Why are most Porsche owners on private plates? - Page 5 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

Noticed lately that the majority of Porsches outside of Macans & Cayenne's are on private plates. I know there's going to be logical or conclusive reason to this but anyone wonder why?

Could be a whole host of things, owners have more disposable income, want to 'hide' the age of their car, want to make the car 'personalised' but don't want to lose their warranty?

Simply really, because we can. Just like a Porsche is a “want” purchase not a “need” purchase. Looks great on a nice plate. Sorry to say it’s that easy.

Mine is on a cherished number ( a six digit plate because it cane on a car I bought nearly 20 years ago. Would be silly to throw it away, especially as it's not something daft like B16 NOB for example.

Never had one on any of mine, and I have had a few.. Same for ones I see locally and at garages. But this is rural Glos so may be different to cities.

Because having a three-letter, three number registration means you can drive as fast as you like in Europe, and some poor old lady in Finland gets all of my speeding tickets.

With many of the cars being low mileage second cars, and with a timeless design that only an aficionado can tell the subtle difference between different generations, I'm guessing it is to disguise the age. (That's why I put one on mine)

bigmowley said: Simply really, because we can. Just like a Porsche is a “want” purchase not a “need” purchase. Looks great on a nice plate. Sorry to say it’s that easy. Yours is so small/short It's almost invisible! (I left the PH 25th anniversary meet behind you). My "private plates" were bought some years ago, normal format plate but just an easy to remember sequence. Bought in the days when many car parks required you to input your reg to a ticket machine, anything to make life a bit easier.

Mine was a gift from a good friend of my mother. Their partner, who shares the same first name as me, passed away suddenly and too young. She wanted me to have it.

I bought one so that I could have a shorter plate on the front of my 986. So many 996s and 997s have private plates and I wouldn't be surpsied if it's to disguise the age on many of them. My pet hate is when people have a normal sized plate and yet could have a much shorter one, on the front. I don't mind it on the rear where the recess means it's largely irrelevant.

I suspect the majority are not on private plates, you have just noticed a lot of them with private plates. Expensive cars will have more than the average though as people can afford them.

Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity

Nuttbelle said: Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity Oh yeah, I forgot that it also annoys some people…which is fun too.

Nuttbelle said: Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity Very much this. Most of them up to their eye balls in PCP debt too, trying to keep up with the Jones’ and will be s tting themselves about the how the high interest rates will affect their fake lifestyles. Which is a shame. Or, rather, it’s not, it’s chickens coming home to roost. Happy days debt and status junkies

M11rph said: Yours is so small/short It's almost invisible! (I left the PH 25th anniversary meet behind you). My "private plates" were bought some years ago, normal format plate but just an easy to remember sequence. Bought in the days when many car parks required you to input your reg to a ticket machine, anything to make life a bit easier. This, modern plate numbers can be so hard to remember as they tend not to have any “rhyme” to them like they did in the ABC123 era. One of ours is from 94 from and Audi that did 10 years of school runs has sentimental value and locals regard it as X’s plate. We bought a second 2 numbers different for a second car.

Mine aren’t Don’t get the whole “Special! Look at ME!” factor with number plates at all. My cars are for me, not for what other people think, therefore I don’t have vanity plates.

Caddyshack said: Oh yeah, I forgot that it also annoys some people…which is fun too. Bought on the never never as well

Magnum 475 said: Mine aren’t Don’t get the whole “Special! Look at ME!” factor with number plates at all. My cars are for me, not for what other people think, therefore I don’t have vanity plates. Where does this “I have private plates purely to satisfy what other people think of me” idea come from? We have private plates on a number of our cars and normal ones on others. I can assure you it’s not for anyone else’s perceived benefit or vanity on our part - we just like them!

jwdh1 said: Where does this “I have private plates purely to satisfy what other people think of me” idea come from? We have private plates on a number of our cars and normal ones on others. I can assure you it’s not for anyone else’s perceived benefit or vanity on our part - we just like them! My thinking: it doesn't do anything. It doesn't improve the car in any way. It doesn't make it faster, drive better, more comfortable, sound better, etc. All it does is project a different image to people outside the car. Simple, to me.....

visitinglondon said: Nuttbelle said: Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity Very much this. Most of them up to their eye balls in PCP debt too, trying to keep up with the Jones’ and will be s tting themselves about the how the high interest rates will affect their fake lifestyles. Which is a shame. Or, rather, it’s not, it’s chickens coming home to roost. Happy days debt and status junkies This sort of frothy tosh always fascinates me. How do you know the financial situation of "most of them"? And more importantly, why do you care? Bizarre.

