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I recently purchased a car and had an AA History report done which says the"registration plates have changed in the past".

All details of the vehicle to the report are correct eg VIN etc including the current plates and also the original plates.

Looking at the report, it appears the vehicle sat for 4 months with a previous owner with no mileage added before the ownership was changed into the owners company name.

My questions are;

Should I need to confirm when the car was de-registered and re-registered with new plates?

And is it possible the original plates could have been swapped onto another similar model vehicle?

Gavin

From the "Ask Jack" archives - 26 November 2009

Generally speaking, if the vehicle has been de-registered then re-registered, the AA Vehicle History Report will say that the "vehicle has been re-registered", rather than "plates have been changed".

However, I would be suspicious of a car that sat for 4 months with no mileage added, then had the plates and ownership changed. It could be perfectly innocent, but the fact that it was changed into the same owner's company name seems strange.

My concern would be that the car (and plate) was accident damaged but not de-registered. Once the repair was completed, new plates were obtained.

You don't say whether or not the original plate was a personalised plate. If so, it could be transferred to another vehicle and this could help explain why the plates were changed.