VicRoads suspends orders of heritage-style number plates after three days

Three days after VicRoads resumed sales of its six-digit ‘heritage-style’ number plates, orders have again been suspended due to overwhelming demand.

The heritage-style number plates – manufactured by hand in vitreous enamel, a process which fuses powered glass to metal to replicate the look of Victorian number plates from the early 20th century – became available to the public on Tuesday morning last week, after being unavailable for about a year.

“Due to an incredible surge of orders, we’ve had to pause the sale of our six-digit Heritage plates,” VicRoads wrote in a statement published on its Custom Plates website.

“Your overwhelming love and support for these iconic plates has truly blown us away and we couldn’t be more grateful.”

There seems to be no lack of interest, despite the cost of six-digit heritage-style number plates increasing last week to $17,995 from the previous price of $14,000 – an almost 30 per cent increase.

In late 2021, the Victorian transport authority raised prices for heritage-style number plates from $12,000 to $14,000.

Despite their high prices, it is unclear at this stage if the plastic plates can be detected by automatic number plate recognition cameras – which detect unregistered or wanted vehicles – fitted to Victoria Police highway patrol cars. Drive has sought clarification from authorities.

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Until recently VicRoads had been selling six-digit heritage-style number plates at auction for more than $40,000 each.

VicRoads has traditionally sold heritage-style number plates with five digits or fewer at auction through Shannons, while six-digit heritage-style plates have been sold directly to the public through its website.

Curiously, VicRoads has removed the page for its heritage-style number plates from the vplates.com.au website. In the past, it has shown them as ‘currently unavailable’.

While heritage-style number plates were counted as those numbered between zero and 285,000, it has become common to see standard six-digit plates – numbered between 300,000 and 999,999 – being offered for sale from private buyers with vitreous enamel versions manufactured by third parties.

With the exception of some trailers, it is against the law to display number plates that have not been supplied by VicRoads.

Despite the Victorian Department of Transport cracking down on these unauthorised number plates, the warnings appear not to have deterred sellers – selling the fake plates for $5000 or more – as there’s no punishment for selling vitreous enamel number plates, only for those displaying them on a vehicle used on public roads.

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It is unclear if VicRoads could be planning something new, after standard six-number combinations – between 300,000 and 999,999 – were pulled from sale on 1 July 2023.

In March 2021, the Victorian Government announced it was “partly privatising” its registration, licensing, and custom number plate services, in exchange for a new IT system, with the new arrangement coming into effect on 15 August 2022.

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