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Northern reg plate format going away?

  • 21-02-2019 1:37pm
    #1
    MJohnston
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,694 ✭✭✭✭


    No, no, it's not a question about driving northern reg cars in the south!

    I've been up in Belfast for a couple of weeks recently, and I've noticed a massive proliferation in British format reg plates (eg. BD51 SMR) in the North. Now, there were always plenty of these thanks to imports from Britain often being cheaper, but this seems to be something else.

    Firstly, it's the sheer number of them. Before you'd see them occasionally, but not often. Not anymore.

    Secondly, I've seen a couple of them up close, and they're Belfast-based dealer plates, on brand new cars.

    I know that the DVA went away a few years ago and was merged into the UK-wide organisation, so I'm just wondering if they've finally decided to phase out the NI format? Or is it just a really substantial increase in imports?


Comments

  • #2
    kingofburt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 153 ✭✭kingofburt


    I'm sure someone here will give a lot more detail but a quick answer is down to the UK DVLA changing a few years ago to incorporate NI, England, Scotland and Wales rather than having individual licencing authorities. It used to be almost impossible for a car registered in NI to get points speeding in England. Bringing a car from England/Wales to NI required exporting it from Swansea and importing and registering it in Coleraine. There is now no need to pay extra admin fees to bring a car to NI unless you want a specific NI reg plate.

    As for the dealers having British plates with their names I believe any trade seller in the UK by law must put their name on the plate for traceability. Charles Hurst and other dealers are owned by UK franchises so they probably move stock about the national network depending on customer needs so you notice the brisitsh style plates a lot more.


  • #3
    MJohnston
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,694 ✭✭✭✭MJohnston


    kingofburt wrote: »
    I'm sure someone here will give a lot more detail but a quick answer is down to the UK DVLA changing a few years ago to incorporate NI, England, Scotland and Wales rather than having individual licencing authorities. It used to be almost impossible for a car registered in NI to get points speeding in England. Bringing a car from England/Wales to NI required exporting it from Swansea and importing and registering it in Coleraine. There is now no need to pay extra admin fees to bring a car to NI unless you want a specific NI reg plate.

    As for the dealers having British plates with their names I believe any trade seller in the UK by law must put their name on the plate for traceability. Charles Hurst and other dealers are owned by UK franchises so they probably move stock about the national network depending on customer needs so you notice the brisitsh style plates a lot more.

    Interesting, so maybe a double-pronged thing of more people importing because you don't need to pay a re-reg fee, and fewer people re-reging because it's no longer required?


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