Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

When you key in the vehicle number there is an immediate response which shows its make, model, age, colour, insurance status and owner. Databases know all that for every vehicle, instantly.

It’s amazing how law-abiding everyone becomes when the whole lot is known, and joined up. Without exception. In a blink. And with very little time cost or inconvenience.

So why can’t your PIN be like your number plate, holding an interconnected record of everything anyone has a right to know about you. No more forms and questionnaires and endless administrative complication and time cost-for a bank account, a mobile phone, a car log book, a licence, a permit, a title deed, service utilities, passport renewal or whatever.

Just key in your PIN and a password that gives your permission, and any supplier will have instant and complete access to the (selective) information the law entitles them to.

Computers do all the crunching and privacy categorising, and keep a permanent digital record to guarantee an audit trail that will keep everybody honest-including the administrators.

And if things can be joined up per person, they can also be joined up for all the people and provide a treasure chest of national statistics for planners and the general public.

As a non-contentious example, we could know the total number of vehicles, their class proportions, age - and anything else about them of use, interest or importance at the push of a button.

There are lots of reasons why we need to know more about our national fleet of vehicles with four wheels or more. But robust data is somewhere between scant, inconsistent and non-existent.

We have to resort to extrapolation, a bit like this: In the past decade, all Kenya’s main motor companies have sold about 140,000 new vehicles of every shape and size from town runabouts to prime mover trucks.

That figure represents about 10 per cent (maybe) of today’s total national road-going fleet of things with four wheels or more. The average age of that portion is about 5 years.

Over the same period, there have been about 860,000 used imports mostly aged about 8 years on arrival.

The average age of that contingent today is therefore around 13 years. Put both groups together and you have a million vehicles with an average age of about 12 years.

The rest of the fleet about 400,000 - was already here 10 years ago, having arrived in much the same new-used proportions. So that segment’s average age was also around 12, and is therefore now around 22.

With some slightly trickier arithmetic, we can therefore estimate that the overall average age of all the vehicles in Kenya today is about 15 years. That’s not a precise fact, but it is a strongly indicative probability.

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If you are buying the plates separately then you'll need to go to a registered number plate supplier to get new number plates for your vehicle. The registered supplier will need proof of your identity, as well as proof that the registration number belongs to you. The number plate supplier will need to see at least one document from each of the lists below. This will allow the number plate supplier to confirm your name, address and entitlement to the registration number. All documents must be original, not copies.

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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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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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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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By 1932, the available numbers within this scheme were running out, and an extended scheme was introduced. This scheme consisted of three letters and up to three digits, taken from the series AAA 1 to YYY 999. The letters I, Q, and Z were never used, as they were considered too easy to mistake for other letters or numbers or were reserved for special use, such as the use of I and Z for Irish registrations and Q for temporary imports. (After independence, the Republic of Ireland continued to use this scheme until 1986, and Northern Ireland still uses it.)

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