Registration: YOUR REG
Front Plate: Standard Oblong (20.4" X 4.3")
Rear Plate: Standard Oblong (20.4" X 4.3")
Flag: No flag
Border: No Border
Border Style: Markings Inside Border
Border Colour: Black
Character Type: Printed
Gel number plates are an established, novel plate style in the world of auto accessories, providing a unique, cost-effective, and stylish method to display your car's registration number. They are sometimes called 3D gel number plates or gel resin plates. In contrast to printed plates, gel plates feature thick, high gloss raised (3D) characters, giving that exclusive & luxury 3D look. Gel plates are made of premium acrylic and resin. The high-quality materials ensure they are not only visually appealing, but also robust and highly resistant to the elements.
At SurePlates, we offer an array of gel number plates to cater to your individual preferences and styles. Whether you want the standard gel plates, or the more premium 4D gel number plates, we have you covered. Additionally, you can select from a range of customisations including flags and border options, as well as others, giving you a truly unique plate.
Both gel plates and 4D number plates offer the raised character effect, but there are notable differences. Gel plates have characters made of polyurethane doming resin (like gel badges or stickers), while 4D plates have laser-cut acrylic digits. They are both a premium variety of number plate offering a true 3D effect.
Gel plates and 4D plates are both road legal and compliant with the British standard (BS AU 145e) and the laws governing the display of number plates.
If you're in the market for 4D plates instead, we've got you covered. Alternatively, if you're only looking for some basic replacement number plates, we have you covered there too.
Choosing to equip your car with a set of gel license plates can enhance the aesthetics and style of your car and showcase your style & individuality. Beyond just the looks, they are also very durable, simple to maintain, and are fully compliant with the DVLA regulations. At SurePlates, we offer high-quality, affordable gel number plates with a wide range of customisation options, making us the perfect choice for your number plate needs.
Create your gel number plates now. Use our plate builder above to craft a unique and personalised plate that suits your style and your car.
One of the most frequently asked questions we encounter is about the road legality of gel number plates. The answer is a definitive "yes" – they are 100% road legal and adhere to DVLA regulations. This includes the font size, colour, and character spacing. At SurePlates, all our 3D gel plates are produced in line with these rules & regulations, ensuring you remain compliant with the law.
Customisation is a key feature of our plate builder and gel plate offerings. We offer a wide array of options and configurations to make your plates unique. Choose from various styles and configurations such as border options, flags, and others to match your car. Our plate builder will let you design your plates exactly to your requirements while guaranteeing they stay road legal and complaint to the regulatory requirements.
Gel number plates are considered a premium product, but that doesn't mean the have to be expensive. We strive to offer the highest quality, affordable number plates to all our customers. Our gel digits are manufactured in-house, eliminating the need to buy materials in. These savings are passed on to you, allowing us to provide our customers with affordable gel number plates without the high cost offered by others.
Gel reg plates are very popular, a trend that we are expecting to continue. Personalising your vehicle on the outside with a cheap set of gel plates is easy and low-cost. We'll also be introducing a gel show plate builder in the future for further customisation of your plates. For now, our builder can configure as many types and styles of road legal plate as is possible.
Your gel plates are fairly maintenance free due to the high-quality materials and production processes. Once a week or so, wash your plates with warm water and soap. Use a microfibre cloth to gently remove dust and dirt, but don't use sponges or abrasive clothes as they will scratch the delicate surface of your gel digits. Make sure the cloth is clean and free of dust itself, as introducing dust particles can also scratch the digits.
Avoid using industrial cleaners such as isopropyl alcohol as this can damage your number plates.
The production process is simple, but rigorous and precise. Before we apply the digits, a reflective film is applied to the back of an acrylic blank and run through a laminator. The characters are made from vinyl-backed doming resin. They are gravity-levelled and cured in an oven at 30 degrees for several hours. This is in contrast to our 3D number plates, which are laser cut.
They are affixed to the surface of your plate using an accurate alignment jig to guarantee precise alignment and spacing standards. This production process is detailed and ensures durability and quality.
Number plates are regulated so customisation is limited. Our builder will allow you to customise all the available options as much as they can be customised and personalised.
In-line with regulations, the spacing or your registration number must comply with the legal requirements. We will automatically space your registration to road legal requirements.
The Charles Wright font is the only legally allowable font that that can be displayed on UK roads – this is true whether it's a 3D plate or not.
The cost for single plates is reduced by 50%. The exact cost depends on which plate style you choose when using our number plate maker.
We currently offer the standard UK oblong, 4x4 square, and oversized oblong.
Orders placed before 3 pm are despatched the same day (Mon-Fri). Delivery depends on which shipping method you use on checkout.
There is a document check in-line with regulations. Proof of registration and identity are required with your purchase.
Carbon fonts are no longer road legal as of September 2021. As such, they are no longer available to buy.
These can be combined with gel to make 4D gel plates
Number plates are regulated by The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001.
This statutory instrument isn’t very long, and the regulations for the characters aren’t very detailed either. The rules simply say the characters must be black.
Where the registration mark is displayed on the front of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a white background.
Where the registration mark is displayed on the back of the vehicle, it must have black characters on a yellow background.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/561/schedule/2/made
In the above regulations, compliance with the current British standard is required. The British standard is a specification for the technical requirements of a number plate. Things like how reflective they should be, luminance levels for characters, resistance to bending/heat/cold, etc. Mostly boring stuff.
However, the wording of the standard is equally simple when it comes to characters. Section 5.2 Characters says:
The complete surface of each registration character shall be one shade of black
BS AU 145e:2018 5.2 Characters, 5.2.2
There are some other requirements for characters. These include the following:
Provided a typical set of gel registration plates complies with these other rules, the answer seems straight forward.
Gel reg plates meet the regulations, and are therefore road legal.
ANPR means Automatic Number Plate Recognition. An ANPR system combines a camera with software to ‘automatically’ read your number plate and do something with the data.
Any camera can become an ANPR camera, and ANPR systems are not standardised.
Most cameras used in public ANPR systems (such as speed cameras or bus lane cameras) have both daytime and night time (infrared) modes for 24/7 monitoring.
Companies & organisations are free to implement their own ANPR systems or use readily available ones, so it’s difficult to get a clear understanding of why some may not be reading gel digits.
Car park cameras are sometimes mounted at severe angles, which could in theory make it more difficult to read a number if the software is calibrated for printed digits.
We have conducted our own extensive testing using off-the-shelf ANPR software with standard, basic cameras and found gel number plates to be as readable as standard printed plates. We’re going to publish these results soon.
