Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of trends in the level of vehicle registrations sold at DVLA auctions being immediately resold for profit; what safeguards are in place to prevent speculative purchasing; and if she will consider restricting DVLA sales to individuals with a requirement that the purchased registration be assigned to a vehicle registered in the buyer’s name within a set period or otherwise returned.

The personalised registrations scheme has been operated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) since 1989 and has raised more than £3 billion for HM Treasury. The scheme is operated in line with the law and established terms and conditions, with the primary purpose of maximising returns for the Exchequer.

No specific assessment of trends relating to the immediate resale of registration numbers purchased from auctions has been carried out. Around 30 per cent of registration numbers are purchased by companies who trade in the resale of registration numbers.

Registration number auctions are fair and transparent open market sales. Once a registration number has been purchased, the buyer has the legal right to display that registration number on a vehicle subject to the rules governing the conditions of transfer, retention and assignment of a registration number to a vehicle.

There are no plans to restrict speculative purchasing or the subsequent resale of registration numbers as these activities are lawful and consistent with the nature of an open auction process.

There are also no plans to restrict sales of registration numbers to individuals with a requirement that is assigned to a vehicle registered in the buyer’s name and within a set period of time or otherwise returned. Such a change would represent a significant departure from the current market-based approach and have a significant impact on a well-established number plate market, which includes small and medium enterprises and individuals who wish to sell the rights to their registration number.