Licence Plate - Custom Design

Discovering · 09-09-2003 11:55am #1

Hello all

I just got a brand new Mini Cooper S.

I have had it a few months now and was thinking of giving it a bit of a treat.

So was considering giving the ordinary licence plate to the dog and getting a nice custom design one.

So heres my questions:

1. Where can you get really nice custom licence plates?
2. Are the legal in Ireland?
3. Where can you get custom licence plate holders as well?

Victor · 09-09-2003 12:10pm

No you can't customise. You can have one of two designs.

1. Classic cars (30+years) - silver text on black in the "Z" series.

2. Non-classic cars - standard design that specifies exact size of everthing (plate, letters, hypens, spaces). You can't select the county letter - it is where you live or where the company is registered (if a company vehicle).

The only thing you can do a is reserve a number e.g. a Porsche owner might reserve XX-D-911. One car dealer reserved 00-D100000 for himself a few years ago.

Discovering · 09-09-2003 12:18pm

I got a custom number alright.

Cost me over €300, which is a joke!!

So it is illegal to have custom number plates.

But with so many cars with custom number plates, is this one of those rules/laws the Garda never bother to enforce and is really kinda ok.

Capt'n Midnight · 09-09-2003 12:54pm

Fancy Scripts are illegal too.
(and I really hate them)

Know of a Guy who was cautioned by the Guards about that and told to get it changed. A few weeks later - there was a knock at the door, passing patrol car, he was told you've got 2 hours to sort it out or get done.

Note: if you import a car after 6 months you have to pay the VRT, which means the license plate gets changed to
Year County Big-Number

For most counties it is first letter (+last letter unless another county has same)
Also BAC is highly illegal
BAC refers to the City not the County
and it don't Start with B or end in C...

Victor · 09-09-2003 2:07pm

Originally posted by Discovering
I got a custom number alright.

What sort of custom number?

Originally posted by Discovering
But with so many cars with custom number plates

Actually very few do and guess what? Tehya re all driven by muppets.

padraigmyers · 09-09-2003 2:26pm

Do you mean a custom number or the actual plate being a custom design. If you
want a custom design try http://www.fancyplates.com/

I put customised plates on my car, they are the normal font and all that, but the
backing on the plate is slightly siver and therefore disperses the garda laser speed
detector. Very handy, I have been through about 5 speed traps that I know of,
doing about 10 mph over the limit and never been caught. My plates cost me €30,
they look well (I think) and have an added bonus of avoiding penelty points, I got
them from a guy in Limerick county who does them, if you want the name PM me,
but I wont give it out here because they are illegal and I don't what to get the guy
in any hassle.

rymus · 10-09-2003 8:16am

Originally posted by padraigmyers
...I got them from a guy in Limerick...

say no more

Lord Nikon · 11-09-2003 4:32am

Motorcity across from Liffey Valley Shopping Center. They do any colour, any font. 15quid a plate. I got mine there. The staff are very friendly, but who cares.

Silvera · 11-09-2003 6:03pm

From Monday next cars with non-compliant reg plates will fail the NCT.

Oh, and you can also currently recieve a fine of up to €1000 from the Gardai for having such plates.

Your decision.

Are you not happy enough with just having a "Cherished registration" ?
Most custom plates just look like sad downmarket "boy-racer" add ons.

Keep it stylish - get a proper set of Euro plates in one of the branches of Merlin (Nissan) garages (the only place I know of that can correctly make euro plates) .

Silvera.

Lord Nikon · 11-09-2003 7:58pm

The fine is actually 1275 euros, but I'm ignorant

Discovering · 12-09-2003 7:48am

Thanks for the info Silvera.

I am happy with the cherished number.

But I would like to highlight what the number means with a custom design.

What about the number plate surround/holder?

I take it there are no laws against custom designs of these?

So where can you get fancy licence plate holders then?

Victor · 12-09-2003 1:36pm

Originally posted by Discovering
What about the number plate surround/holder? I take it there are no laws against custom designs of these?

No they are quite common - it's how garages get their names on cars these days. I can't imagine any problems unless it obscures the plate / lights.

Silvera · 12-09-2003 5:37pm

Discovering,
Keep it subtle - let people realise what your number means.
(I saw a Peugeot 206 with a "206" reg on fancy plates and it actually looked less obvious somehow

)

You have me thinking now what you reg might be - a number "1" for Mini One perhaps ?

