It’s becoming a phenomenon.

So much so that the latest Pink Car Rally took place just a week ago.

With over 7,500 pink cars in the UK, we’re loving latest trend for the girlie look in cars… with the pink number plate as a perfect accessory.

And even the PiNK number plate is taking off.

Katie Price is doing it. Paris Hilton is doing it. And so is Barbie.

And lots of ladies are joining in with the love of everything pink. And not just on the outside. Jordan is having the full leather treatment in her latest acquisition, the Bugatti Veyron. Paris Hilton shows off her Bentley. And predictably, the Barbie Beetle is in the mix.

I saw a tweet today, from a seller promoting so-called road legal number plates. The link led to his ad on eBay.

Unfortunately, the claim is misleading to potential buyers who are (understandably) unaware of the details of the rules for legal display of number plates.

And the sellers are getting away with it.

The claim is that these are ‘road legal number plates’ – but if you read the small print you’ll find that they are in fact show plates. So what’s the difference?

Show plates can have (quite literally) anything printed on them. Images, italics, and any registration number. But they cannot be used on the road.

To acquire a set of number plates legally, the buyer must present ID (such as passport or driving license) and proof that they have the rights to the registration number they’ve requested. The reason for this is to prevent criminal activities (such as petrol drive-offs) on false number plates.

For a set of number plates displayed on a vehicle to be classed as legal,

1. It must be supplied by a seller who is a Registered Number Plate Supplier.
   The supplier must have an RNPS number.
2. Must have this printed on it: BSAu 145d
3. Must have maker’s ID and postcode
4. Display letters and numbers as defined by the DVLA rules for legal number plates.

If any of these are missing, and you are not asked to supply ID and proof of entitlement – then you are being duped. These are not legal number plates.

I’ve talked recently about just how popular pink cars have become in the past few years. There are over 7500 of them on the roads today – and I can only see that number going up!

What’s needed then, of course, is an equally girlie number plate with a pink border to go with it. That’s regardless of whether or not you have a private registration number on it.

We stumbled across this one. Not just any old plain pink border though. This one has little white hearts in it. And if you’re going for the full-on girlie pink look – this is just the perfect accessory.

We love this number plate border.

It just looked wrong!

I stopped to fill up at a local petrol station, when a Porsche Cayman pulled up alongside. It was the distinctive colour that first caught my eye – certainly not for the timid amongst us!

The strong metallic colour was an olive green, with PORSCHE imprinted in large black lettering down sides (in case you have any doubts about what you were looking at!).

I was busy figuring out whether or not I liked the colour, when I noticed the registration number – something I do with most cars to be honest. But especially if it’s a particularly distinctive car like this one. It was an 11 series number plate, so clearly a very new car. But I was expecting a personalised number plate.

To me, such a distinctive Porsche with an ‘in your face’ colour needs a personalised number plate to finish it off. Now, I know that’s probably a biased view – after all, I’m involved with personalised registration numbers every day. And I’m ‘tuned in’ to them. But to me the car just looked ‘wrong’.

I had a chat with the owner, whilst queueing to pay for my fuel.

“You know what’s missing on that Porsche…” I said. “A personalised number plate”.

“Ah yes” was the reply. “I have a few. I’m letting the world know this is a new Porsche before I change the registration number. I still have a few weeks left. It’s a great toy, though” he told me… with a grin on his face. I’ll go along with that.

Well it made sense.

But nice to know the owner plans on put the last touch on it when the time is right.

I was poking around the internet for interesting stuff about non UK number plates, when I came across the number plate format in India.

And the one thing that stood out about the above photo is the size of the number plate itself. It’s huge! And has surely got to impact on the aerodynamics of the motorbike itself, surely?

The number plate itself shows the district in which it was issued (MH stands for Maharashtra). The other numbers and letters indicate which part of the district, as well as some randomly allocated unique numbers.

In the UK number plates on motorbikes are smaller. And they are not required to display a registration number on the front at all. So they can usually be tucked in at the back, where they’re visible but don’t affect the bike too much.

We’ve already blogged about registration number plate theft in the UK, and the petrol drive-offs and other criminal activities involved. And we’ve also covered the in’s and out’s of number plate anti-theft screws which could reduce the risk of this happening to you.

It seems that number plates are stolen for the same reasons elsewhere in the world. So much so that the Indian Government has decided to do something about it. They’re introducing the compulsory fitting of High Seciurity Registration Plates (HRSP) on all new vehicles, with older vehicles obliged to comply within 2 years. It’s likely the legislation will come into force around October 2011 – though no official dates have been announced.

These registration plates are being introduced because the current systems vary in different parts of India, and the letters are often manipulated. Making it difficult to identify any vehicles involved in illegal activities or accidents. The format of the registration numbers will be standardised, and authorisation will be given to selected fitters only. Which is pretty much the same as the system we have for registration plates here in the UK.

