Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

Record numbers of motorists are driving cars fitted with personalised numberplates amid a surge in “auto vanity”.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency sold a record 374,968 registrations last year, up 12 per cent in 12 months and almost five times the total in the mid-90s.

The trade in numberplates made more than £110 million for the Treasury in 2016-17 alone, a record annual total.

The rise coincides with an increase in the number of registrations made available by the DVLA, combined with a sharp rise in the value of rare plates over the past two decades.

In an era when we’re all supposed to be flaunting our individuality, the trend for personalised car number plates has apparently never been higher. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which sells new and never-issued registrations, sold 374,968 last year, an increase of 12%.

Among private dealers, who sell pre-owned plates, business is just as good.

“For the past five years, [the market has] been steadily rising.” It is thought one reason is a personalised plate makes the age of the car less obvious. But he also says social media has played a huge part. “It’s, ‘Hey, everybody, look at me’,” he says.

People post pictures of their new cars on Instagram, and adding a private plate “seems to be something that people can use to boost their social media reach”.

At the entry-level end of the market, “registrations that start at £250, on average there are 800 of those sold every day.” He says one fairly common customer is the parent who buys a personalised plate for their child on passing their driving test, to go with a new car. “My typical client would be someone in their 40s or 50s, they’ve got a bit of money sitting about and always fancied a personalised number plate.”

At the extreme end, plates can fetch more than £500,000. In 2014, one classic-car dealer bought a “25 O” plate, reportedly for his Ferrari 250 GTO, for £400,000 (the final price, including fees, was £518,000) and a “250 L” for £130,000.

“The numbers that were selling for £1,000 in 1980 now sell for £150,000. What probably changed it was in the late 80s, when the government started to sell numberplates. We in the trade all thought it would devalue the numbers, but it didn’t, it just got more people interested.”

A personalised plate is “a prestigious thing. There’s a little bit of vanity about it,” says Saperia. As for those of us who believe it’s the mark of a bit of a berk, Saperia points out that the DVLA’s sale of personalised plates “bring more than £100m every year to the treasury”.

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Since the dvla introduced the bsau145d legislation it has been increasingly difficult for motorists to obtain number plates with anything other than legal spacing.

There is however another line of argument for the defence of the serial mis spacer. They say that a number plate that has been altered to make a word or a name is much more memorable in the event of an incident.
They also argue that the dvla blatantly auction registration numbers that would be virtually worthless without mis spacing.

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A Kiwi with an obsession for the Devil's number is selling his satanic number plate. The price? $66,666 obviously.

But it doesn't stop there.

Wellington's David Blackmore has been amassing things sporting the numbers "666" for 30 years, is now selling the whole collection.

A phone number, website name and a PO Box number, all featuring the number of the beast, are also up for grabs.

The satanic number plate is sure to raise eyebrows

"I've even looked under the cupboard the stairs, he wasn't under there either," Blackmore quipped.

The multimillionaire property developer is leaving New Zealand for good, in favour of Australia's sunny Gold Coast.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life sitting back and enjoying it rather than participating in the rat-race any longer – I'll leave that to the rats."

Blackmore says number plates are a waste of space if they don't mean something to someone.

"Numbers are just numbers, in China, triple six is actually a very lucky number, second only to 888 of course."

He said it all started when he couldn't get his favourite race number in a car race he was entering.

"Believe it or not, my favourite number is 13. I was borne on the 13th, and turned 13 years old on Friday the 13th."

"They said 13 was taken 'but that's an unlucky number, the next unlucky number we have is 666', so I took it – and that's how Team Satan racing came to be."

And from there, collecting assets bearing the satanic brand became something of a sport.

666 COLLECTION

He got the number plate 66666 in 1988, when personalised plates first came out, and is now asking $66,000 for it.

That year he brought 1000 personalised number plates for under $300 each – and has been selling them off ever since.

The highest price fetched for a plate was $75,000 for "WW".

He got the phone number 021 666 666 about 20 years ago, off a woman who wanted $10,000 for it: "So naturally I paid $6666for it."

He got the website domain name 666.co.nz about 10 years ago, for less than $100 per year for the registration.

A friend gave him the 666 Auckland postal box address, to complement his collection, about 10 years ago.

"I've also got the original New Zealand number plate 666, from back when number plates were just numerals, this was before the time when number plates had letters on them."

"You can't use it – it's just a bit of tin now, but I'll never part with that. I paid him $666 for it."

And to complete the collection, his email is 6@66.co.nz.

Blackmore hopes to get $66,666 for the combo but is open to selling them separately.

The self-professed collector of weird and wonderful things first started in number plates, then moved on to antiques, boats and even taxidermy.

