What are dateless number plates?

Dateless plates display a registration number which was first issued between 1903 and 1962, and unlike other styles, does not contain a date identifier such as a letter or the year the plate was issued. As a result of this, dateless registrations can be assigned to any vehicle, regardless of its age. All of this makes dateless registration numbers highly sought after and valuable. Dateless private plates are also known as cherished plates. 

With the majority of dateless car registrations only displaying a handful of characters, they look great on short number plates! Short number plates take up less room on the bumper of a car, making it more aesthetically pleasing, and meaning that your car really stands out…and it’s all because of your dateless personalised number plates!

• When was the first registration plate issued?

  The first dateless reg issued was ‘A 1’, which was issued in 1903. The letter ‘A’ was the area marker for London, and the number 1 represented it being the first plate issued in that area.
  A number of other area codes were used, although much like the current style location markers, they did not make much sense! For example, the identifier ‘AJ’ is related to North Yorkshire, with the registration AJ 1 being assigned to the service vehicle driven by Sir Robert Bower, the Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police. The plate was later entered into an auction as a dateless reg by the force, where it fetched £243,000. This is yet another example of why a private registration could be a fantastic investment for you!
  Dateless registrations typically have a letter or two, followed by a number. However they can come in a number of combinations, with 1, 2, 3 or 4 digits followed by 1, 2 or 3 letters, or the reverse with 1, 2 or 3 letters followed by 1, 2, 3 or 4 digits. Once it was not possible for there to be any more combinations for dateless registrations, suffix plates were introduced, which were then followed by prefix plates.

• How much are dateless registrations?

  Usually, you’ll find that dateless registrations are one of the pricier options when it comes to personalised registrations, which is primarily as a result of their rarity and age, so if you’ve come looking for cheap dateless private number plates, you may be surprised by their cost – even the cheapest dateless number plates can cost several hundred pounds! If you’re looking for cheap dateless number plates or one of the pricier options then take a look at our search function and browse the great selection of cheap dateless number plates for sale with Number 1 Plates.

• Do Number 1 Plates have cheap dateless registrations for sale?

  We do NOT sell registration numbers or personalised number plates
  Ordering online

  **Important** You cannot simply make up a registration number and use it on the UK highway. Either yourself or the person you’re buying for must already own the registration number you will use.
  We do NOT sell registration numbers; we simply make replacement number plates for registration numbers you already own.