It's a bit different here in the UK - we don't have renewable "plates" as such, if you're talking about the registration number (the thing displayed front and rear on plates) that's generally assigned to the vehicle from new. There is a market for "cherished" registration plates here, because the plate layout is very strict and contains information on where the vehicle was registered, and in what year.
Our annual costs are: Insurance (mandatory at a basic level to cover third-party claims, or there's other higher levels if you'd like your own property to be protected as well as everyone else's), VED (Vehicle excise duty or "Road Tax") and MOT (referring to the "Ministry of Transport" test that checks the vehicle is roadworthy for at least one day a year). These costs vary, for me I think it's around £250 for insurance, £240 for VED on my normal daily driver car, and about £40 for the MOT test, plus the cost to fix any defect that the test might uncover, which hopefully if I'm maintaining the vehicle properly will be none.
Once vehicles reach a certain age, though, they often (but not always) qualify for "Historic" vehicle status, which means that they're not obliged to have an annual MOT test, and get VED for free. They still need to be insured, but there are a lot of classic-oriented insurance policies that are often much cheaper than a normal one (my classic policy covers three cars, and costs less than the policy that covers the daily driver). And they still need to be roadworthy, even though they don't need to have the annual test.
The main thing that stands out, though, is the limitation on what you can do with a vehicle on "collector plates" over there - and I believe there are similar restrictions in some European countries. Over here in the UK, there is no limitation on usage for a historic vehicle, we're not limited on mileage or only to/from shows or gatherings. The one thing that is creeping in are some cities and urban areas are starting to create ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zones) which prohibit vehicles with "higher" emissions from entering, or charge a daily fee for them to do so because, of course, money trumps clean air. My only issue with this (which is theoretical, as I'm not intending to visit any of those places in my classic, or any other car) is that for cars the age of mine, there is no data on the emissions from the manufacturer, because no-one cared back in the mid-70s over here. But I can't present the emissions data from my annual test - if I choose to take one - which would provide data for my actual car. That's "too difficult to manage", presumably.
At this point I'm sure I'm about to be drummed out of the site, as I'm a bit of a classic car enthusiast. Aside from my "modern" daily driver (which just turned 22 years old, and has almost 190k miles on it) I have three classics and am currently restoring another. In terms of emissions, though, none of them do many miles per year, and of course there are way lower emissions from running all my cars than from manufacturing one new EV, so on balance I'm probably OK. And I do cycle, when it isn't too poor weather to do so.
