Cheap Private Number Plates Under £200

Current Style

Current or new style registrations are the cheapest type of number plates available in the UK. This is because they are more readily available, making them more common in comparison to past registration formats.

Current style plates have been issued since September 2001, and contain 2 letters for the initial registration location, 2 numbers for the registration year, a small gap, and then a random sequence of 3 letters (e.g. TP52 REG).

This structure is a lot more restrictive than past styles, which also contributes to their cheaper price. Although, if play your cards right and get creative, you can use combinations of letters and numbers to create a cheaper private number plate that is iconic to you, without the hefty price tag.

Prefix Style

The next cheapest number plate format is the prefix style. They’re an older style of registration issued between 1983 and 2001 and contain a string of characters with 1 letter for the registration year, any number from 1 to 999, a small gap and then 3 letters for the registration location (e.g. T123 REG).

What makes them more expensive than current style plates is that they do not restrict you into using strictly 7 characters. The prefix style instead lets you play with sequences between 5 to 7 characters, which is preferable for people on the lookout for shorter registration plates. Another reason is that prefix plates have a more limited supply as they are no longer in production.

Suffix Style

The third cheapest number plate format is the suffix style. These were originally issued between 1963 and 1982. Similar to the prefix style, they contain 3 letters for the registration location, a small gap, a sequence number from 1 to 999, and 1 suffix letter for the registration year (e.g. TOP 944S).

These are more costly due to the fact that they’re older and there are less in circulation. You’ll struggle to find cheap private number plates under £200 in this style.

Dateless Number Plates

And finally, we have dateless number plates that were originally issued from 1903 until 1963. Instead of calling these the fourth cheapest style of number plate, let’s just go ahead and call them the most expensive.

These pricy plates contain 1, 2, 3 or 4 numbers, followed by a small gap and then 1, 2 or 3 letters. This order can also be reversed with 1, 2 or 3 letters followed by 1, 2, 3 or 4 numbers (e.g. 1234 TOP or TOP 1234).

Dateless are – by a wide margin – the rarest plates you can buy, which of course is factored into the price. You’ll be incredibly lucky to find one for under £200. The price also skyrockets for dateless plates with fewer characters. For example, the F 1 plate is going for millions!

What about financing?

If you want to spend a bit more, but not all at once, you can use our affordable and competitive number plate finance from Klarna. Authorised and regulated by the FCA, we can provide you with flexible and secure finance plans for purchases between £50 to £5,000.