Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

A businessman who bought the No.1 limited edition licence plate in Abu Dhabi for Dh31 million has been sentenced to three years in jail for issuing a dud cheque to the organisers.

The Emirati man had bought the special number plate at an auction last year.

The Abu Dhabi Misdemeanour Court handed down the sentence to the Emirati man after he was found guilty of fraud and issuing a bounced cheque.

Abu Dhabi public prosecution had ordered for the detention of the 32-year-old man after organisers of the auction filed a complaint that he issued them a cheque after buying the number plate, even though he didn't have enough balance in his bank account.

Prosecutors had detained the businessman. He was charged with fraud and issuing a bounced cheque.
And during interrogation, the Emirati admitted to giving the cheque to orginisers despite being aware he didn't have sufficient funds in his account, said prosecutors.

"He said he was planning to re-sale the rare number plate at a profit so he could pay the value of the cheque to the organisers and maintain enough balance in his account," said a prosecutor.

Authorities, however, said one can only re-sale a number plate bought in an auction after one has paid the full amount and that any resale before making the payment is considered illegal.

The auction, which generated Dh99 million, was hosted by Emirates Auction in cooperation with Abu Dhabi Police on November 19, 2016 at Emirates Palace hotel to commemorate the Abu Dhabi Government's Golden Jubilee.

And the Emirati beat several bidders for the coveted plate after starting at Dh1 million. The limited-edition golden jubilee plates all featured the number 50 in the top left corner.

Fifty vanity Abu Dhabi number plates were up for grabs at the Emirates Auction event.

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As popularity grows, the prices reached for the most expensive plates are always increasing. As of 2008, the record price for a number plate is £397,500 paid at auction in September by an anonymous buyer for the plate S 1. This was originally owned by Sir John H A MacDonald, the Lord Kingsburgh and was Edinburgh's first ever number plate. Car design entrepreneur Afzal Kahn paid £375,000 on 25 January 2008 for F 1 previously owned and sold by Essex County Council and affixed originally in 1904 to the Panhard et Levassor of the then County Surveyor. £330,000 was spent on M 1, sold at auction in Goodwood on 7 June 2006.

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If Sydneysiders thought property prices had hit peak ridiculous, licence number plate collectors have gone one better with the original NSW No.4 plate up for sale for between $1.2 million and $1.4 million.

The asking price tops the $1.18 million median house price in Sydney, and doesn't even include the Rolls-Royce that it was attached to until early last year when it was owned by Aussie John Symond.

The founder and executive chairman of Aussie Home Loans bought it in 2010 from property developer Ivan Holland, who had secured it in an art swap from businessman and art collector John Schaeffer.

Aussie John was approached to sell the 1910-registered plate early last year, but with a $1.2 million price tag the buyer from Asia declined.

Mr Symond has confirmed he sold the plates 18 months ago to a mystery buyer in South Sydney.

Numberplate aficionado Shane Moore said the plate is widely rumoured to have been sold by Mr Symond for about $1 million.

"Single-digit plates rarely trade so quickly," said Mr Moore, who runs the numberplates.com.au website.

"They are usually held within the one family for decades. As an asset class they've appreciated in value in recent years, but they're also a volatile asset. If things go badly, investors will sell off the plates."

Registered in 1910, the No.4 licence plate is the most expensive item set to go under the hammer on August 28 at the 2017 Shannons Sydney Winter Classic Auction.

It tops the asking prices for 26 cars on offer, including a 1924 Rolls-Royce for $120,000, a 1964 Porsche for $125,000 and a Mustang Fastback for $120,000.

Single-digit, heritage licence plates have long been a highly prized collectible among the ultra-wealthy. In 2008, the No.6 NSW number plate sold for $800,000. It topped the previous high of $683,000 paid in 2003 by an Asian businessman for No.2.

The No.1 plate is owned by the family of the late founding chairman of Australian National Airways, Sir Frederick Stewart, who had owned it since the 1930s.

The No.8 plate was regarded as the most valuable because it is regarded as auspicious in traditional Chinese culture. It last traded in 2010 for $500,000.

In Victoria, single-digit number plates are also investment-grade assets. The number 1 VIC plate is owned by former Foster's Group chief Peter Bartels.

In 2013 British businessman Afzal Kahn knocked back £8.5 million for his "F1" numberplate, having bought it for a record £440,000 in 2008, according to The Telegraph in London.

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The three-letter scheme preserved the area letter codes as the second pair of letters in the set of three, and the single letter area codes were deleted (since prefixing a single letter code would create a duplicate of a two-letter code). In some areas, the available numbers with this scheme started to run out in the 1950s, and in those areas, a reversed sequence was introduced, i.e. 1 AAA to 999 YYY. The ever-increasing popularity of the car can be gauged by noting that these sequences ran out within ten years, and by the beginning of the 1960s, a further change was made in very popular areas, introducing 4-number sequences with the one and two letter area codes, but in the reverse direction to the early scheme (i.e. 1 A to 9999 YY). Often number plates were on hinges, as petrol tank caps were located under the number plates on some cars.

