Once upon a time the great car registration plate change was a time for celebrations and street parties.
Every 1 August there would be much jubilation throughout the nation as Bs turned to Cs. The alphabet was never more interesting and probably contributed to the numeracy and literacy of several generations.
Spotting the latest plate was a tremendously exciting thing to do, especially for youngsters in the days before the Internet, smartphones and easy availability of recreational drugs.
So far though – I was out in the dark on 1 September and did some general errands early today – I haven’t seen one 63-plate vehicle.
I have extensive motoring to do tomorrow, so I am pretty certain I will see something on my motorway travels . Three days is too long, but more to the point I couldn’t care less. The whole system is utterly uncharismatic.
I understand why the whole system was changed, but I can’t fathom why it had to become such a dreary and often confusing alignment of digits and letters that don’t mean anything to anyone anymore. It does seem that the best registration is undoubtedly a personalised one.
During my career as a car salesman I did a few 1 August events and that was fun. Taking cars on trade plates to install in a householder’s garage so that their spouses could wake up to the ultimate start of the month was a thrill.
Later, as a writer, I was always asked to do stories about the implications of the new registration. Obviously there are younger, prettier, cheaper and more talented journalists who do that sort of thing now.
The registration system is broken and it needs a kick up the bumper. Why on earth couldn’t we have a cheery engraving of a national hero on the plate? Imagine Churchill and his ubiquitous cigar for all 2014 registered cars.
Just imagine it: "How many Churchills have you seen today?" and "I’ve just picked up my Churchill Qashqai".
So is my suggestion mad? Do you care about the latest registration at all? Oh and have you seen a 63-plate yet?
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Not bothered
I bought a new car last month - yes, a 13-plate in August. I had the option of waiting for the 63, but there's just something dreadfully confusing about the '6' which begs the question of WHY did we start at '5' for all September-February cars?! When I was younger it was massively exciting to see S, T, V, W, X, Y and then the new change to the '51' system. But as time went by I became less interested. I think the middle of the year plates look better (12, 13) and are less confusing. The once per year change made more sense but of course the 2 per year came in to stimulate sales in the late 90s.
Don't get me wrong, I still have an interest and can tell largely where a car has come from (nearly everything near me on the Wirral is DE, DA, DF whilst cars over the Mersey get the MA, ML, MK etc. But the numbers/years? Not as important as they used to be.
Personality plates
I'm all for having historical figures on plates, but it has to be relevant.
Prince Albert on something with lots of chrome appendages, for example.
The excitement has been lost
Spotted my first '63' plate yesterday (4th Sept) by accident on a 3 Series. As a kid, I awaited the plate change with anticipation, seeing how many I could spot on the 1st day. Then the year identifier was moved to the beginning and that kept the excitement going until the current system was introduced. Now I couldn't care less. It should be simplified with '13' meaning the car was registered in 2013 and so on. The font is in dire need of updating also.