Having spent hundreds or even thousands on a personalised registration number many people put very little thought into how to fix the physical number plates to their car. In the past number plates were drilled and fixed to the car with self tapping screws , with the advent of plastic bumpers and double sided tape plates are now usually stuck to the car.Both methods have advantages and pitfalls which will be discussed here. Drilling the plates and fixing with screws gives a solid mounting but sometimes the screw heads can alter the look of the registration number if they land close to or in a digit , also water can seep into the holes and separate the reflective and acrylic over time, ruining the number plate. Before deciding to drill , work out where the screw heads will be and if you do drill ,start from the front face and stop just as the drill breaks through , then flip the plate over and drill from the back , this will prevent separation of the reflective from the acrylic. The main problem with sticking the plates onto the car is one of them falling off ! The trick here is to thoroughly clean the surface where the plate is going and de-grease it with a solvent , then use a reputable make of sticky fixers and use lots of them .There is a third option , you can use mounting frames , these are screwed to the car and then the number plate clips into the frame giving the advantages of both systems of fixing , if you change your car often these would be a worthwhile investment.