If you want number plate surrounds, go to/call East Coast Print on the Greenhills Road, Dublin 24 - they make up silver/grey surrounds (with black print) that look the biz.

Regards,
Silvera.

colm_c · 12-09-2003 5:44pm

There's a guy I know with a 00 reg Audi TT and he got a custom plate design so the plate reads

00 LM 007

and the 007 is like the James bond logo...

Lord Nikon · 12-09-2003 7:44pm

Originally posted by colm_c
There's a guy I know with a 00 reg Audi TT and he got a custom plate design so the plate reads

00 LM 007

and the 007 is like the James bond logo...

I like. illegal as fcuk, but i like

Blitzkrieger · 12-09-2003 10:38pm

I heard of a guy in Cork who's up in court next week on three different charges relating to an illegal plate. afaik, even the garage putting their own name in/under the surrond is illegal. Personally I don't see what the big deal is as long as it's legible - though there are some custom plates out there that aren't. I saw one guy with a silver astra. His plate didn't have a surrond or an IRL bar. It just had the reg in light grey italic. I was sitting behind him in traffic, right on his bumper and couldn't read it.

Originally posted by padraigmyers
but the backing on the plate is slightly siver and therefore disperses the garda laser speed detector.

I doubt it. Fixed speed cameras work by taking two pictures of your car in quick succession, then calculating the distance you travelled based on markings on the road. If it's there you're reffering to, you probably escaped because your plate was illegible. If it's the 'garda with a hair dryer' you're talking about, odds are he let you off. You can usually get away with 70mph in a 100kph zone. Mechanical speedos are so inaccurate, you're probably only doing 65 when it reads 70 anyway.

wolf359 · 12-09-2003 11:41pm

I work for a company that print number plates for an a garage. They use to reserve XX-D-X77 for the Audi TT. We would make the 77 look like TT. But we kept having to change the TT to look more like 77 cause the Gardi would pull them over.

Also if ur car doesn't have the county name and a black border around the reg plate you'll get a fail/advisary in ur NCT.

One thing I don't understand, We sell thousands of number plates a month and all the Dublin Plates have Baile Atha Cliath - (Dublin City), but all the other plates have no Baile - (City) in them.

So why is it Dublin City and not just Dublin?

Anyone know Why?

Discovering · 15-09-2003 8:05am

Good Guess about the number Silvera.

But my car is a Mini Cooper S

So can you guess what number I got.

Thanks for the tip about East Coast Print.

It is quite subtle and only one person (a complete car nut) figured out what the number was without any help whatsoever.

Padraigmyers, I would love a plate that would mean I could not get caught by the Garda using Laser speed traps but I would imagine the punshiment for being caught with them would be much worse than the 2 points and speeding fine.

Silvera · 15-09-2003 5:36pm

Is it 03-xx-5 perhaps ?
And you want a custom plate so you can make the 5 look like an S ?

Either that or it's some number connected with the Cooper's rallying heritage.

Am I getting warmer...... ?

Lord Nikon · 15-09-2003 6:33pm

Is this what your looking for?

Discovering · 16-09-2003 7:36am

Sorry Silvera but your still a bit off

I had thought about the 5 for an s but I knew the Garda would go ape if they saw it.

The number has nothing to do with the mini's history either.

In any case I really cant tell you if you get it cos then everyone will know my number plate and this is a public forum.

Or is it ok to give out your number plate?

neuromancer - Yeah that is kinda what I am looking for.

Is that type of plate legal?

And where can you get them?

I really would love to have some colour on the plate but as I now know that is illegal.

Silvera · 16-09-2003 6:49pm

Discovering,

It's up to yourself if you want to post your reg here.

However, you could just post the year and serial no. part of you reg - not the county (i.e. 03-XX-???) - therefore you wont be giving out your actual reg number !

....... or send me a PM.

Are you going to get the plate surrounds ? You can put whatever you want on them - colourful or not !

Silvera.

Cosworth · 16-09-2003 11:21pm

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
Note: if you import a car after 6 months you have to pay the VRT, which means the license plate gets changed to
Year County Big-Number

Where did you hear that, because thats not true.
I know from personal experience having imported bikes and cars from the north and england.
By law you have exactley 24 hours to pay the VRT when you bring a car from another country to use in ireland.
I should know i had customs on my doorstep twice due to jealous neighbours.

evoIIman · 17-09-2003 4:09pm

Only cars registered after 1991 are required by law to have "proper plates"

Licence Plate - Custom Design

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