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What Happens to Your Number Plates When You Scrap a Car?

Your plates are easy to overlook — until you realise you wanted to keep that personalised one. Here's the simple rule.

It's a small thing that's worth getting right, especially if you've paid for a personalised plate.

Standard plates

If the car wears ordinary issued plates, you don't need to do anything special — they stay with the vehicle and are removed and recycled as part of scrapping. There's nothing to hand in or keep.

Personalised / custom plates

This is the one to watch. A personalised plate has value and can be kept — but you must arrange to retain or transfer it before the car is scrapped. Once the vehicle is gone, recovering the plate is far harder. Contact your plate provider (the company that issued the personalised plate) to put it on retention or move it to another vehicle first.

Do this before pickup. If you want to keep a personalised plate, sort the retention or transfer before we collect the car — tell us and we'll work around it.

A quick checklist before the car goes

  • Remove personal belongings.
  • Retain or transfer any personalised plate.
  • Cancel any FlexiPark/parking permits linked to the plate.
  • Make sure the disposal notice will be filed.

Sorted? Get an instant quote and we'll take it from there.

Frequently asked questions

Can I keep my personalised plate when I scrap my car?

Yes, but you must retain or transfer it before the car is scrapped. Contact your plate provider to put it on retention or move it to another vehicle first.

What happens to standard number plates?

They stay with the car and are removed and recycled as part of scrapping — there's nothing you need to do.

What should I do with my plates before pickup?

Keep any personalised plate by retaining or transferring it beforehand; standard plates need no action.

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