These special registration plates will be made of aluminium, and carry a chromium-based hologram to protect against counterfeiting. And then fastened with a non-removable-non-reusable snap lock. In addition to the registration plates fixed to the front and back of the car, there will also be a sticker on the windshield of the car. The sticker will also carry the hologram, which is destroyed if there is an attempt to remove it.

That’s serious stuff!

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment, or tweet us on @uknumberplates.

Find out more on registration plates of India.

I’m talking about number plates that are attached to the car of course – not registration numbers.

Being involved with number plate companies in the UK, we’ve seen our fair share of number plates being manufactured.

Number plates are usually made up for a required registration number. But the quality of the number plate itself varies enormously. I’ve seen the very cheap ones that are often printed on the spot, at events like car shows or even in a market. Or even in an autofactors store. Aside from many of these number plates not being legal (you need to present your ID and proof of ownership to have legal number plates made up), the quality of the final product is usually quite poor.

I’m not talking about the classic black and silver pressed-on number plates, which are usually a good quality. I’m referring to the standard white and yellow ones that most of us have. At markets and car shows, the registration number is often printed using a laser printer, then glued onto a black plastic backing, with a clear film over the top. These cheap number plates have rough corners, and tend to come apart after a year or so, with exposure to mixed weather and spray from other vehicles on the road. Take a look at the images on the left – you’ll see what I mean.

The better quality ones look like one integrated piece of moulded acrylic. The layers don’t come apart. The difference can easily be seen on the images on the right.

Buying number plates online, it’s difficult to know about the quality of the product you’re going to get. And most of us don’t even realise that the quality varies so much. Worth asking a few questions, though.

Tell us about your experiences.

In the words of the infamous John Macenroe “You cannot be serious?!”

But true enough – it is possble to buy a spiked number plate trim. And what’s more, you don’t have to go to some obscure specialist shop to buy them. For less than $10, they can be bought from major American retailer. I won’t mention them as I don’t really want to encourage anyone to actually buy one!
I find it difficult to believe that a major retailer could endorse such a product. The one customer review on this product is as follows:
” i bought this because someone backed into my car and destroyed my license plate as well as caused damage. next time they will find holes in their bumper if they decide to bump into me. seems to be well made…”

So the buyer is more concerned about a potential broken number plate (which would cost around $10 to replace anyway), than the possibility of ripping open the leg of an unsuspecting passer-by? I’m stunned.

Quite frankly, this product stinks!

American number plates are generally more ‘colourful’, and are different in each of the states.

So that means the combination of letters and numbers is different.

It’s usual to have the name of the state (like California or Arizona) written across the top. And then numbers and letters below.

And you’ll find that many of the car number plates also have an image imprinted as a background. Personally, I think the image makes the registration number difficult to read, which is why images are not legal on UK number plates.

Many number plates even have slogans, like “Kentucky: The Bluegrass State. It’s that friendly” or “West Virginia: Wild, Wonderful”. And Indiana offers a standard layout, or an alternative with the slogan “In GOD we TRUST”.

Opinion varies on the best of the US number plates. I’m not so keen on the slogans myself – if they’re not the owner’s choice then I see no point in having them. And if there is a slogan – is it one that I would want on my number plate?

Slogans etc are not legal on UK number plates. That includes the owner’s name or any phrase you might want to add. The text at the bottom is restricted to the supplier’s name only. Nothing else.

On the 19th of June this year, many will celebrate Father’s day.

With the date approaching fast you may be struggling to find the perfect gift. Dads being notoriously difficult to buy for.

But it would seem that personalised number plates are becoming an increasingly popular choice as a Father’s Day gift. The DVLA recently revealed that the number of people giving personalised number plates as gifts has more than doubled over the past few years.

Father’s Day was introduced in the early twentieth century in the USA,to complement mother’s day. But here in the United Kingdom we adopted the day as our own and we’ve certainly got into the swing of things with celebrations such as gift-giving, special dinners and other family orientated activities. Also in some areas of the world, fathers are encouraged to dress-down to work the Friday before Father’s Day to let all those hard working dads relax a little.

Personalised number plates are a unique way of showing your dad how much you care. It’s a great gift, that lasts a lifetime. You can choose from hundreds of DAD number plates or maybe a number plate which relates to his favourite hobby or his job. Or if your dad has a cheeky sense of humour, what about choosing a humorous number plate for him?

Don’t forget to leave enough time to get it sorted though. Number plate transfers can take between 2-8 weeks, depending on the circumstances. And wouldn’t it be great if all the paperwork was done, so that your Dad could just put the number plates on the car on Fathers Day… and start driving?

If you leave it a little late, though… all is not lost! You can sometimes get a Certificate within a few days, and the registration number can be transferred to the car later.

Go on… your Dad deserves to be spoiled too!