The California system seems foreign to me as it's the opposite of what I'm used to, and I seem to recall hearing stories of people out there who have sold cars there and the new owners never completed the paperwork and drove like idiots. The DMV still associates the plate with the previous owner, so they come looking for them rather than the new owner who's screwing up. I prefer the system where the plate stays with the owner; prevents such shenanigans. You folks across the pond likely prefer yours as it's what you're used to.
-Pat
In Frogland it's like that too, however there is not much of a problem : when you buy the vehicle, both parties sign a document formalizing the change of hands. Document states that this day, at this hours, ownership has been transferred from X to Y. So if the new owner does silly things and they come for you instead, well you can just show your paperwork and say sorry I sold the car 2 hours ago it's not my problem anymore, you need to go after THAT guy, here is his name...have a good day !
We do that paperwork here as well. The risk is that the paper gets signed, and the NEW owner of the car takes the paperwork to the Ministry of Transport office to do the registration. If the new owner does not follow through, then the Ministry still thinks the previous owner is on the hook...
Yes, also in the GWN. Plates remain with the person, not the car.
Does not matter, as they always say that the plates are too rusty and provide the "service" of forcing you to buy new plates...
That's strange ! 
Here if your plate is damaged or you just want / need another one for whatever reason (say you bought a car with cheap crap plastic plate and you want a nice stamped aluminium one... or you want an extra plate so you can fit it to your trailer), well you just go to any auto parts store, show the car's paper work to prove you are the owner, then choose the style of plate that you want and 5 minutes later the guy gives you your new plates 
Vanity plates : no such thing here, and I find it silly to waste lots of money on these, but well to each their own I guess.
Instead, I find it much more fun (and cheaper ! 
) to do it the other way around and try to find meaning in your random number plate ! Like trying to see patterns in clouds in the sky when you are a kid...
In the GWN, plates can only be acquired at the Ministry of Transport office (provincial, not federal). Last time I checked, regular random plates were a bit less than $200. That office runs a monopoly, so charging for plates is a source of revenue.
A trailer is considered to be a separate vehicle and gets its own plate number. In Ontario, I used to be able to switch the trailer plate between trailers. Now that I am in Quebec, I need a different plate for each trailer.
Our plates used to be aluminum, stamped and then painted with a metalic somewhat reflective paint.
The new plates are still aluminum, but are no longer stamped and only painted with a paint that peels off in 2-3 years.
The authorities were not concerned with not being able to identify the vehicle for traffic act safety matters, but only concerned about the fraud matters that toll cameras could not automatically invoice the vehicle owner.
For example I had a car with this one :
BL - 389 - MQ
BL = BLanc ("White" in French)
389 = Paint code for "glacier" white on old Renault cars from the mid/late '90s. Cars that I like and have always been driving, and love that white.
So " BL 389 " was like "Renault 389 White". 
MQ = when you pronounce that, it sounds exactly the same as " Aime Cul ", which means "Loves Sex"
Another example on the car that replaced it. This one is very much electronics inspired !
BP - 552 - JK
BP = Bouton Poussoir = French for " Push-Button ".
552 = at school I was taught micro-controllers and assembly language on the Intel 8051 family. In particular the development boards we had were using an (87C) 552 !
Was the top of the range 8051 variant back then, was so cool using it.
JK - Like the two inputs of a JK flip-flop of course !
I would rather not say what my imagination can come up with for my random license plates ...
Here, specialty plates are not necessarily vanity plates. There is no fee to get your amateur radio license put on your license plate. A true vanity plate will cost several hundreds of dollars.
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