuckle that they spent £250 plus on something that only says something to them.

If I were to buy a number plate, which I probably wouldn't, i'd be buying it because I want it, not because someone else can understand it. So your last sentence is entirely correct, minus the chuckling part

dj58

Saw one this afternoon on an Audi, E7ANS spaced like I have typed it, non regulation type size and plate, looked absolutely naff.

Anonymous

I had one once but only because it fitted the car perfectly without messing around with it.
It ticked a few other boxes too so was a no brainer at the time.

Our neighbours with private plates keep the new one on for 6 months to show off their new car.
How sad is that lol.

I quite like some, but so few work and most are Sad/V Sad IMO.
I do not see why people want their initials on their car, I would not want them on my pen!
Love it when people have multiples of the same digit, like it makes them invisible and we can only see the others.

Its bizarre that dodgy spacing etc. is not clamped down on. Would be an easy way to get some revenue surely.