Frequently asked questions

Personalised registration plates are unique vehicle numbers chosen by the owner, rather than automatically issued. They may feature combinations of letters and digits that have personal meaning.

There are three main ways:
Buy a premium plate outright — immediately available to purchase.
Create your own — choose a combination and see a price based on number of characters.
Participate in auctions — some plates are offered to the highest bidder.

Yes. Plates must comply with Gibraltar regulations, avoid offensive or misleading content, and be formatted with approved characters and spacing. Final approval is required before assignment.

Typically you can use approved letters and digits in standard formats, with limits on length and spacing. Certain sequences are reserved or unavailable depending on current allocations.

Fees vary by plate type, length, and whether it is purchased outright or via auction. Additional administrative or registration fees may apply.

Yes. The authority can refuse plates that are offensive, misleading, or likely to cause confusion. Approval is at the discretion of the licensing office.

You can pay online by card through our secure payment provider, or by bank transfer. Card payments are confirmed automatically; bank transfers are confirmed once the funds are received. The plate is assigned to your account when payment is confirmed, and your invoice is available from the order in your account.

Once payment is confirmed, the plate appears under My Plates in your account and is held in your name. From there you can register it to a vehicle, keep it on retention, or request its ownership certificate. While the plate is registered to a vehicle your ownership continues automatically; while it is not registered, it is held for a retention period that you can renew.

It depends on whether the plate is on a vehicle:
Registered to a vehicle — your ownership continues automatically for as long as it stays registered.
Not registered — the plate is held for a retention period and your account shows the expiry date. From one month before that date you can pay the retention fee to extend your ownership for a further 4 years.
If you deregister the plate from a vehicle, you keep your ownership only if the retention fee has been paid. Transferring the plate passes ownership to the new owner.

The retention fee keeps a plate in your name while it is not registered to a vehicle. Paying it extends your ownership for a further 4 years, and it becomes payable from one month before your current retention period expires. Your account shows when the fee is due and lets you pay it online. Plates that are registered to a vehicle do not need a retention fee.

A plate that is not registered to a vehicle is held for a retention period, and your account shows the exact expiry date. From one month before that date you can pay the retention fee to extend your ownership for a further 4 years, or register the plate to a vehicle so it does not expire. If the plate is neither registered nor renewed by the expiry date, your ownership ends and the plate may return to the pool.

Yes. From the plate’s page in your account you can transfer it to another person, who accepts the transfer through an e-mail invitation. You can also buy a plate as a gift for someone else. Transferring a plate passes the ownership to the new owner. A transfer needs a valid certificate, so it is not available while the certificate is missing, expired, or within one month of its retention expiry — renew the retention first in that case.

The certificate is the official document confirming your right to a plate. You can request it from the plate’s page in your account; it then goes through review and government approval. You will be e-mailed when it is ready to collect, and the certificate number appears in your account once it has been collected. Your account shows the current stage at every step.

You can keep the plate reserved until it is produced or released for collection. The office will notify you when it is ready and provide collection instructions.

Plates are owned by a verified profile, so we need to confirm the identity behind it. When you create a personal profile you upload the identity document with it — one photo or scan for a passport, or both the front and back for an ID card (PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or HEIF, up to 10 MB). Our team then verifies the document. You can edit the profile freely until it is verified; after that, only its e-mail and residential address can change, because the other details must keep matching the ID document. If something is missing or unreadable you will see it on the profile and can upload a replacement.

Use Request missing plate on the My Plates page. Add each plate and attach the matching proof for it: the vehicle logbook if the plate is registered to a vehicle, or proof of ownership if it is not. You can include up to 20 plates in one request, with one document per plate (PDF, JPG, PNG, WEBP, HEIC or HEIF, up to 10 MB each). Only one missing-plate request can be open at a time; our review team checks the documents and the plates appear in your account once the request is approved.

Incomplete applications cannot be processed. You will be asked to provide the missing items before the plate can be approved or assigned.

You will need proof of identity, proof of address, and vehicle registration documents. Additional paperwork may be required if the vehicle is newly imported or recently purchased.

Yes. You can register a vehicle with a personalised plate once it is approved and assigned to you, and all vehicle registration requirements are met.

In addition to standard registration steps, personalised plates require approval of the requested combination and confirmation of payment before assignment.

Bring proof of ownership such as a purchase invoice, V5C/logbook equivalent, or import documentation. The licensing office will confirm the acceptable documents for your case.

Yes. Valid insurance is required to register and legally operate a vehicle. Provide proof of insurance during registration.

Vehicle registration is handled by the Gibraltar vehicle registration office. Appointments and required documents may be listed on the official government site.

Not necessarily. You must meet Gibraltar vehicle registration requirements, which may include residency or local address rules depending on the vehicle type and owner.

The programme is administered by the Gibraltar vehicle registration authority, which manages approvals, payments, and plate assignment.