Not sure how much weight and truth this ‘tale’ holds, but I thought I’d share what I heard with the other members here.
I recently acquired a personal number plate for my MX5. Nothing special or even expensive. It was just that. Personal to me and probably meaningless to anyone else, unless they have the same initials as me and was born on the 27th…
Anyway, when I ordered the plate from my local garage, I jokingly said that I didn’t want it spaced out in a silly fashion so it read ‘G1T’ or ‘F4RT’ etc…His reply was, that in actual fact, as we all know, the digits on a number plate must be spaced correctly and they must follow strict guidelines. But what surprised me most, was that apparently some insurance companies are now refusing to pay out in the event of a claim, on the grounds of the mis-represented number plate is actually an MOT failure and the vehicle shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place!!
When I was at the spring rally a few weeks ago, I did notice some people have made use of the MX5# prefix, and spelt a few names out of the remaining number and letters. As I say, I don’t really know if any of this holds much truth, but just be careful if it does and be wary of your insurance company trying to wriggle out of any claims…
Youre certainly more likely to be pulled over, especially now traffic cops have ANPR cameras which will let them know if a number plate can’t be read. The insurance issue sounds like a load of codswallop to me.
I have a personal number plate, and like you it is correctly spaced. But there are literally hundreds of personal plater’s around, on all makes and types of vehicles which are illegal. If what you heard is true there are some pretty expensive shocks coming to those people in the event of a claim. I can’t find anything about it in my insurance documents, but from a logical perspective it makes sense, if the number plate is not in accordance with current legislation it is illegal and shouldn’t be on the road. An excellent exclusion for any insurer feeling the pinch or wishing to increase their profitability. So if anybody wants to mess about with the spacing they should check with their insurer first.
I think common sense on social media is required more than clarification.
Does a stone chip in a windscreen, within the swept area bigger than a penny immediately invalidate your insurance. Is the a grace period between the stone hitting the screen and you being able to safety stop the car or is the insurance invalid the instance this happens.
An incorrectly spaced number plate is not a safety hazard in the same way that knowingly driving with ineffectual brakes or chassis corrosion is.
Were this ever to become a serious issue in court then no judge is going to side with an insurance company saying that it refuses to pay compensation for a child who now has to spend the rest of their life in a wheel chair because the insurance company says the number plate spacing was incorrect.
What happens to cars that don’t require an MOT yet?