A friend of mine once found his own registration up for sale at a number of dealers. He had no intention of selling it.
Re AER8 - it's not on retention, it is on the 1953 Bentley pictured; off the road since 1978. The last V5C was issued a month ago.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.tm-img.com/images/2021/08/25/aer8-dvla.md.png)
I imagine the dealer has paid a pittance for a barn find and thinks he can make a killing by selling the car and registration separately. It could be a profitable trick if he can pull it off but I can't see any legal way of doing that.
It would be interesting to see what happens if someone buys the car
without the registration - which is, after all, how it is advertised. Once you have both car and V5C the reg is yours anyway.