Yorkshire based company Mark Hunt has been in the business of buying and selling personalised DVLA registration plates for over 35 years, and now has access to over 45 million combinations. Many thousands of these number plates are the company’s own stock which has been built up over time and, since there is only ever one of each combination, cannot be found anywhere else. Millions of other personalised registrations are listed on behalf of the company’s clients who wish to sell a number plate.

The company provides a very simple system for searching for any particular number plate on its’ website – www.markhunt.co.uk – where you just enter the number that you require into the search box. This will tell you instantly if the number plate you want is available and if so how much it costs.

Of course, it is quite possible that the number plate that you are looking for is not available for the simple reason that it is held by someone else who has no wish to sell it. If this is the case, you will need to be a little creative and try changing numbers and letters around.

Company director Alan Hebbs says that the most popular private reg search is for a three letter combination representing someone’s initials, and following that is car model numbers, so a Porsche owner might like the number 911 while an owner of a small Mazda might want 323. Numbers can also be linked to names, so OO04 LAN can be read as Alan. People also search for numbers that link to their business, so for example a builder might try to get hold of B1 LDR, or a greengrocer might try to find B3 ANS.

Hebbs explains that when a customer purchases a number plate from his own stock he can guarantee absolute reg transfer within 7 days. He provides number plates to many of the biggest garage groups in the country and also to many celebrities including top sports personalities and well-known actors and actresses. The company also has a cast iron guarantee that nobody can obtain reg transfers for less. Apart from the fact that nobody else has a number plate that is in the company’s own stock, if a number plate is also available from another dealer, Hebbs guarantees to match the price at the very least, but says he can usually undercut it.