Magnum 475 said: jwdh1 said: Where does this “I have private plates purely to satisfy what other people think of me” idea come from? We have private plates on a number of our cars and normal ones on others. I can assure you it’s not for anyone else’s perceived benefit or vanity on our part - we just like them! My thinking: it doesn't do anything. It doesn't improve the car in any way. It doesn't make it faster, drive better, more comfortable, sound better, etc. All it does is project a different image to people outside the car. Simple, to me..... The only projection here Magnum is your feelings onto other people’s! Unless you obviously know all of our underlying insecurities which we’re unwilling to face!

Polarising this, have mates with them and mates without. Personally, no as I think they portray an image of either Saxo 'raised font' KFC chomping, slider/tag wearing knucklehead, or a 'Jaaaag' owning Golf Club Mason.

anonymous said: [redacted] All of them :

anonymous said: [redacted] I have no doubt that some people think exactly that. Middle aged bald prick in a Cockster. But, here's the thing: I really, really, don't give a flying f**k what they think. I don't care what complete strangers think of me based on my choice of car, or the fact that I haven't got a vanity plate hiding its age. Similarly, I would expect those who display plates that are candidates for the C124PPY plates thread to not care what complete strangers think of them.

I originally got a private plate because I could never remember the plate on my cars. Was always annoying when I went to a meeting and had to check into the security office and couldn't remember it... or when I was booking airport parking and had to go look in the garage to remind myself of the reg.

No simple answer - could be: - To disguise the age - To personalise the vehicle - To personalise the ownership - To improve the appearance of the vehicle - Long standing ownership - Investment - Status - Sentimental value Of course, tastes vary. Some look very good, some are naff, most are just a bit of fun.

I find it interesting that people who claim not to care what people think about them, seem to care about voicing an opinion on other people’s choices especially when they seem not to agree with them. It’s also interesting when some of those people jump to conclusions about motivation, financial status and social activities in order to justify their responses. I do wonder, if people are really not bothered why in fact they bother responding. As I said, interesting 🤔

We have Y666 and P666 then our initials on our bought and paid for 911 and Boxster. Both cost IIRC £250 many moons ago, so not silly money, and I think they both look quite smart.

Voodoo Blue said: <stuff> I do wonder, if people are really not bothered why in fact they bother responding. As I said, interesting ?? Because a question was asked. People have differing views on that question, and are giving them here. Personally, I find vanity plates fascinating. People spend money to buy something that (IMO) does absolutely nothing, achieves nothing, and doesn't improve their car in any way. But that's just my viewpoint - other opinions are different and equally valid.

Nuttbelle said: Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity And of course Lamborghini drivers are the shy, retiring type who like neither to be seen or heard on their drives out? I’m sure you’ll counter this with how the Huracan is the last N/A super car and it’s the only rock-solid investment left on the planet, other than a 675LT which you also have.

jwdh1 said: And of course Lamborghini drivers are the shy, retiring type who like neither to be seen or heard on their drives out? I’m sure you’ll counter this with how the Huracan is the last N/A super car and it’s the only rock-solid investment left on the planet, other than a 675LT which you also have. You got the memo and understood, well done you But for balance you forgot the 2 Ferraris. Thankfully not a Porsche sports car in sight though

anonymous said: [redacted] L4MBO MC67SLT

Nuttbelle said: jwdh1 said: And of course Lamborghini drivers are the shy, retiring type who like neither to be seen or heard on their drives out? I’m sure you’ll counter this with how the Huracan is the last N/A super car and it’s the only rock-solid investment left on the planet, other than a 675LT which you also have. You got the memo and understood, well done you But for balance you forgot the 2 Ferraris. Thankfully not a Porsche sports car in sight though Oh good grief Rambo - you have 2 Ferraris too - well done you. I guess if we have neither of those we’re consigned to eternal economic doom? Edited by jwdh1 on Tuesday 12th September 15:46

