# Why are all BMWs registered in Yorkshire?



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Why do BMWs seem to be registered in Yorkshire as opposed to other regions? They typically begin with the letters 'YC or YK'. 

It's the same with Land Rover/Range Rover who's plates begin with 'OE or OY'.

It as always puzzled me!


----------



## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

because it's gods country :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:


----------



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Not exactly an informative response! :lol:


----------



## HeavenlyDetail (Sep 22, 2006)

I didnt know BMW were also amazingly tight?


----------



## R7KY D (Feb 16, 2010)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I didnt know BMW were also amazingly tight?


Could explain why everything other than an body / wheels / engine is an option


----------



## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I didnt know BMW were also amazingly tight?


looks that way mark :lol:


----------



## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

My guess is the fact all BMWs come from the Thorne distribution centre (amazing place) they are registered there before heading to the dealers.


----------



## HeavenlyDetail (Sep 22, 2006)

R7KY D said:


> Could explain why everything other than an body / wheels / engine is an option


Come to think of it your right! Only dealership ive had to put 20p in for a coffee


----------



## ChrisST (Jul 19, 2009)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I didnt know BMW were also amazingly tight?


:doublesho Cheeky G1t


----------



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

HeavenlyDetail said:


> I didnt know BMW were also amazingly tight?


Only the manual gear boxes are.


----------



## ChrisST (Jul 19, 2009)

S63 said:


> My guess is the fact all BMWs come from the Thorne distribution centre (amazing place) they are registered there before heading to the dealers.


Is this the place where they have the indicators removed??


----------



## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

My neighbour has two BM's and both start with FE ?, VW fan is it because you live or spend a lot of time in that region LOL


----------



## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

All the dealers round here register the cars when they are on site in Lancs

Plenty of PN PK PE's etc round here on BMWs


----------



## Saamm93 (Nov 9, 2012)

99% of all BMW's with a Y plate reg will be on the BMW scheme. Where they rent the car for the first year then give it back to get a new one. 

Not sure about the range rovers


----------



## aldouk (May 6, 2012)

Ex BMW cars normally.

I've bought a few from the auction with Y* and the previous owner shows as BMW.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD, apologies in advance for spelling mistakes and the odd comma randomly appearing!


----------



## aldouk (May 6, 2012)

They are normally well specced too 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD, apologies in advance for spelling mistakes and the odd comma randomly appearing!


----------



## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

A little story about BMW of a good few years ago.

BMW never had a foothold in the chauffeur driven market, a market dominated by Mercedes and Jaguar. So some bright chap in BMW thought the way to get some of the market share was to invite a select group of chauffeurs (non BMW drivers) and to give them a two day five star jolly.

These jollys were held three times a year with twelve chauffeurs selected each time and I was lucky enough to get on one.

This was the timetable of events. Take a train first class to Derby and met at the station by the MD of BMW and chauffeur driven to a luxury hotel, lunch, drinks, get to know one and other followed by a presentation from the MD and technical director. This was followed by driving around the countryside in every BMW model made at the time ending in a little parking competition in the hotel car park, I didn't win that! An evening meal and drink as much as you like before bed. Arriving at the bedroom a package was awaiting, a bag full of goodies, umbrella, pullover, anorak, pen, all with BMW logos naturally.

The next day after breakfast we headed in convoy to The distribution centre in Thorne changing cars every twenty miles or so, half way there stopped for lunch in another luxury hotel followed by an archery contest hosted by an Olympic gold medalist, this I did win part through luck and the fact I didn't drink as much as the others the night before!

On arrival at Thorne we were greeted by the mangager and given a guided tour which was fascinating including a look at a compound full of cars that had been damaged in transit from Germany, one or two almost write offs. Then for the grand finale , we were led out to the car park where twelve brand new 740s were lined up, engines running with a tech standing by each car ready to hand over to us! The inbuilt phones had already been programmed with our most used numbers and we were told to drive them for two weeks only stipulation was to not go over 10k mileage and not to take them abroad and on the 14th day drop them off at the nearest dealership.

I think this only lasted a couple of years and one lucky group went to Finland for their jolly with some ice driving thrown in. it must have cost them a fortune, it did work however as my boss promptly put an order in for a 750 V12.

Certainly one of the best perks I ever enjoyed in my chauffeuring career.


----------



## Glaschu (Sep 16, 2012)

S63 said:


> My guess is the fact all BMWs come from the Thorne distribution centre (amazing place) they are registered there before heading to the dealers.


Most BMWs up here have Scottish (Sx) suffixes, any newish ones wearing non-Scottish suffix numbers will either be ex-lease or ex-BMW "Management cars, either direct or via the auctions.


----------



## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

Nice story s63:thumb:


----------



## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

A lot of VAG tend to be GJxx 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Considering the amount of 'foreign national pharmaceutical traders' in Yorkshire (by which I mean the sheethole Bradford) it's not surprising how many BMW's are registered here. 

Amazing how many 20 year old's are driving around in 530's. Insured of course.


