Car registrations, cherished numbers, personalized registrations - right from the early days of motoring there has been a desire to own a good-looking number plate. This enthusiasm has never disappeared and many people who enjoy number plates today will have fond memories of spotting the best car numbers when they were children.

Number plates have become the ultimate accessory for every car owner and there is a huge variety of plates available, many at very reasonable prices. People from every walk of life buy personal number plates, the most publicized being of course television and sports personalities.

The values of number plates increase year on year prompting television presenter Quentin Wilson to state: "If you buy your number wisely, it will honestly be better than money in the bank". Marks like A1 and M1 will always be amongst the most sought after simply because they are number ones, but with combinations now changing every six months, there is plenty of opportunity to invest in the new numbers as well as old.

When valuing a number plate, the following should be taken into account:

• Age and rareness - how old is it and how many of that series were issued.
  
  
• How well will it sell - how popular the initials or names are.
  
  
• The lowness of the number - number 1s are the most sought after.
  
  
• Price trends -analyse prices achieved in the past.