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On average, the city RTOs earn close to Rs 12-14 crore annual revenue from the sale of special numbers. The number '1' can fetch a maximum of Rs 12 lakh if it is not available in the current running series and is purchased from a future series. A two-wheeler owner can buy the special number for Rs 1.5 lakh. At the Andheri RTO, large TV screens display information on VIP numbers.
The latest statistics show that Pune tops all RTOs when it comes to selling the special registration numbers, while Mumbai comes fifth.

While Pune RTO has sold 30,366 numbers and fetched a revenue of Rs 23.45 crore, this was followed by Nashik RTO where 27,545 VIP numbers were sold to citizens at a cost of Rs 19.59 crore. At Thane, as many as 10,744 special numbers were sold to fetch a revenue of Rs 9.98 crore while Kolhapur sold 10,611numbers for Rs 7.3 crore.
The craze for getting a VIP number began in the northern states," said an official. For example, in Punjab, there have been cases of farmers buying VIP numbers for lakhs of rupees in auction. In 2012, a Chandigarh businessman purchased registration number CH-01-AN-0001 for Rs 17 lakh. The number AK-47 is also popular in Punjab and sold for Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh almost every year.

On Saturday an Emirati businessman bought the distinctive Dubai car plate number AA10 after posting the winning bid of 3.12 million dirhams during the Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) 97th 'Open Plates Auction'.

Majid Mustafa, who has been participating in the RTA auctions since 2002, told the UAE-based publication that he will keep the AA10 number plate for his personal use and mount it on one of his numerous cars.

The RTA's year-end auction raised a total of 12.75 million dirhams this time around and saw nine other AA code plates, including 12, 50, 100, 333, 786, 1000, 8888, 11111, and 55555 going under the hammer.

Mustafa also said that he has owned a total of 5,000 special plates, many of which he already traded and gained profitable margins. At a price of 6 million dirhams, the most expensive plate he has ever acquired was I10.

During the auction on Saturday, the second most expensive plate went to Essa Al Habbai who bought AA12 for 2.72 million dirhams.

Another Emirati won the bidding for the third most expensive plate, AA50, priced at 1.84 million dirhams, while a 44-year-old Lebanese expat acquired AA11111 for 1.21 million dirhams.

"I will mount it on my Lamborghini..."
Another Emirati, 32-year-old businessman Jaber Khamis, won the number AA333 after bidding 700,000 dirhams for it.

"The plate (AA333) is really special. I will mount it on my Lamborghini but I might also sell it if I find the right buyer who will offer a really good price," Khamis told Khaleej Times.
At the auction, RTA also unveiled a new design for Dubai number plates. It will feature the Dubai brand logo, and the letters and digits will be printed in black on white background.

In October, RTA already raised 25 million dirhams at the 'Open Plates Auction'.

"The number auctions organized by the RTA are characterized by transparency and enthusiasm. They measure up to the aspirations of customers who seek exclusivity in this regard. Such auctions suffice the needs and aspirations of number plate enthusiasts, and reflect RTA’s keenness to realize its third strategic goal of 'People Happiness'," said Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of RTA’s Licensing Agency at the time.

$30,000 for personalised plates? Tell him he's dreaming.

Gracemere man Chase Ferguson's "for sale" post attracted plenty of attention overnight, but probably not the kind he was after.

Ironically, the $30K price tag he's placed on a set of "no idea" personalised number plates has spurred a thread of witty remarks and memes, but few interested buyers.

"Two standard size prestige plates. NO IDEA. Excellent condition still on vehicle. $30 000 or nearest offer," he posted to the Rockhampton Buy, Swap, Sell Facebook page on Sunday night.

It comes as the Rockhampton was found to have the second-highest number of personalised plates in the state, with 3644 residents pimping their rides.

The region sits next in line to the Sunshine Coast (5598), which trumps the regions of Mackay (3012); Gladstone (1072); Bundaberg (1072); Fraser Coast (766); Warwick (305) and Gympie (602).

While some are saying Chase's asking price is exorbitant, $30,000 is a bargain compared to some sellers who are asking up in the hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars.

Rodney Gilchrist has taken up "dream" real estate on the personalised plate front, buying up DREAM1, DREAM2, DREAM3, DREAM4, DREAM5 and DREAM6 and re-selling for $300,000.

The number plates have been on the market for about 12 months, as the church pastor patiently waits for a cashed-up fleet manager to buy the plates.

Chase Ferguson has been contacted for comment.

If none of the above appeal to the rev head in you, here are some of the top-dollar plates up for grabs online:

HEART: The most expensive plates in the state, but the seller suggests a heart surgeon may have the $50,000 needed to snap them up.

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The number plate 1D was bought for a record £352,000 at auction yesterday.

Tycoon Nabil Bishara won it in fierce bidding and plans to put it on his wife's Bentley.

His £352,411 offer beats the previous £254,000 best for a DVLA sale, set by 51NGH in 2006. The DVLA's Damian Lawson said after the auction in Claverdon, Warks: We're absolutely over the moon."

Britain's priciest car reg is F1, bought privately for £440,625 in 2008 by Afzal Kahn of Bradford, West Yorks."

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