Having read this thread it occurs to me that there are a lot of villages missing their idiot

I think the better off you are the more likley you are to have a private plate. Porsche owners are better off than the average Joe and so a higher proportion can afford private plates. I've had 4 Porsches and many sports cars and only once bought a private plate. I sold the car and left the plate on it as it was car specific. Can't see me having another now to be honest, but to each their own. (I will mutter 'chav' under my breath at all the crap private plates though and reserve my right to do so).

If you were looking at a beautiful woman who had to have by law a serial number tattooed on her face would you rather look at her with tf54 8bh across her face or 1L ?

Private plates are obviously a ridiculous thing to spend money on, as has been correctly pointed out by a previous post they make zero difference to a car’s functionality or performance. I bought mine as it puts a smile on my face every time I see it.

G-996 said: Private plates are obviously a ridiculous thing to spend money on, as has been correctly pointed out by a previous post they make zero difference to a car’s functionality or performance. The low cost ones are a bit of harmless fun, so long as they are not manipulated to look like something they aren’t. However, the very top end and most desirable plates have been a very good investment.

Very cheap in Canada, but of course you cannot resell them. I have a few that typically reflects the experience with the car. My Cayenne is used for Great Dane transport: The Panamera is red and has been tracked at Spa : The GT cars have been to The Ring and Spa ( apart from the 992 which is next year): Its all a bit of harmless fun- I also have a Smart with the plate ALECK and a bright green Jeep with the plate SOILENT among others.

C4ME said: D1 RTY Edited by C4ME on Tuesday 12th September 22:53 Very good .

bigmowley said: Simply really, because we can. Just like a Porsche is a “want” purchase not a “need” purchase. Looks great on a nice plate. Sorry to say it’s that easy. Agree - status I would suggest that a confident person doesn’t need a personalised plate. Ps. All plates are private

Orangecurry said: Because having a three-letter, three number registration means you can drive as fast as you like in Europe, and some poor old lady in Finland gets all of my speeding tickets. A friend has a personal plate on his MX5 and when over on the continent he was behind a truck that had the exact same reg number! Always wondered if the systems over there flagged him as a truck on speed cameras and the truck driver got a load of random speeding tickets.

blueg33 said: bigmowley said: Simply really, because we can. Just like a Porsche is a “want” purchase not a “need” purchase. Looks great on a nice plate. Sorry to say it’s that easy. I would suggest that a confident person doesn’t need a personalised plate. Are you suggesting that a person driving round in their F40 on private plates has low confidence/self esteem compared to a fellow F40 driver on a G plate?

Mine isn't. Wears its 8 year old bar code with pride too

My car's reg plate has OPC in it but it's not a private plate. I guess the OPC got the plate allocated to them by a friendly DLVA employee and then the dealer decides which plates to put on which car when registering them?

Nuttbelle said: Same reason as why they are in a porsche, is all image and flashing. Disguising the age for vanity From an apparent owner of a Lambo, McLaren and 2 Ferraris? At least 2 of which are on private plates? I smell something...

