Dateless Number Plates

 

Add an exclusive and unique touch to your car with our collection of dateless number plates for sale. Dateless plates have no age signifiers and can be put on any vehicle - making them one of the rarest and most desirable plate types on the market.

 

Whether you’re buying for yourself or as a gift, our collection of premium and cheap dateless number plates for sale is one of the largest in the UK.

 

Order yours today and arrange a fast plate transfer alongside premium acrylic and 4D number plate printing. 

 

Your dateless number plate search starts with SwiftReg.

 

Premium Dateless Number Plates for Sale

 

Cheap Dateless Number Plates for Sale

 

What is a Dateless Number Plates?

 

 

A dateless number plate is a type of UK number plate that doesn’t show an age identifier. As such, it can be assigned to any vehicle.

 

They were the first type of number plate released in the UK and usually feature a simple letter region code and a unique number to identify the vehicle. 

 

However, it can be designed with up to four numbers and three letters. 

 

It’s one of four types of number plates in the UK, with the others including:

 

• Suffix number plates
• Prefix number plates
• New style registration plates - the modern type of car registration. 

 

Learn more about all these systems in our guide to car registration years.

 

Or, you can shop all of these number plate types on our private number plates for sale page. 

When Were Dateless Number Plates Used?

 

Dateless number plates were the first type of number plate system used in the UK and were first issued by local councils in 1903. This system was replaced by the suffix registration system in 1963, which added age identification to number plates.

 

Introduced under the Motor Car Act 1904, dateless registrations were originally issued with letters first and then the number. It started with a single letter, then moved to two letters, and later three.

 

After all the combinations were exhausted, the pattern flipped to include numbers first, followed by letters. 

 

Because of this, it’s possible to find DVLA dateless number plates that mirror each other, like “AG 1” and “1 AG”.

How Much Are Dateless Number Plates Worth?

 

Due to their rarity and desirability, dateless number plates are some of the most expensive on the market. 

 

In fact, every one of the top 10 most expensive private number plates sold in the UK was a dateless number plate. 

 

The most expensive dateless number plate, 25 O, fetched a jaw-dropping £518,480.

 

Of course, dateless number plates can come far cheaper than this, but they are usually in their thousands. 

Why Are Dateless Number Plates So Desirable?

 

Although their appearance is a big factor in desirability, dateless number plates are usually the most expensive on the market due to their rarity. 

 

For a DVLA dateless number plate to have survived to the modern day, they would have needed to be transferred between cars. 

 

Many of the original cars that featured these plates have since been scrapped, with thousands of desirable number plates lost to time. 

 

And once issued, the DVLA will not re-issue the same registration.  This makes dateless registrations among the most cherished number plates in the UK. 

 

However, some dateless number plates have never been on another vehicle, increasing their desirability. This is because many regions never exhausted their allocated plate combinations and often withheld certain letter sequences that referenced names. 

 

These plates that were never issued are made available today at DVLA car reg auctions, which happen several times per year.  

 

Can I Put a Dateless Number Plate on My Car?

 

Yes, you can put a dateless number plate onto any vehicle. 

 

It’s illegal to make a car look newer than it is. For this reason, you couldn’t put a 2021 car registration plate onto a car made in 2002.

 

However, dateless number plates don’t have an age identifier like modern car plates. This means you can put a dateless plate on any vehicle as long as they follow the latest number plate rules on spacing and lettering.

 

You can learn more about number plate rules in our complete guide. 

How to Transfer a Dateless Number Plate?

 

SwiftReg has a full, stress-free transfer management service for number plates. This means we’ll conduct the legal transfer and register with the DVLA on your behalf.

You can learn more about transferring dateless number plates by following the link to our number plate transfer service.