Number Plates, Private Number Plates, DVLA Registrations

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A sound
investment
The very sensible and obvious hope of
anyone who invests money, is that the asset
in which they invest will appreciate in value.
We are, therefore, delighted to be able to
say that the prices paid for top-notch
distinguished car registrations over the last
couple of years have gone through the roof.
A former BBC Top Gear presenter once said
that a good private registration could be
“better than money in the bank”. Time has
shown him to be correct and the UK and
world records for the most expensive
number plate sales have been broken
several times in the last two years.
Internationally, the regular auctions of
distinguished number plates held in the
United Arab Emirates have produced two
world record holders in very quick
succession. The number 5 sold for
£3.5 million in mid 2007, and the number 1
for an astonishing £7.25 million in
February 2008.
Closer to home, Bradford entrepreneur
Afzal Kahn, of design house Project Kahn,
shattered the UK record in January 2008
when he paid a spectacular £440,625 for
F1. The media interest generated by the
sale was significant, with Kahn and his
business receiving wide exposure in the
press, on radio and TV and on the internet.
So, the market is growing in several ways.
More people than ever are buying private
registrations for more reasons than ever,
and the prices they will pay for the very best
examples just get higher and higher.
01582 473731 8am-11pm 7 days
Price
paid
Current
value
WKS 1 1994 £2200 £25,000
1 TCB 1992 £3000 £25,000
PAU 1Y 1996 £3000 £25,000
HPS 1 1994 £3300 £25,000
NSH 1 1994 £2600 £30,000
1 SAJ 1995 £3300 £30,000
1 NU 1995 £2400 £75,000
1 OY 1994 £3400 £75,000
1 VV 1995 £5800 £75,000
1 UJ 1994 £3400 £75,000
The long-lasting appeal and proven
investment potential of personal
number plates are now well
established and for 26 years we have been
pleased to provide personal registration
transfer services for over half a million
satisfied clients.
Full transfer service
We offer free advice and deal with all the
vehicle licensing documentation on your
behalf.
Peace of mind
We are members of the CNDA (Cherished
Numbers Dealers Association), the RMI
(Retail Motor Industry Federation) and the
FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) and
are committed to abide by their strict codes
of conduct.
All online purchases are approved by
Web Trader and the Thawte digital
certificate authority.
Convenience
You can discuss your requirements with
our highly trained and friendly professional
advisors between 8am and 11pm,
7 days a week, or search our website
anytime.
So, why not call now or visit us online?
Inspiration Technology
®
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www.regtransfers.co.uk
2
www.regtransfers.co.uk I39 High Street South • Dunstable • Bedfordshire LU6 3SS • E-mail: sales@regtransfers.co.uk All numbers + £80 DOT fee • some numbers + VAT @ 17.5%
Transactions subject to our terms, conditions and availability • Calls may be monitored for quality assurance • We sell registrations owned by clients, government stock and our own stock • E&OE
IT 1

Marketing on a Plate
Every man has business
and desire, such as it is
William Shakespeare
(Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5)
Get your FREE MAGAZINE!
The World of Personal Number Plates is the
only professional publication for the UK
cherished registrations industry and
enthusiasts.
84 full-colour pages of news, stories, letters,
information and photographs - plus over
50,000 quality registrations.
Our latest edition features TV Dragon
Theo Paphitis and former Aston Villa
chairman Doug Ellis. Get YOUR copy online
NOW at www.regtransfers.co.uk
Telephone
sales: 01582 473731
advertising: 01582 470088
Email
marketing@regtransfers.co.uk
sales@regtransfers.co.uk
Printed by:
Annodata Print Services Limited
3 Portland Close
Townsend Industrial Estate
Houghton Regis
Bedfordshire
LU5 5AW
01582 609108
www.annodata.co.uk
Contributors’ photographs may show mis-spaced
number plates. Please be aware that Regtransfers.co.uk
does not condone alteration of registrations in any way.
M
arketing and advertising are
evolving arts. The advent of the
internet provided a new and
unfamiliar environment but the sharp-eyed
were not slow to recognise opportunities.
Before long, banner adverts and sponsored
links became major sources of leads and
business, and companies realised the
importance of domain names to their
brands.
Despite the explosive growth of the internet,
there is still room for offline innovation in
marketing and brand promotion. In recent
years, Regtransfers.co.uk has noticed, and
encouraged, the increasing use of private
vehicle registrations in this context. Whether
it is the raising of personal profile, as
achieved by Sir Alan Sugar’s famous AMS 1
registration, or the novel promotion of a
brand like Theo Paphitis’s stationery chain,
Ryman, with the number RYM 4N, personal
– or corporate – registrations are big
business.
An increasing number of companies are
equipping entire fleets of vehicles with
themed or branded registrations.
Regtransfers.co.uk is the UK’s largest
private dealer in personal vehicle
registrations. The company was
established in 1982 and is widely
recognised as the leading source of
authoritative information on the
subject. Regtransfers publishes the
UK’s only regular, professional
magazine for the private
registrations industry and
enthusiasts, and is also the
publisher of the successful book,
Fanatical About Number Plates, which
chronicles the history of UK car
registrations.
This supplement features companies and
entrepreneurs who have seen the value of
private and corporate vehicle number
plates. Some have invested in single,
outstanding examples that are guaranteed
to make an impact.
Design: Barry Monks • Cover photo: Stan Thompson
Production team: Rick Cadger, John Doherty, Laura Murphy & Len Stout
Others have bought whole series of
imaginatively themed registrations (see the
article on Pimlico Plumbers).
Many of those featured are regularly
returning customers of Regtransfers.co.uk.
In addition to the publicity benefits, private
plates can be a very good investment.
There are many other benefits.
For example, private plates:
•provide excellent promotional, marketing
opportunities
•look great in press releases, newspaper
articles, TV, etc.
•raise public awareness of your company
•help to create corporate identity
•are great fun items
•set your company apart from the rest
•are tax deductible
•provide proven investment potential
•represent a one-off cost, so there are no
maintenance fees
•facilitate easy fleet administration and
vehicle tracking
Regtransfers.co.uk has the largest private
stock of exclusive, top quality registrations
in the UK. Our website offers a range of
easy to use search options, and our
advisors are available to assist from
8am to 11pm, 7 days a week.
If you would like to discover how this
exciting and entertaining medium could
work for you, please visit:
www.regtransfers.co.uk
or telephone us on:
01582 473731
Angela Banh
Marketing Manager
The full stories behind all the businesses featured in this brochure can be found
online at: www.regtransfers.co.uk
01582 473731
Marketing on a Plate