At the top of the range very expensive cars and plates there's some argument the plate contributes to the 'specialness' of the car. At the lower end it's just "Look at meeeee", and rather sad. No different from any BMW owner, Ford owner etc etc

Because Porsche with their positioning became a brand that an average joe could 'own' with financing. And the average joe has 0 class, and think they are flexing with a personalised plate on a porsche. lmao

dng992 said: Because Porsche with their positioning became a brand that an average joe could 'own' with financing. And the average joe has 0 class, and think they are flexing with a personalised plate on a porsche. lmao Wouldn’t you say that interest rates, until very recently, coupled with very favourable finance terms allowed quite a lot of people into cars they wouldn’t normally have been able to afford - not just Porsche? McLaren have certainly done the same as you do see gluts of certain cars coming to markets once PCP deals expire…

It’s amazing how many visitors to the Porsche forum, don’t own a Porsche, but seem to know all about Porsche owners. Quite a gift.

jwdh1 said: blueg33 said: bigmowley said: Simply really, because we can. Just like a Porsche is a “want” purchase not a “need” purchase. Looks great on a nice plate. Sorry to say it’s that easy. I would suggest that a confident person doesn’t need a personalised plate. Are you suggesting that a person driving round in their F40 on private plates has low confidence/self esteem compared to a fellow F40 driver on a G plate? No not really. It was a lax comment and I was in an irritated mood. I had in mind more the personalised plates on everyday Boxters, Macans, regular 911's, Cayennes. But TBH people can spend there money how they wish. My Ferrari has a personalised plate, put on it by the last owner, it means nothing to me but I see no point in paying to change it. I actually think that a plate with fewer digits looks better than one with lots of digits so I get that especially on a car that is designed to be looked at as well as driven, I'm not so sure about plates that try too hard eg: Which (and forgive me if its anyone's plate on here) looks crap In reality you see personalised plates on many premium cars, because people have spare money. My best friends all own Porsches and all have personalised registrations, but they are not stupid contrived ones. Edited by blueg33 on Wednesday 13th September 16:08

Am I ok with this or am I a very naughty boy?

M11rph said: Am I ok with this or am I a very naughty boy? Hi Brian - at least you look on the bright side of life

M11rph said: Am I ok with this or am I a very naughty boy? I read that no plate as ME55 IAH - which, so far as I can tell, doesn’t legally exist.

M11rph said: Am I ok with this or am I a very naughty boy?

M11rph said: Am I ok with this or am I a very naughty boy? I think it actually detracts from the car. Unless, of course.... .

Correct PVT plates are investments.Also a bit of fun . I have had 911 s since 25 yrs old ( had to wait for insurance back in 86 ) . None dating means over the decades your wealth increases by holding on to cars .I mean using your own cash .None of this “monthlies “ crap whereby you are just renting . So it’s a two way whammy . de ages the car ( in the eyes of the ave bod ) and the thing itself appreciates * I mean a proper old fashioned one .

andyeds1234 said: It’s amazing how many visitors to the Porsche forum, don’t own a Porsche, but seem to know all about Porsche owners. Quite a gift. They’ve twigged we’re all in arrears on our Wimpey homes, PCP’d up to our eyeballs on a leggy 911 to go with our debadged steel wheeled 316i and sold a kidney to buy PL8 YER for added prestige.

fflump said: andyeds1234 said: It’s amazing how many visitors to the Porsche forum, don’t own a Porsche, but seem to know all about Porsche owners. Quite a gift. They’ve twigged we’re all in arrears on our Wimpey homes, PCP’d up to our eyeballs on a leggy 911 to go with our debadged steel wheeled 316i and sold a kidney to buy PL8 YER for added prestige. Or perhaps they've owned a Porsche in the past and moved on... . Have to say that petulance from regular posters at a hint of criticism fits with the somewhat fragile ego concept of private plates owners. Just an observation.

Because, why not?, and no other/particular reason at all.

Local car here - not sure which Porsche model it is. Any guesses?

anonymous said: [redacted] Looks more like a S(i)enna

I have matching plates on my cars, all £250 from the DVLA and 6 digits rather than 7. I've used 'V' and 'Y' then my initials, so although standard legal plates and spaced properly they do look like same at a glance - e.g 'V10 AAA' and 'Y10 AAA'. The third one is the same 'V' prefix but a different initial for my middle name. My GT4 was delivered in August, I could have waited until September to get it on a '73' plate but couldn't see the point, so just had it registered onto my personal reg from the get go. I've never understood really expensive private plates, they're quite easy to lose if you change cars often and you're not on the ball with it, or if they're on an old car that may not get another MOT.

