Can you put a private plate on a lease car?

There are millions of cars on the UK’s roads with private registration plates. A lot of those are lease cars, so how do you put a private plate on a car that you don’t actually own? Here’s our guide to what you need to know to stay within the law while displaying your personal plate on a lease car.

Can you put a private plate on a lease car?

Private registrations are massively popular in the UK, and leasing is the most common way to drive a new car. So, can you have a lease car with a private number plate?

The simple answer is – yes, you can. However, as with most things in life, it’s a little more complicated. Don’t panic, it just means filling out a couple more forms than you would if you stuck with the original standard registration number.

Private registration plates are big business in the UK, whether you buy a personalised plate from one of the many companies selling them or direct from the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency). You might even have a registration number that’s been in the family for years and has sentimental value.

All number plates are unique to the car they are fixed to, but the appeal of a private plate is that it can be one that spells out your name or doesn’t date the car like a standard registration does. 

So long as you don’t try to use a registration dated newer than the car itself, which is illegal, you can put a private plate on pretty much any car. You can choose from the various different styles including pre-suffix, suffix, ageless plates issued prior to 1963 like you see on many classic cars, or your own choice from the current style of numberplate.

When you know what number plate you want to use with your lease car, you need to speak to the finance company you’re leasing it from. The company is the legal owner of the car, so you need to ask their permission, though this is almost always a formality and the company will do it for thousands of drivers every year.

With that approval, you need to make the finance company what’s called the “nominee” on the Certificate of Entitlement (form V750) relating to the number plate. This means they are allowed to use the registration number and assign it to a car either using a paper form or online. You will need to provide the finance company with the Certificate of Entitlement and pay an admin fee – usually between £35 and £50.

If you already have a private plate from your previous car, you can swap it to the new one using the V317 Application Form. You can do this by paper or online, and the form is valid for up to 10 years.

With this in place, the finance company will send a plate change application to the DVLA. This can take six to eight weeks, so you may have to wait a couple of months after your lease car has been delivered. You cannot display the private plate on your car until you have received confirmation from the DVLA and lease company.

What happens to the private plate at the end of the car lease? 

When your car reaches the end of the lease deal period, you have several options. Some deals require you to hand the car back, which means you will need to remove the plate from the car using form V317 again. This keeps you as the owner of the private number and returns the car to its original number plate. This costs £105 for the DVLA and the lease company will probably charge an administration fee of up to £50.

You must do this around eight weeks before the lease comes to an end. It can take this long for the DVLA to process the plate change and issue a new V5C owner’s logbook with the original non-private registration number on it.

At the same time, you will receive a V778 Retention Form from the DVLA that shows you own the private number so you can transfer it to another car in future.

If you want to put the private plate on your next lease car, you simply start the process again from the beginning, though you can do this while waiting for the new car so the plate goes straight on to it when it arrives.

What about number plates on cars under other kinds of finance deal? 

You may want to buy a car and own a car outright at the end of a Personal Contract Purchase using a balloon payment to settle the outstanding balance. In this case, your car will retain any private plate you’ve given it and that saves you all the paperwork needed when swapping registrations.