Private plate retention, what’s involved

[Primus1]

My car is on a private reg which I’ll transfer over to my new Yaris cross when it arrives, I’m not too sure of the procedure, I’ve been given an April collection so when do I need to put my plates on retention?, I understand that normally the original reg is used which would be handy as I have the old plates, I know I’ll have to inform my insurance, and I’ll be sent an updated v5c but it says allow 4-6 weeks for me to receive it, I also don’t want to break the law by fitting the old plates before I’m allowed to , so if I do it online, will I be able to swap the plates straight away., and, would the dealer be able to register my vehicle under my private reg?…

[SinglePointSafety]

Do it online and DVLA will tell you the age-specific registration, which will be the 'old' plates, so you can fit them immediately and tell your insurance. Indeed, once you do this transaction, the DVLA will be expecting you to fit the age-specific plates ASAP. When you take off your personal plate, on the DVLA site, you will have to pay for a 'certificate of retention' which you take to your dealer and allows them to register the car with your personal plate

[robo1]

Not sure if you are trading in your old car. If you are I’ve done it a couple of times. Never put the plate on retention as the Toyota dealer has done it all. They register the new car with a new registration. On the day of delivery they transfer my personalised number to the new car and the car being traded in reverts to its original registration. When I get to the garage there’s two cars with the same personalised registration. On both occasions I’ve taken the plates off the old car at the garage to avoid any possibility of receiving speeding tickets etc for the old car.

[SinglePointSafety]

Yes, sorry - for some reason I assumed that you weren't trading in your old car. If you are, then as robo1 says, effectively just do what the dealer asks. If you sell your old car privately or eg using Motorway, then you'll need to follow the steps I described

[anchorman]

Mine are on retention.  I let the dealer register the car so it has a number when I come to sell it.  I took mine off a while ago so I’ve got the retention document.  It costs £80 including the re application fee.  You need the V5C which takes 2 or 3 working days, certainly not months.  Now I’ve got both I can re register the plates.  It takes a few minutes and it comes back “you can now change your number plates”.