What is it….?

Organic Fairtrade dark chocolate. 70% cocoa solids.

Sugar content 30.0g; Fat content 41.0g.

What they say….

“Produced from cocoa beans grown near Rio Apurimac in the Amazonas region of Peru. A delicate chocolate with a silky mouth feel”

Price….

100g bar around £1.39.

What I say….

I’d certainly go along with the ’silky mouth feel’ quoted on the packaging. The chocolate has a lovely creamy texture, without being sickly. And without tasting like milk chocolate. The slightly bitter dark chocolate taste isn’t compromised by the creaminess. The taste lingers in the mouth and on the tongue. Each tiny piece explodes with flavour around the whole mouth.

The chocolate itself is thin - just right at 6mm. I know that sounds really trivial. But I really do believe it makes a difference to the taste and experience of eating the chocolate. It makes it possible to nibble small chunks… and to me, that’s the best way to eat chocolate. Putting a huge chunk in my mouth really doesn’t work for me… there’s no opportunity to enjoy the flavour and let it linger.

In conclusion….

A delicious dark chocolate. Flavour lingers long on the tongue. Spot on.

I took a call today from a customer who was clearly planning ahead.

Valentines Day.

“I want a special Valentines Day gift for my wife” he said. “Something that’s a bit different, and special. And I know she’d love a private registration number.”

Yes, I know we’ve just (finally!) finished the turkey, and seen in the New Year with a stonking hangover. And the Christmas decorations aren’t even down yet. But this man is way ahead of the rest of us.

In actual fact, Valentines Day is just 6 weeks away. So he’s right to be planning to buy the number plate now. It takes a few weeks to complete the purchase of a number plate. And he wants to make sure he can put the registration number on his wife’s car on the day. If only we were all so organised!

A personal number plate as a Valentines Day present is a superb idea.

Chocolates? Too many calories! Flowers? Gone in a week!

A private number plate? Fab. A gift she (or he!) will keep for years. Both men and women love private number plates. They make a great idea for a unique personalised gift.

Number plate ideas for him:

BOY number plates

TOY number plates

Number plate ideas for her:

HOT number plates

SExy number plates

Valentines Day is just around the corner. So don’t leave it till the last minute.

Here are some Valentine stories we found. Hopefully they’ll give you some ideas to make your Valentines Day special.

12 days of Valentine Romance

Have fun together

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Today I received a query from a client for whom we provided a number plate valuation. He was somewhat surprised that our valuation of his registration number was lower than the price he had paid some time earlier. And a little incredulous that it was possible.

I wouldn’t say that valuations will always be 100% correct. And it may be that there is a market out there for this private registration number, of which we are unaware. But it did prompt me to realise that there is a general expectation that all registration numbers will go up in value.

So can the value of a number plate go down? In a word, yes.

Like any investment, the value of a number plate can go down (as well as up of course!).

Why?

Firstly, that depends on how the registration number was originally purchased. If bought from a dealer, the purchase price is ‘inflated’ by the dealer’s commission fee, and possibly also VAT. When selling the number plate on, the VAT cannot be recovered. So the increase in value has to overcome both the initial dealer’s commission fee and VAT. So even if the registration number hasn’t dropped in value, it’s still possible that its owner may sell it for less than the original price paid.

Even when an unissued number plate is bought from the DVLA, it’s possible for the value to drop. The DVLA apply a ‘formula’ for valuing the majority of number plates for sale, regardless of the popularity of the specific letters. There are, of course some exceptions to this… particularly if the letter / number combinations create a recognisable name or word.

Registration numbers bought on the market, however, are valued individually, according to the market. So it’s possible for some (apparently similar) registration numbers to increase more than others. And for some to decrease. Less popular initials, such as X, Y, and F will not sell as easily as other letters. Where the letters combine with the year identifier to create a word or name, the value will be higher. The value will, of course, depend on the level of demand for that word or name. And how well the registration number creates it.

A number plate can also decrease in value if it relates to a particular theme, such as a specific car model. If that model is no longer made, demand gradually drops, and, consequently, so does the value of the registration number.

See my earlier post on investing in private number plates for more information.

The value of a number plate, like most things, is worth what a potential buyer is willing to pay for it.

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