Buy Your Own Plate?

Step 5. How much was your plate?

If you purchased your plate on its own then this might help give you an idea of its value. Number plate investors buy and sell plates as an investment, with some plates achieving rises of several hundred percent over a period of months. Note that this is the exception rather than the rule and investment in plates should be considered a mid to long term investment. The sample data in Table 1 earlier in the guide regarding APR for several plates is illuminating – it shows what can be realised from an average collection of plates.

Plate traders do consider investment in plates to be better than traditional financial investing, so if you paid £1,000 five years ago for a plate and that a 5% return on investment pa was not unreasonable then the plate would now be worth approximately £1,276. I have seen people commenting that they have realised average returns of around 20% on their plates/plate portfolio, so play around with the figures and use what you are happy with. A 20% return on a £1000 plate over five years yields a current value of £2,488.

If you purchased the plate already on a car then simply deduct the value of the car at the time of purchase from the amount you paid and this will give you the value of the plate at the time.