Registered Number Plate Supplier - Sales Records

The scheme requires businesses to provide records of sales to assist the police and representatives of the Secretary of State in the detection of crime.

Suppliers will need to keep records containing the following information. A template provided by DVLA may be used but this is not compulsory provided all the relevant details are recorded in a suitable manner. To view the template please see Template provided by DVLA.

The template listed above is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. This means that to be able to read and print the template you should have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. For further information please see the Adobe website.

Vehicle registration mark of plate to be sold;
Customer name;
Customer address;
A traceable number taken from original documents, not copies, presented to the supplier. For example, in the case of a driving licence and a Vehicle Registration Certificate (V5C)/V5C(NI)), these would be:

A driver licence number;
A document reference number taken from section 1 of the V5C;
If only section 10 (V5C/2/V5C/2(NI)) is available, the document reference number is shown in the bottom left hand corner;

In the case of plates fitted to a vehicle referred to a body repairer by an insurer, the insurer’s reference and policy number should be recorded in the absence of the V5C/V5C(NI). This is in addition to documents confirming the customer’s name and address.

Acceptable documents (consider link INF136/2)

Number plate suppliers must check original documents to confirm the customer’s identity, address and entitlement to the registration number. They should ensure that whatever combination of documents is used, it must be sufficient to check name, address and entitlement.

Acceptable documents can be viewed by clicking on the following link: Registration of Number Plate Suppliers

Used vehicle dealers

If a new number plate is fitted to a used vehicle prior to its sale, the used car dealer must be registered and will need to keep sales records showing proof of entitlement. The dealer will have the Registration Certificate (V5C/V5C(NI)) as proof of entitlement and must record the 11 digit document reference number shown in section 1. Please note that this only applies to refitting plates to used vehicle stock, not selling replacement plates when the personal identity will still need to be seen and recorded.

Insurance claim cases

In the case of plates fitted to a vehicle referred to a body repairer by an insurer, the V5C/V5C(NI) might not be available, so the supplier can record the insurer’s reference and policy number instead, together with proof of identity (as listed).

General points

The purchaser of a plate does not have to be the registered keeper. It is possible for someone to purchase a number plate on behalf of someone else.
Manufacturers or suppliers who supply components or complete plates to other suppliers to sell on, need to satisfy themselves that the business they are supplying is registered and their supplier identification number should be recorded against each sale. Thus the onus is on the last supplier in the supply chain to carry out the required verification of personal details and entitlement checks on a purchaser and to keep records of the sale.
The records must be kept for three years and made available for inspection at any reasonable time.
If proper records are not maintained, number plate suppliers are breaking the law under S24 of the Vehicles (Crime) Act 2001.
Please ensure that unwanted number plates are disposed of correctly and securely, so they cannot be used again. Ideally they should be cut into at least four pieces with none of the pieces being over 50% of the plate and the registration mark should not be left intact.
It is an offence to supply any number plate bearing a vehicle registration mark that does not fully comply with the display requirements contained in the road vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) regulations 2001 and the plate must comply with the British Standard BS AU 145d.

Foreign number plates

Please note the scheme does not apply to foreign number plates. However, suppliers should ensure that foreign plates are for use on a foreign vehicle and not for a British registered vehicle. To guard against fraud, suppliers should ask for documentation to show what vehicle the plates are intended for and where possible record a document number noted on the evidence provided by the customer.