Just a query. See a q plate car today and got me thinking i dont remember seeing one in years.
Just wondered if they done away with them in recent times.
Not sure how true this is, but I heard-
If you find a Bike in a barn (Barn Find) or come into the possession of a vehicle without a number plate, you have to ask DVLA for a registration number, quoting any frame/engine numbers you find on the vehicle & they give you a number relating to the year of first registration. That might be why we don’t seem to see so many Q plates anymore.
Bet when we’re all back at work on Monday, we’ll see thousands of Q plates. Lol.
Kit cars mainly.
For car where the age can’t be proven.
You could re-shell a car, using a second hand shell, but all new running gear/engine etc.
With the current ‘totting up’ system, you can’t retain the new shells ID, even though it’s got a chassis number. But the chassis number proves the shells age, so the DVLA issue an age-related plate. Still a new ID, but looks like a normal plate.
Do the same thing again, but this time, the second hand shell has had it’s chassis number cut out.
You can’t prove when the shell was built, so the DVLA issue a new ID, but this time a Q plate.
So if it’s got ID that proves it’s age, you get an age related plate.
If you can’t prove it’s age, you get a Q plate.
As has been said above Q plates are generally for kit cars and trikes that don’t retain enough of an original vehicle. They will also be issued to a vehicle if it is proven to be a clone, had a different vin plate and chassis number bodged onto a stolen vehicle.
mucker85:
As has been said above Q plates are generally for kit cars and trikes that don’t retain enough of an original vehicle.
My pal built a kit car a few years ago, based on a Sierra. He tried to use the Sierra ID but they wouldn’t let him, said there wasn’t enough of the original car. They inspected/tested it as a new car, it got issued a 58 plate.
mucker85:
They will also be issued to a vehicle if it is proven to be a clone, had a different vin plate and chassis number bodged onto a stolen vehicle.
But only if they can’t prove the age of the original vehicle. If they cut wrong chassis number out and found the original chassis number underneath, they’d re-register it based on the original chassis number, and an age-related plate would be issued.
If they couldn’t establish the original chassis/VIN, it’d get a Q plate.
Once over everything that got re-registered got a Q plate, insurance write-offs, ringers, kit cars, major alterations.
Now they tend to use age-related plates more.
not alway a bad thing to have a car on a Q plate yes you’ve lost value but you’ve got MOT testing at 1975 level 
Noise and emissions lifted to 1975 standard hence why you see a few rally cars on Q plates as well plus the above about the shell etc