What is a number plate dealer ?
A number plate dealer is a business which buys and sells private number plates – both those owned by the company itself, numbers owned by clients and DVLA stock. Dealers who sell dvla stock are called DVLA resellers.
When private number plate dealers sell plates on behalf of clients they act in much the same way as an estate agent would sell a property – they advertise and transact the sale of purchase in return for a commission fee.
See also
dvla resellers
number plate dealer
what do they do
Number plate dealers’ activities can be divided into some key areas- their main business is helping the public buy and sell cherished number plates but they also speculatively buy cherished number plates outright and help to transfer and retain cherished numbers on behalf of others.
DVLA reseller – selling plates from DVLA stock to which they have access. There are some 30M+ number plates in the DVLA database but you may save time buying directly from the DVLA.
Commission sales – Selling plates owned by third parties in return for a percentage commission of the final sale price
Stock sales - Selling plates actually owned by the number plate dealer.
Acrylic number plates - Selling physical sets of number plates to display on your vehicle.
Register of number plate suppliers
Transfer & retention - conducting the transfer and retention of number plates on behalf of clients when buying or selling a numberplate.
Valuations - Usually with a view to advertising the plate on a commission sales basis- number plate valuations are offered for free to initiate customer contact.
How do they make money
Number plate dealer’s main source of income is from commission based sales. As some personal number plates can sell for upwards of £100k – a percentage commission can total many thousands of pounds.
The sale of personal number plates from DVLA stock (being a dvla reseller) represents a steady income for number plate dealers as the “make your own” number plate advertisements have brought plate ownership to the masses.
Buying and selling personal number plates outright means number plate dealers can make substantial profits from the number plate market – but as with any investment in number plates it can be a volatile and dangerous marketplace.
See also
number plate investment
how much do they charge
When selling a number plate on a commission basis there is no hard and fast rule – certainly none of the dealers have a clear policy about how much commission they charge. From experience the amount can vary from 2-15% (or more) depending on a host of factors including the plate’s value and rarity.
There are many hundreds of number plate dealers – but only one or two key players – it’s worth “shopping around” to find the best deal as the market is inconsistant.
See also
number plate ripoff
what benefits do they offer
Number plate dealers have large and extensive marketing campaigns and budgets which are the main reason for their market dominance. Advertising with a number plate dealer is “free” as the commission is loaded on to the asking price for your number plate – the dealer may value your plate at £500 but set the asking price at £800.
This makes advertising a number plate for sale straightforward but can hinder the actual sale as the asking price is larger than if you were to sell privately.
To conclude
Depending on how involved you wish to be in the sale of your cherished number plate – number plate dealers appeal in different ways.
To get a better price and better deal – as with anything it always pays to buy or sell directly – using a number plate classisifeds site such as www.numberplateclassifieds.co.uk.
From experience – when selling a cherished number plate if you list with a dealer then it’s also worth advertising in the number plate classifieds as a means of broadening your marketing effort.
See also
Tags: buy, cherished, dealer, number, personal, personalised, plates, private, sell