He also has green a purple Lamborghini with the number plate JOKER and the Rolls-Royce had the number plate BROKE on it.

BAD LUCK?

Blackmore admits the inauspicious number did bring him bad luck once, when the Bentley turbo he was racing in the late 90s crashed – causing more than $40,000 damage.

"But it was all about having a bit of fun, were weren't trying to win," he said.

"We were the forerunners of drifting in New Zealand.

"Our objective was to go around as many corners as possible, sideways and in a cloud of smoke."

Needless to say, Blackmore hasn't raced the Bentley since.

WHAT'S BEHIND THE NUMBER?

666 has become one of the most widely recognised symbols for the Devil in modern popular culture.

It is called the "number of the beast" in the Bible's New Testament, Book of Revelation.

Some people take the Satanic associations of 666 so seriously that they actively avoid things related to 666. This is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

Aside from religious meanings, the number is also interesting mathematically.

666 is the sum of squares of the first seven prime numbers.

It's also the sum of the first 36 numbers, i.e. 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666.

And therefore it is the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel – 0 through 36.

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The first series of number plates were issued in 1903 and ran until 1932, using the series A 1 to YY 9999. The letter or pair of letters indicated the local authority in whose area the vehicle was registered, for example A - London, B - Lancashire, C - West Riding of Yorkshire. In England and Wales the letter codes were initially allocated in order of population size (by the 1901 census) whilst Scotland and Ireland had their own sequences incorporating the letters S" and "I" respectively, which were allocated alphabetically: IA = Antrim, IB = Armagh, etc. When a licensing authority reached 9999, it was allocated another two letter mark, but there was no pattern to these subsequent allocations as they were allocated on a first come first served basis. There are three interesting anomalies where a zero has been issued - The Lord Provost of Edinburgh has S 0 and his Glasgow counterpart has G 0 while the official car of the Lord Provost of Aberdeen has RG 0. In addition the Lord Mayor

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ITP had launched a 15-day campaign for awareness among road users to remove unauthorised or non-patterned number plates from their vehicles and bikes.

The campaign was launched under the directions of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, with the purpose to ensure high security alert, and maintain law and order situation in the capital.

The campaign will end after two days on April 15 after which strict legal action will be taken against drivers whose vehicles have non-patterned number plates.

All such number plates would be considered fake and a fine would be imposed on such vehicle owners. The Traffic SSP had sent letters to government and private organisations regarding this campaign. He also appealed that the citizens cooperate with ITP and display authorised number plates issued by Excise and Taxation Office.


Bidders allowed to purchase an unlimited number of private vehicle number plates in Kingdom's first ever public auction
05 : 59 PM - 12/04/2017
Manama, Apr. 12 (BNA): The first public auction of private vehicle number plates will take place at 18:00 on 13 April at the Isa Sports City Hall D, adjacent to the Bahrain National Stadium.


The auction, organised by Mazad, will open for registration between 11:00 to 17:00 on 13 April. In line with the company’s commitment to fairness and transparency, Mazad has announced that there will be a set amount of seats available for non-participating members of the public, which will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.

Mr Talal Arif Alaraifi, CEO of Mazad, stated that the fast track service opened to all interested parties generated a large amount of interest at all locations, including at the Notary Office, Gosi Commercial Complex, and the Bahrain Investors Centre in Bahrain Financial Harbour.

Mr Alaraifi also highlighted that all the necessary procedures have been put in place ahead of the auction, and that the successful preparation is a reflection of the wide-ranging stakeholder engagement that has been undertaken. Mr Alaraifi also noted that a separate office for issuing power of attorney will be allocated in the auction venue.

The CEO called on those wishing to participate in the auction to bring all necessary documentation to the venue, including ID cards, and to ensure they have signed the participation form. Mr Alaraifi noted that company owners can register in the name of their companies through individuals authorised by law, and provide original power of attorney documentation at the event.

Mr Al Araifi further noted that regardless of nationality, bidders registered to participate will be able to purchase an unlimited number of private vehicle number plates. Buyers must complete the payment process within ten days, and upon completion of payment will be provided with an official certificate of ownership and have the freedom to use and/or assign the private number plate.

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It should be noted that the date denoted by a registration plate is the date a vehicle was first imported into the United Kingdom and registered with that registration system. For instance a vehicle manufactured in say 1991 and registered in Northern Ireland might have been given a 1993 registration letter when it was registered on the Swansea system. This also applies to vehicles imported from other countries. This is apparent by examining the registration document which will show a date of manufacture different from the date of first registration. The date of manufacture is notional, though, as vehicles may be manufactured and stored unused, for many years in some cases, and then registered as new when first registered into the system. This allows manufacturers to sell cars as new allowing for shipping, storing at dockyards etc.

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