Buying QLD vehicle, transfer to ACT, seller wants to keep plates

[ianp]

Hi people

Looking at buying a QLD registered vehicle which I will drive back to Canberra and register here in ACT.

The issues are:

A. Seller wants to keep plates to reuse in the future (old black and white plates that include car model).
B. As I will be flying up and driving back, I need the car to be registered.
C. The car and seller are no longer in QLD, they are about 4 hours south of the Border now.

So easy option for me would be for the owner to transfer current rego with nice plates to me and I'll get it re-registered in ACT. Problem is I'm pretty sure ACT motor vehicle registry will take the plates. Alternatively, even if i can get away with keeping the old plates and sending them back to the seller he may not be able to use them in future - they are not personalised plates, so not sure they can be transfered other than on a vehicle.

If the seller were to re-register the vehicle in QLD can he then keep his special plates for another car in the future? Can he re-register with new plates without making am eight hour return trip to QLD?

If the seller were to register the car in NSW can he keep his QLD plates to use on another vehicle in the future?

So much time is wasted with interstate licencing issues. Thanks in advance for input/advice/expericences.

Ian