License Plates in US and UK

A license plate is a rectangular, usually metal plate that bears a sequence of numbers, letters, or both and is issued by a government to identify an officially registered vehicle.
In the US each state makes its own license plates, and if you move from one state to live in another state you are expected to change your car’s plates. In some states license plates belong to the car owner, so that if an owner sells his car, he can keep the plates and sell them and use them on a different car.
In the UK number plates (= license plates) usually belong to a particular car, and you do not change them if you move to other parts of the UK or buy another car. Number plates also have letters that represent the year that the car was made. For example, a car that was made between late 1983 and 1984 would have a number plate starting with 'A'
Some people in both the US and the UK buy personalized license plates with letters that spell out part of their name. In the US these are fairly common and not expensive, but in the UK they are very expensive, and are bought by people who want to show they are wealthy.