“I
’m certainly not fanatical
about number plates, but I
do see them as an
essential finishing touch to
any prestigious car.”
John Madejski
AN I
GL I
HK I
JH I
MG I
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
John Madejski
Fantastic Fireworks
www.5nov.com
“I
am always looking for
inventive ways to
advertise and promote my
company, and having a
personalised number plate
is an excellent way of
achieving that.”
Jon Culverhouse
BAN 63R
STA I2S
SPA I2K
BAN 6S
SIII OKE
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
Morrow Brothers
World leaders in cask and keg repair
I4 GER
PI ONK
WIII NES
S77 OUT
BI23 WER
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
are an easy
identifiable link to our core
“They
business, and provide a
talking point at any brewery we
visit.” says Alan. “They also
represent a good long term
investment.”
Alan Morrow
www.morrow-brothers.co.uk

Theo
Paphitis
www.theopaphitis.com
LET 73R
S74 MPS
GLU 3S
OFF I6E
BI6 FAX
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
Theo Paphitis is a man known for pulling
ailing businesses back from the brink and
setting them on the road to recovery. He is
known for making tough decisions and for
trimming dead wood from companies that
needed streamlining if they were to survive.
He is not known for wasting money.
When the Regtransfers.co.uk team visited
Theo for an interview and photo-shoot, we
were immediately struck by two outstanding
private registrations. Theo has acquired two
private number plates that represent two of
the brands with which he is most famously
associated. For his stationery store chain,
Ryman, he has RYM 4N, which he displays
on his luxury Maybach car, while his
daughter Zoe has LA53 NZA on her
VW Beetle.
Although Theo no longer owns lingerie
chain La Senza, he still sits on the board of
the company. Zoe earned her private
registration as payment for modelling work
she did for the business.
In addition to the corporate themed plates,
Theo has also bought personal numbers for
himself and his wife, Debbie. Theo’s
registration is T1 HEO while Debbie owns
DEB 131E.
“I
t’s an extension of
enjoying nice cars and
finishing them off properly
. . . put a decent plate on a
good car and it adds to its
beauty and its look.”
Theo Paphitis
Many top businessmen have found that
one’s personal profile can have a direct
bearing on business. Theo’s Dragons’ Den
colleague, Duncan Bannatyne, told us that
a personal profile that has been raised in a
positive way in the media can make a
difference, even to practical considerations
such as the raising of finance for a project.
People take you seriously when they know
your name.
As far as self-promotion is concerned,
Theo Paphitis is ahead of the game. Not
only has he snapped up a couple of superb
registrations with unbeatable branding
potential, but his forthcoming autobiography
exploits his Dragons’ Den fame to the
maximum. Enter the Dragon is published in
May 2008, and will be top of the reading list
for many aspiring entrepreneurs.
Rick Cadger
01582 473731