----------



## svended (Oct 7, 2011)

ardandy said:


> Considering the amount of 'foreign national pharmaceutical traders' in Yorkshire (by which I mean the sheethole Bradford) it's not surprising how many BMW's are registered here.
> 
> Amazing how many 20 year old's are driving around in 530's. Insured of course.


Wasn't there a thing last year that found that Bradford had the worst record for non insured driving offences as approximately only half the cars on the roads are insured.


----------



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Fiesta-125 said:


> A lot of VAG tend to be GJxx
> 
> Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


I disagree. I've seen a lot of 'FE, FV, FY' Vags scattered all over the country.


----------



## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

Yeah all cars registered in scotland have regs starting with a S* . My dad had a BMW with YC59 which was an ex BMW management car, he bought it at 8 months old and had only done 2k and was like brand new for significantly less than a new car.


----------



## zaphod (May 7, 2007)

Plenty of BMW's registered elsewhere in our neck of the woods - many with the local reg - mainly from the Dick Lovett dealership.


----------



## Coops (Apr 26, 2008)

I see plenty of transporters full of registered BMWs up and down the M1 - all Y* registrations so obviously come from the Thorne DC. 

I suspect the OE/OY etc Land Rover ones are registered from Gaydon, Oxfordshire - similar sort of thing - press cars, employee cars, demonstrators etc.


----------



## Fiesta-125 (Mar 18, 2012)

VW Golf-Fan said:


> I disagree. I've seen a lot of 'FE, FV, FY' Vags scattered all over the country.


Actually I see a lot of FE VAG now it comes to mind.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Guitarjon (Jul 13, 2012)

There are a lot of car storage places in Yorkshire such as the ship yard at Grimsby, that thorn place someone mentioned. Hulk docks etc. could be the cars that have come from over seas to be sold are stored and registered in Yorkshire? I'm only speculating here not stating facts. But I have seen a,, the cars in rows with no plates on and all wrapped up.


----------



## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Plenty of YC and YK Bimmers over my way, most wearing BMW UK numberplates too, so a bit of a giveaway, either lease/finance/ex managment. Ditto Fords with the Essex plate (Ex) Seen a few FE Vee Dubs about supplied by leaseplan. Land Rover/Jaguar are Oxford (Ox), just watch a recent Bond film and look at all the reg numbers on the JLR vehicles. Dead giveaway for sad people like me 

Interestingly, my Freelander was ex management and comes with a BX03 xxx reg number. Before swtiching to the Oxford plate (Gaydon) they used to be Birmingham (Solihull) hence to plate.

Volvo seem to be Ax plates atm

Renault are Hx

Pug are Kx normally KM

Thats all I know anyway. :speechles


----------



## VW Golf-Fan (Aug 3, 2010)

Yes a lot of Renaults seem to be 'H' registered & MG's/Rovers used to be 'BX' probably because theyre basr at the time was down in Birmingham.


----------



## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

Aye, MG Rover were in Birmingham too, but after they shut shop most of the remaining stock got bought by a dealer in the west country, so most of the 05 onwards is on a Wx plate. Theres a bloke my way driving a silver 75 tourer WX08 xxx Nice machine, Contemporary SE spec too :argie:


----------



## lsw8290 (Sep 20, 2011)

S63 said:


> My guess is the fact all BMWs come from the Thorne distribution centre (amazing place) they are registered there before heading to the dealers.


Correcto mundo , if there mini uk cars then they are per fixed the the mentioned letters , sorry if ain't followed thread


----------



## Glaschu (Sep 16, 2012)

CoOkIeMoNsTeR said:


> Aye, MG Rover were in Birmingham too, but after they shut shop most of the remaining stock got bought by a dealer in the west country, so most of the 05 onwards is on a Wx plate. Theres a bloke my way driving a silver 75 tourer WX08 xxx Nice machine, Contemporary SE spec too :argie:


I don't know about "most", Arnold Clark bought a huge load of them, and many remained unregistered until changes in the emissions regulation meant they either had to be registered (in AC's name) or effectively scrapped.

A few years back I went to see a "new" MG ZT-T that AC had advertised cheap.

The car had something like 20 miles on it, but they'd obviously been robbing it for bits, for it was sitting all, priced up, with no wipers, stereo, gearknob etc.

Under the bonnet it looked as if plenty of bits had been removed/swapped there too, so I made a rather quick exit...


----------



## CoOkIeMoNsTeR (Mar 6, 2011)

I mean most that hit the road again. Good point about AC there, and iirc they could register up to 08?

They're a rare sight on the road now, but post 55 plate more often then not, the plate will start with a W. Unless its factory regd by the Chinese after they bought the factory out and asset stripped the place. Pot luck with those cars, could be driving anything. There was the famous incident where a bloke bought his 75 in for servicing and they found it was fitted with a Fiat JTD diesel engine :doublesho


----------



## Glaschu (Sep 16, 2012)

Must have been older than that 06 or 07 at the latest. On paper it was a cracking deal, new ZT-T diesel for under £10k...


----------

