Number plates can be secure for as little as £150 while rare and highly sought after designs can be valued in the thousands. New research from GoCompare has revealed that “BOSS” is the most popular term to have on a personalised plate with 28,427 motorists searching last year alone.
Over a four year period, a staggering 80,256 drivers had enquired about a number plate including the word “BOSS”.
A previous survey from the DVLA revealed that just six percent of road users would buy a plate for their business.
However, the fresh analysis shows that more businessmen may now be searching for the designs as a way to stand out on the roads.
The GoCompare research highlighted that “Boy” was the second most popular number plate design.
READ MORE: DVLA number plates revealed with some valued at £70,000
Other unique designs included “XXX” with over 2,000s searches and “KFC” with a total of 1,593 road users showing some interest.
In a shocking revelation, over 1,300 drivers had enquired about a coronavirus design number plate to mark the pandemic.
Newcastle was revealed as the most popular area in the UK for drivers searching for personalised designs.
For every 100,00 cars on the road, a total of 5,050 searches were made for unique designs in the highest ratio.
Nottingham was the second most popular region for unique designs with over 4,900 searches per 100,000 vehicles.
Manchester residents were also found to embrace unique designs with almost 3,500 searches per 100,000 owners over the past four years.
Mark Greening, Monitoring expert at Go Compare said the research had highlighted “unlikely popular choices” around number plate design.
He urged those who were considering buying designs to make sure they told their car insurance provider as soon as they can to ensure cover was not invalidated.
“It’s really interesting to see how everything from current events to household names is being searched for by Britons to add to their cars and it’s brought out some unlikely popular choices.
“When you register a personalised plate to a vehicle, you need to tell your insurer immediately, otherwise, your policy could be invalidated.
If you’ve paid a lot for a particular registration number, you should consider whether it’s properly insured.
“Whilst a personalised plate shouldn’t impact your car insurance, it can impact how it looks on the road to other drivers.”