For 30 years you have been able to get a personalized license plate in Belgium, or vanity plateorder from the DIV (the Belgian RDW). In the past, you were stuck with a certain format, but in recent years countless combinations have been possible. You transfer 1,000 euros, someone checks whether your number/letter combination is acceptable and a little later you can install the new plates. The Netherlands never offered motorists the opportunity to purchase a personalized license plate, but that may soon change.
Hidde Heutink introduced a motion on behalf of the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB. Heutink said during the debate: ‘The first motion is about a hip phenomenon that you see in many countries around us, namely a personalized license plate. That’s kind of the gadget of this time. Our idea is: investigate whether we can also offer a form of this in the Netherlands.’
Minister Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management responds: ‘We will do that research. I have always understood that there are some pitfalls, but we will all see that in that research.’ The parties that put forward the motion want Harbers to present the research results before the summer holidays of the House of Representatives.
Does a personalized license plate really deliver anything for the Netherlands?
According to the parties that want to offer a personalized license plate in the Netherlands, the money earned from the plates could be used to alleviate the burden on motorists. And that money can add up considerably. In Belgium you pay 1,000 euros for your own record. In 2021 alone, 11,021 people used this service. Over the past ten years, the Belgian government is said to have already earned 58 million euros from the vanity plates. It can also be a lucrative option for the Netherlands. We should hear more about it this summer.
