Unlucky 13 plate to see car sales plummet?

According to a survey by carbuzz.co.uk, 27% of new car buyers will be put off by the upcoming “13” number plate that comes into force 1 March 2013.

If these results prove true for the entire car buying public, then 13 could prove very unlucky indeed for the British motor trade.

Will ‘13’ plate prove unlucky for some?

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Carbuzz asked 2,058 new car buyers what they thought of the new 13 number plate, and found that 10% (210 people) said it would put them off because they were superstitious, while a further 17% (348 people) were worried it would damage the resale value of the car.

This leaves 73% (1,500 people) who said it wouldn’t put them off at all.

Even so, that’s still over a quarter of potential new car sales that could be affected between 1 March and 23 August, all for the sake of a couple of numbers.

Putting that into perspective, according to Carbuzz, this period accounted for 52% of all UK registrations in 2012.

Fear of the number 13 is officially known as ‘Triskaidekaphobia’.

Following on earlier rumours that the DVLA might just run a continuation of the current 62-plate for exactly this reason – which were debunked last year – Carbuzz helpfully contacted the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency for a comment.

The DVLA spokesperson had this to say:

“There are no plans to move away from this series as there are no good reasons for doing so.

“We recognise that some manufacturers are concerned that superstitious motorists may be wary of buying a new car with the number 13, but any change to the current registration system would be costly to the taxpayer and we cannot justify skipping a number because of superstition.”

Is the 13-plate set to put you off buying a new car? Let us know…

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