Irish Number Plates

Cape Plates offers access to a huge selection of Irish registrations, currently on vehicles registered in Northern Ireland. An Irish registration can be identified by containing either an 'I' or 'Z' eg EIG 7777 or KAZ 12. Irish cherished numbers are what is known as 'dateless' plates meaning that they don't have an age identifier. This means that they can be transferred onto roadworthy vehicle in the UK. There has been some very interesting releases of Irish registration marks, including GIL, BIL, DIG, BIG, JIL, FIL, MIL - each combination followed by the numbers 1 - 9999.

Previously, Irish number plates were significantly cheaper than the UK DVLA counterpart. This has changed in recent years with the explosion in the popularity of car registrations. A businessman has smashed the record for a Northern Ireland number plate by spending just over £100,000 for the registration BIG 1. Sean McCrory purchased the plate from an auction in Belfast and also bought BIG 2 for £15,000 and BIG 3 for £14,500. The previous record price for a Northern Ireland number plate was £50,000 paid for WIL 1.

The regulating body for Irish registration plates is known as the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency NI (DVLNI) located at Coleraine. Below is their contact address and phone numbers:

Vehicle Licensing Division

County Hall
Castlerock Road
Coleraine
Co. Londonderry
BT51 3TA

Tel - 0845 402 4000
Fax - (028) 7034 1422
Minicom (028) 7034 1351

e-mail: dvlni@doeni.gov.uk