I would describe them as pretentious, pointless and undertaken by people who have more money than sense. This appears to be closest to the former of your suggested descriptions.
Well if you want your plate cloned lol
I have often thought about getting my Ham Radio Call sign as a personal plate. Would come in handy when on RAYNET duties as other operators will be able to identify me from the other two silver pan's Geeky and practical.
well i have one on my company van, for two reasons, mainly so you cant tell the age of the vehicle, and secondly certain security personell know my vehicle which can be a bonus, what i cant stand is folks who move the letters around on there plates to rry and spell words out or put a trillion number plate screws on to try and spell a word.....
Each to their own to be honest, I recall my late Dad having a private plate on his car and all the hassle we had getting it changed onto new motors and actually selling it after he passed away.
The thing that cheeses me off is when people change the fonts on their plates to make letters/numbers suit their names etc. I saw a car yesterday where the owner had changed the font on a number 7 leaving it with a slight curve on the top in an attenpt to make it look like a 'Y'. The rest of the numbers/letters were left standard so the whole plate looked well stupid (to me anyway).
If you like personal plates, superseb, then that's all that matters.
I suspect that the Police won't need to bother about enforcing it for much longer... the cameras are getting a bit too good these days... I reckon the first thing you'll know about it is the letter falling on your doormat
Best one i have ever seen was on the M6 oop north. it was TO5 SER,or something that made it look like that. Brilliant ! Obviously someone with a bit of money who couldnt give a toss.