The Ultimate Name Dealing In Luxury Performance Cars
Clearly the Hartleys’ registrations have to be
of a calibre to suit the cars they drive. “I do
like the plates. It’s like a treat for yourself, a
bit like buying yourself a nice watch but this
is totally unique, with only one of each. It’s
almost like a form of identification,” says
Tom Hartley Jnr.
An expensive car seems to cry out for a
good cherished registration. No-one buys a
£200,000 luxury performance car in the
Tom Hartley and his sons, Carl and Tom
Jnr. have a reputation both nationally and
internationally for being able to supply the
‘unobtainable’ and all other sought-after
specialist cars.
“W
e’re the leading
name for luxury cars
and Regtransfers is
the leading name for cherished
registrations. Like us, you’re a
private company and seem to
care about the customer.”
Tom Hartley Jnr.
Aside from golf, another area of common
ground is their liking for good quality
personal number plates.
hope of fading blandly into the background.
A purchase like that is made by someone
confident and probably, to an extent,
extrovert. If one is aiming to impress, then it
makes sense to go all out. Half measures
don’t convince.
www.tomhartley.com
9II HC
SMA 2T
MG I
D2I VER
TVR I
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk

combination of
4 VON and a nice
“The
Mercedes is a thing of
beauty. The perfect Avon
promotion package. Who
could fail to be
impressed?”
Rebekah Testar
Avon Cosmetics
www.lipstickpower.com
CO5I UME
CLO7 HES
COM 8S
MII2 ROR
BOO 7S
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
The Accessory People
www.theaccessorypeople.com
C2 AFT
HOB 88Y
FON 3S
STO 6K
P30 PLE
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
“I
learned the value of
reputation at university
and that’s inspired me to
create a sense of
ownership and pride
among my team and
partners.”
Nasa Khan
“I
t is superb and makes our
company stand out from
all the other limo hire
companies.”
Madeleine Butterworth
All Star Limousines
www.all-star-limos.com
BI6 DAY
M4 RRY
BI2I DES
USH 6R
PAS 70R
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk

RAC 3Y
P37 ROL
63 AR
WHE 3L
WOT 464R
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
“W
e use Regtransfers
because of the
personal service we
get. We can ring up and
speak to someone directly,
and we can also use
Regtransfers as
middleman to negotiate
prices with a third party.”
Afzal Kahn
Project Kahn
Vehicle Conversion Specialists
www.projectkahn.com
“I
just couldn’t let it go -
after all, it is my surname
as well as the family
company name.”
Caroline Marston
Marston Properties
www.marstonproperties.co.uk
SI0 UGH
DOR 53T
CAS 7IE
LOD 6E
CHE 573R
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
The UK’s largest independent specialist
natural food and ingredients retailer
www.juliangraves.com
“N
UT 5, supplied by
Regtransfers.co.uk, is
visually outstanding
and has great potential as
a marketing tool.”
Nick Shutts
BER I2Y
NUT 7Y
ORA II6E
FIG I
P3 ACH
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk

Duncan Bannatyne
Big businesspeople are big business.
High-profile entrepreneurs are dominating
the media just as celebrity chefs did a while
ago, and as antique experts, gardeners and
interior designers did before that.
Shows such as Dragons’ Den and
The Apprentice have reinforced the
stereotype of the big businessman as a
ruthless autocrat with an eye for a deal, and
no tolerance for weakness or ineptitude.
Duncan Bannatyne is just one of a growing
number of serious businessmen who see
the investment value in private car number
plates, as well as the potential for
marketing, branding and maintaining a
public profile.
www.bannatyne.co.uk
“I
BE57 GYM
M455 AGE
S72 ONG
MUS 6IE
FLA 8
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
t’s the easiest thing in the
world to sell and buy a
number plate through
Regtransfers.”
Duncan Bannatyne

ROW 3R
GOA IS
ATH I37E
MED 4L
TOP 734M
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
“W
hen you see a nice
car, you always have
a look at the number
plate. People look at it and
think, ‘Yeah!’”
Amir Khan
Amir Khan
www.amirkhan-boxing.com
“T
James Martin
he number plate looks
really good. I already
have one ‘chef’ plate,
C8 HEF, but this one is
much better.”
James Martin
www.jamesmartinchef.co.uk
ROA 55T
S4 UCE
VEG 5
CAT 3R
CUR I2Y
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
Nicky Clarke
H4I RCO
CUT 73R
84 LD
83 ARD
BAR 83R
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
always looking at
plates. I just think they’re
“Iam
good. Something simple
like three letters on a car,
it stands out.”
Nicky Clarke
www.nickyclarke.com

Flushed with success
I OOS
GUT 73R
H34 TER
ME5I BOG
WAT 33R
Currently available exclusively
through Regtransfers.co.uk
Charlie Mullins and his staff have
developed a great eye for the best, most
appropriate registrations. Pimlico Plumbers
own literally dozens of themed registrations
of the very highest quality.
Personalised numbers are so much a part
of the company identity that employees
regard it as a badge of honour to drive the
vans bearing the best registrations.
Pimlico’s fantastic collection has also aided
their wider publicity campaigns.
London’s
most successful
“We are
plumbing
company, and a lot of that
I put down to the
recognition we have got
from our vehicles with the
number plates on. It’s our
biggest form of
advertisement.”
Charlie Mullins
The plates generate such interest that they
have been featured many times on
television and radio.
www.pimlicoplumbers.com

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£££
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01582 473731 8am-11pm 7 days
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