For me, it's all about annoying people on the internet and making them think I have a PCP

SV_WDC said: Noticed lately that the majority of Porsches outside of Macans & Cayenne's are on private plates. I know there's going to be logical or conclusive reason to this but anyone wonder why? Because they are driving OLD cars and try to hide the fact lol.

I've had a private plate for years but haven't got around to putting on my latest car. Think I will though, because while plenty of people have dim views about private plates, when you are out in the rest of the UK, the locals also tend to have dim views about "awful Londoners", so having a standard plate starting with "L" (as all of our cars do) isn't brilliant either...whereas a private plate gives nothing away about where you are from (provided it doesn't say eg "Porsche Centre Mayfair" at the bottom). Some plates are terrible though. My wife was hooting with derisive laughter at the Ford Focus ST we were behind on Sunday which had the plate "HOT 53X". Edited by Wolands Advocate on Friday 15th September 11:40

JMBMWM5 said: ecause they are driving OLD cars and try to hide the fact lol. Nah - its because they are so common and all in black or grey its the only way to make them distinctive

I'm always quite amazed by the bizarre division caused by personal plates, as can be seen on this very thread. I never really considered it before I got one but since I did I've had people who think 'w ker' and aren't afraid to tell me that, to those who get that it's just a bit of fun to be had with a boring rectanglar piece of plastic. Mine is on the family wagon and is XXX #X which is close to but not quite my surname, spaced correctly etc. I'm not a fan of badly spaced ones but each to their own, the only ones that actually annoy me are where they are deliberately mis-shaping letters, using bolts etc. to manipulate the number. I think part of the issue maybe people who don't have them have no idea how much they cost and assume you've spent mega bucks on the aforementioned piece of plastic, whereas as alluded to above they actually cost from £250 all the way up to hundreds of thousands. Funnily enough I've not got round to putting mine on the Porsche yet, partly because the £80 it would cost is a tank of fuel these days and partly because I quite like the fact the current plate shows its age as it can be difficult to tell between generations on 911s at a glance (I've actually not spotted too many 997s out and about with personal plates so generally nice and easy to distinguish between gen 1 and 2, not that it really matters). I noticed when I did the history check that mine (only two owners before me) has changed plates about six or seven times and while now on a correctly dated plate, it's not its orignal one. I can't say I've noticed more personal plates on Porsches vs. any other brand to be honest. They seem quite common these days in general across the spectrum of car makes. Mine is on a Jag estate; make of that what you will.

JagYouAre said: Mine is on the family wagon and is XXX #X which is close to but not quite my surname, spaced correctly etc. I'm not a fan of badly spaced ones but each to their own, the only ones that actually annoy me are where they are deliberately mis-shaping letters, using bolts etc. to manipulate the number. Mine is ***11* and would be my surname if it was a 1 in stead of an 11 (a cousin has the one with "1"). It's just a bit of fun but on the downside it does rather rob me of any anonymity...I originally had it on a BMW Z1 where that didn't matter much as you have very little anonymity driving around in such a rare and distinctive car anyway, but on a more common car it is a point to consider. It's certainly an incentive to drive politely!!

Mine has ‘911’ on it just in case I forget what kind of car I’ve got.

….and some people have to put extra stickers on their car to remind them/tell others that it’s a Porsche

I must admit |'ve never noticed that Porsche's have more private plates. Maybe they do. I have a couple of private plates on my cars, I like a smaller number of letters, visually, and I have a familiarity of the plates that somehow makes the car for me more personal. Both of my plate cost £250 each from DVLA a good few years ago. The fist plate I bought because an M5 had a horrible registration number that to me looked awful, DAZ is either a bad washing powder or a badly phrased Darren, at least to me A personal thing but I dislike plates that if you squint are good at crosswords and puzzles you can make a 'clever' link and it spells something different or well actually it doesn't

I have a private plate on my new 718 GTS because I just wanted to. It's not to disguise the age as it's a 2023 car, I just did it for fun and the plate matches the car in terms of model name and colour instead.

