{"id":4619,"date":"2012-02-27T17:52:33","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T17:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/?p=4619"},"modified":"2015-03-19T14:53:34","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T14:53:34","slug":"drop-13%e2%80%b2-from-next-years-numberplates-to-save-car-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/2012\/02\/drop-13%e2%80%b2-from-next-years-numberplates-to-save-car-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"13 numberplates change to 131"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Drop \u201913\u2032 from next year\u2019s numberplates to save car industry<\/h1>\n

An Independant TD has urged the government to consider amendingIreland\u2019s car registration plate system for next year \u2013 because some superstitious motorists do not want cars with \u201913\u2032 on the plates.<\/p>\n

Michael Healy-Rae has called on finance minister Michael Noonan to examine the possibility of changing the registration plate system for next year, saying the move would benefit the motoring industry as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people now who, we\u2019ll say, always change their cars every two, three or four years,\u201d Healy-Rae told TheJournal.ie.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake you, for instance \u2013 you might be one of these men who change their car every three years, and 2013 is your year to change.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like you are after going to the garages and saying they\u2019ll wait until the next year\u201d before replacing their cars, he added, simply because they did not want to drive cars carrying a number which is often thought to be unlucky.<\/p>\n

Healy-Rae said car deals had already approached him to raise their concerns, which in turn had been fuelled by remarks from prospective car buyers who felt it might be bad luck to drive cars with the number 13 on them.<\/p>\n

Alan Nolan from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) said the possibility of a superstitious drop in sales would hurt a sector that is already struggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to put this in the context of the market, which has fallen from around 180,000 new cars per year\u2026 this year we\u2019re looking at 75,000 or so in new sales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it was five per cent of people [who opted against buying a 2013 car, in a market of 75,000 it\u2019s still something that would have a real problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan said his society had been campaigning for an overhaul of the licencing system because it meant that the car trade was seasonal, with the majority of cars sold in the first quarter of the year.<\/p>\n

Ireland could follow the UK\u2019s lead by adding a new identifier to numberplates on cars registered after July, he suggested, by simply putting an X on the numberplate to read \u2018X12-D-123456\u2032.<\/p>\n

The Department of Finance currently has no plans to change the registration plates, but says it is willing to consider proposals in advance of next year\u2019s Budget when such measures would be formally enacted by the Revenue Commissioners.<\/p>\n

The fear of the number 13 \u2013 formally known as triskadekaphobia \u2013 is thought to originate from the Bible, as there were 13 people present at the Last Supper after which Jesus was crucified.<\/p>\n

A similar fear exists in Norse mythology, where Loki \u2013 seen as something of a devious \u2018trickster God\u2019, and who is said to have murdered another god \u2013 is the 13th god.<\/p>\n

Another theory suggests that 13 is a number suggesting chaos, and that the civilisations of Ancient Persia \u2013 who believed the twelve astrological constellations ruled the universe \u2013 feared the advent of a 13th constellation that would destroy humanity.<\/p>\n

It is common in team sports \u2013 and particularly in motorsport \u2013 for teams or clubs not to assign the 13 shirt or car number. The last time a Formula One car raced with the number 13 was in 1976.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drop \u201913\u2032 from next year\u2019s numberplates to save car industry An Independant TD has urged the government to consider amendingIreland\u2019s car registration plate system for next year \u2013 because some superstitious motorists do not want cars with \u201913\u2032 on the plates. Michael Healy-Rae has called on finance minister Michael Noonan to examine the possibility of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":4620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[138],"tags":[161,8],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4619"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10287,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619\/revisions\/10287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speedyreg.co.uk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}