Trade licence plates
Overview
Trade licence plates are number plates you can use on vehicles your business has for things like selling, repairing or testing.
If you display trade licence plates on any vehicle, your employees and customers can drive the vehicle for certain purposes without having to pay to register and tax it.
For example, if you sell cars, you can use trade licence plates to allow your customers to test drive vehicles on a road.
Who is eligible
You can apply for trade licence plates if you’re a motor dealer, motor trader or vehicle tester. This means your business does one or more of the following:
- sells vehicles
- manufactures or repairs vehicles
- tests other people’s vehicles on public roads
If you collect or deliver vehicles, you’ll also be eligible as long as either:
- this is the only thing your business does
- you also manufacture or repair vehicles
How to get trade licence plates
You need to apply for a trade licence for the type of plates you need.
If your application is approved, you’ll be sent your trade plates. You can apply for extra trade licences if you need more sets of plates.
You’ll need to renew your licence before it expires.