I was bored on my commute home last night so I thought it was a good opportunity to conduct some statistical research into this. I surveyed the cars coming past me and looked for the first ten obvious personal plates that I saw. The manufacturers were as follows: Ssongyang Mitsubishi Audi BMW Range Rover Audi Land Rover Mercedes Toyota Citroen I saw two Porsches during that time, neither of which were on personal plates. In the interest of fairness, because they're a little more rare, I attempted to track the first ten Porsches I saw. I only saw five over my commute, but none of them had an obviously personal plate (though I did see a couple this morning). Seems to me that Audis and Range Rovers have quite a high proportion of personal plates (I'll have to do some more research in this area, if I can be bothered, maybe this evening) but in general the distribution appears to be quite random. Extrapolate from that high level research what you will.

My 981 came with a private reg, can't be arsed to change it

Here in Australia “historic” plates are seriously investable assets and often worth more than the cars they are attached to. COVID has doubled the value of the better examples.

That is a cool plate

Not sure I follow 7 digit stamp ?

Here in Switzerland, we have the canton prefix, i.e. ZH for Zürich, LU for Lucerne or BS for Basel, followed by a number between 1 and 999‘999. They stick with the owner and not on the car. Also you don‘t own them, but you rather have the right to use them. This means that you can‘t hold onto them for longer than 12 months, if they are not on an actual taxed and mfk‘d (mot) car. You can spend upto £100k for a low number and you often see them on expensive cars. I paid £500 twice for „good looking“ 5 digit numbers, with only 2 numbers. Nothing that stands out like LU 555 or BS 10, but rather something that would not be noticed by 99.9% of the people. But I like it.

Haribo Lecter said: Mine has ‘911’ on it just in case I forget what kind of car I’ve got. Know what you mean

There are 6 Porsches (excluding the SUV things etc) that I know of locally. Only one has a "personalised plate" being a normal plate for the year of the car, which could perhaps be read as ROGER, if you squint a bit. The most common brands to have personalised plates around here are BMWs and AUDIs.

I was always going to put a private plate on mine as it was and still is my first 'proper' sports car & weekend toy. Personally, I think the car looks better with it and it didn't cost stupid money either, so money well spent IMO. Hides the age too. &#129315;

Orangecurry said: Because having a three-letter, three number registration means you can drive as fast as you like in Europe, and some poor old lady in Finland gets all of my speeding tickets.

If anyone has 5 minutes for a fun read there was a US security researcher a few years ago that put a 'null' and 'void' plates on his cars with badly backfiring consequences...: https://www.wired.com/story/null-license-plate-lan...

A cherished reg should be no more than a 2X2 A good dateless plate will never lose money. And what's 10-15K on a plate when sticking it on a 125K car? Car will depreciate the 15K the moment you drive it away. The cherished plate won't. Edited by MTUK on Saturday 4th November 19:10

MTUK said: A cherished reg should be no more than a 2X2 I had no idea this was the law. I'll bin my dateless 3x3 plates immediately. I'm doing a significant amount of driving at the moment, and one thing I have noticed is that every single new-style-plasticy-Defender in the South-East has a pitiful mis-spaced and/or means-something registration.... every single one

Orangecurry said: I had no idea this was the law. I'll bin my dateless 3x3 plates immediately. I'm doing a significant amount of driving at the moment, and one thing I have noticed is that every single new-style-plasticy-Defender in the South-East has a pitiful mis-spaced and/or means-something registration.... every single one Depends what the 3x3 plates are? Car related plates such as M3 C63 / X5 ... why bother? If the plate isn't decent then leave the original reg on Lastly; there's nothing better than having a cracking good dateless plate on a shed of a car.

Orangecurry said: I had no idea this was the law. I'll bin my dateless 3x3 plates immediately. I'm doing a significant amount of driving at the moment, and one thing I have noticed is that every single new-style-plasticy-Defender in the South-East has a pitiful mis-spaced and/or means-something registration.... every single one I noticed this trend a few years ago and started a thread about it on PH. It immediately got taken off by the mods for being "dribble".