I got R99 DUC on the bike when i bought it, when i was haggling over the price of the bike the previous owner said he'd knock £200 or £300 off if he kept the number.
For that i thought it was worth keeping as i guess its gotta be worth that or even a bit more if i ever wanted to sell it.
I've got a private plate on my car. As well as being a private plate it's a private joke based on my wife's nickname...her real name is Sadie but she's known to her friends as Maj... Hence MAJ in the number plate. That was £250 from the DVLA but is worth nothing to anyone else.
I've got a private plate on my bike as well that I bought after I followed a car with the letters DUC....then I realised after following it for a bit that it wasn't DUC but OUC, with the new DVLA standard font the 'O' is squared off and looks enough like a D at a glance without misrepresenting it.
So, in the days before my son's uni fees hit me I logged on to the DVLA site and bought V2 OUC for £399. Had the plate made up at the NEC one year and bumped into Monty and David Cook, they had to do a double take before realising that it was OUC not DUC. It also looks more convincing when it's on the bike because it's set in the right context then. Probably not worth anything like £399 that but since I'm not selling it doesn't matter, and after all, it's only a bit of fun.
i have dealt with personalised plate as a bit of a hobby for a number of years,
DVLA are certainly increasing their prices on the personalised registrations they have available, it was easier to make money buying direct from DVLA and selling private o few years ago, the real problem is it is a very limited market in terms of sale and if you choose to invest you must invest money you dont need to get back as thay can take an enourmous amount of time to sell, its not a quick turnover type thing,
the DVLA release the pending registartion plate ie **55*** for sale some months before you can put them on a car, this is the time when you need to think up the combination of letter that will make you your small fortune and on the day they are released you need to get on the phone at 9 am an try to beat every other bugger to it, you can view prices prior to this online but as i said DVLA are getting more wised up to what is desireable and the prices reflect this more now,
for eg i purchased GE02GYS for £399 when it was released and sold it via an agent to a "Georgina" for a substantial proffit 2 years later. however I would say proceed with caution, if you want to advertise the plates yourself this can be very expensive.
i would suggest that the 3 number and 3 letter plates 123ABC ABC123 are worth investing in at the right price, just take a look at all the car adverts on tv and you generally see this style, they are not age related and desireable for that reason, many can be bought for around £500, and i would expect that to increase steadily in the long term.
if your looking to make money you will need to be lucky, i would suugest you dont invest too much in one registration unless of course its a real corker. and aviod too many alterations to the plate, the police get very difficult about the spacing and font regs and size of letters etc.
One of my neighbours has JUL1E as the reg on her car, her mum bought it as a present for her years ago. Until recently i think the reg was worth more than the car it was on as i imagine that reg must be one of the premium ones.