U.K. Dealers Needn’t Fear Buyers’ Fears of Number 13

Fears that triskaidekaphobia will hurt the U.K.’s new-vehicle market are easing, as dealers put away their dictionaries and buyers shelve their superstitions.

Industry-data provider CAP Motor Research says it finds little evidence that motorists will steer clear of the “13-plate” being issued this month for new cars, and it doesn’t believe motorists with triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13 – will cause increased depreciation for 13-plate cars by avoiding them in the future used-car market.

CAP first flagged the issue of triskaidekaphobia last summer, when trade talk began to turn to how superstitious customers might respond to the March 2013 plate.

Now it says research over recent weeks has revealed an increase in “cherished-plate” requests – transferring registration plates from an old car to a newly bought one – for vehicles registered this month, which CAP believes is partly fueled by a minority of superstitious motorists.

CAP says in a statement auto dealers also have been reporting conversations with customers interested in avoiding a 13 on their registration plates, while its industrial clients have asked whether a 13 plate will make cars less desirable in the future.

“However, the CAP view is that it will have an almost immeasurably small impact on the demand for 13-plate cars as the sight of them on the road becomes increasingly familiar,” the research group says.

CAP will monitor the prices fetched by 13-plate cars as they begin to enter the used market in the months ahead, to see if there is any discernible impact.

“The key thing to remember is that customers make the decision to buy the car first, and what appears on the plate is an afterthought,” CAP’s Black Book Live senior editor Derren Martin says.

For this reason, he says, CAP believes retail sales are not likely to be significantly affected– either this month for new cars, or in the future for used cars.

“We have certainly been receiving anecdotal reports of some motorists expressing reluctance to take a 13-plate, and it would also appear that there has been a recent increase in demand for private plates,” Martin says.

“This will no doubt partly be fueled by those few retail customers who have realized the 13 plate is coming and are responding to personal superstition.”

There also will be a few people who will see that the numbers ‘1’ and ‘3’ can be spaced to make the plate appear to read as a ‘B,’ even though altering the spacing of letters and numbers is illegal, Martin says.

“But in our view, this is more of a quirky story than a significant issue for motor dealers or other automotive operators. We therefore believe that the value of a 13 plate car will not be adversely affected in the future.”