Reassigned reg number?

disposableFish

Quick question:

Do reg numbers ever get reassigned?

Say I'm importing a 5 year old car, will the reg number be a completely new one from that year or could it be reassigned from a previously scrapped car?

theintern

Almost sure that they never ever recycle.

They even had to issue really high numbers for older imported cars for a while because they shifted over to a new system and needed to be sure the numbers wouldn't overlap.

zilog_jones

Yeah, ZV plates have 5 digit numbers now, they no longer really fit in correctly with the pre-'87 system.

There have been cases where pre-'87 plates were re-assigned, long before the system was computerised or anything. You probably had to know someone to do it. Nothing like that on the current number plate format AFAIK.

bennya

Only when cars are seized by the CAB, or for other security-related reasons AFAIK.

colm_mcm

Imported regs are taken from the next available number. You also can’t reserve a number for an import.

Isambard

zilog_jones wrote: »

Yeah, ZV plates have 5 digit numbers now, they no longer really fit in correctly with the pre-'87 system.

There have been cases where pre-'87 plates were re-assigned, long before the system was computerised or anything. You probably had to know someone to do it. Nothing like that on the current number plate format AFAIK.

not just ZV numbers, for several years normal numbers jumped ahead to telephone numbers.

GrumpyMe

disposableFish wrote: »

Quick question:
Do reg numbers ever get reassigned?

Quick Answer: Yes



https://www.irishtimes.com/news/vip-1-abramovich-buys-trophy-irish-licence-plate-1.1027135

bennya

That was transferred pre-1987 I believe. Not been possible since.

GrumpyMe

bennya wrote: »

That was transferred pre-1987 I believe. Not been possible since.

It was also done in the UK not in Ireland and so it could happen now. AFAIK "personalised" plates in the UK can move from car to car!

zilog_jones

Isambard wrote: »

not just ZV numbers, for several years normal numbers jumped ahead to telephone numbers.

Well the pre-87 system was originally limited to six characters (2 letters/4 numbers or 3 letters/3 numbers) whereas the newer system is just a serial number with no obvious limit.

Spook_ie

What happens when the Lord Mayor gets rid of the vehicle assigned to xxx-D-1, a new number would be way out of sync with the age of the car, not that it really matters in the scheme of things.

R.O.R

Spook_ie wrote: »

What happens when the Lord Mayor gets rid of the vehicle assigned to xxx-D-1, a new number would be way out of sync with the age of the car, not that it really matters in the scheme of things.

They continue driving around as xxx-D-1 with the new owner.

See his old Volvo's driving around every now and then.

michellie

disposableFish wrote: »

Quick question:

Do reg numbers ever get reassigned?

Say I'm importing a 5 year old car, will the reg number be a completely new one from that year or could it be reassigned from a previously scrapped car?

It will be a new one. As colm said, it's the next available.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Imported regs are taken from the next available number. You also can’t reserve a number for an import.

Hi, you actually can, but it is quite difficult, ive only seen it done once with a high end vehicle. it has to be done through and paid directly with revenue and you bring the assigned reg number receipt with you for the VRT appointment, it only really works with new cars being registered that year. Historic ones cannot be done.

colm_mcm

I mean a used import.