Personalised Number Plate Information

NUMBER PLATES:

A high-end four-wheeler carrying an ‘MLA’ sticker was spotted parked in Prakashnagar, Begumpet with a fancy registration plate carrying the number AP2 AB 2222.

The vehicle was spotted by Mr Hari Satya Sandeep, a social media user who often shares pictures of traffic rule violation on the Facebook page and Twitter handles of the Hyderabad traffic police. Mr Sandeep said the car with MLA sticker was not parked properly and its fancy number plate was a violation of the rule.

“When I checked its challans on the Hyderabad traffic police e-challan portal there were no pending challans. They may have cleared the challans but in that case they would have changed the number plate if they were fined for it,” Mr Sandeep said.

Asked about this, Dr V. Ravinder, joint commissioner Hyderabad traffic police, said, “As we have received the complaint we will look into the matter and will take action accordingly.”

Mr Vinod Kanumala, chief functionary of the Indian Federation of Road Safety, said, “Abuse of rules by LAs is very common. The law makers are the primary law breakers.” He said he had noticed a barcode number plate on a car in the city.

Number plate 2 of category 1 was the biggest attraction at the Abu Dhabi Police’s open vehicle number plates auction on Saturday, sold for Dh10.1 million.
The popular auction generated a revenue of more than Dh55 million, auctioning 60 distinguished Abu Dhabi number plates at Emirates Palace hotel.

Abu Dhabi Police, in cooperation with Emirates Auction, held the public auction on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its establishment.

Organised by Emirates Auction, the auction listed the numbers on the company’s website, including five double-digit plates, 15 three-digit plates, 19 four-digit and 17 five-digit plates.

Number plate 2 was the only one-digit licence plate in the auction, and was the first one-digit Category 1 number plate sold in a public auction.

Other number plates featured in the auction were 10, 60, 333, 600, 999, 1000, 1111, 5050, 6000, 6060, 6666, 9090, 9999, 10000, 55555, 60000, 66666.

WOULD you pay more than $150,000 for a piece of metal measuring just 19cm by 13cm?

That’s the length to which collectors of historic South Australian licence plates are prepared to go to secure their piece of SA motoring history.

The 17 historic SA plates to go under the hammer have reserves ranging from $2999 for SA “467-470’’ to $120,000 for SA “90’’, right up to $149,999 for SA “29’’.

Stewart Kay, proprietor of Historic Plates, said licence plates had proven to be great investments.

“In terms of their metallic value, forget gold and platinum, it’s the most expensive metal in the world,” he said.

“Some of the three-digit numbers we have ranging from $17,500 to $22,000 – and we’ve sold some three-digit numbers for more than $50,000 previously – they were $1500 only in the late 2000s, so they’ve increased quite significantly in that time.

“We find people are using them in their self-managed super fund or to finish off their collectable car.

“If you’ve just bought the latest $400,000 Porsche or Mercedes or whatever, a $20,000 numberplate is the only way to finish it off.”

SA Government records show the “29” plate was first issued in 1907 to Dr E.V Fooks of Gawler, who registered it on an 8hp De Dion car.

“The reserve is $150,000 and we’ve arrived at that on past sales, but interestingly a couple of months ago, the number 29 Sydney plate sold in Sydney for $750,000,” Mr Kay said.

“All of our plates usually sell online or the following day but we offer all our plates at a market correct reserve. But under auction, anything is possible.

“The days of a $1 million South Australian numberplate is not too far off.”

So what else could you spend $150,000 on in South Australia?

According to realestate.com.au, $149,000 will buy you a three-bedroom home on 615sqm at Elizabeth East. For $149,990 you could drive away in a new 2017 Maserati Levante 3L 6 cylinder SUV.

And if you’d prefer a holiday, $150,000 will buy a couple 34 nights in the exclusive Osprey Pavillion of Kangaroo Island’s luxurious Southern Ocean Lodge.

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Number Plates as an alternative investment

Investing in car registration plates may seem like an unorthodox way of making money and a considerable statement in the process. Nevertheless, hundreds of investors and drivers now choose to purchase car registration plates with significant future returns available. The most obvious reason for purchasing car registration plates is to personalise your vehicle, to make you stand out from the crowd.

Even a mere decade ago, drivers with personalised registration plates were seen as wealthy and successful. In the present day, car registration plates are now more accessible and economical for the everyday working man to purchase. Drivers looking for a potential investment must keep in mind that the registration plate they purchase must be easy to sell on in the future.

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The RTA announced on Wednesday that customers can now check out both available and unavailable numbers as well as those that are likely to be available in the future.

Sultan Al Marzouqi, director of Vehicle Licensing at the RTA’s Licensing Agency, said: “This service does not only allow customers to enquire and buy the current codes, but also future codes (Up to Z). Customers can log onto RTA’s website (www.rta.ae) by clicking ‘Inquiring about Distinctive Number Plates’ to know about the available numbers and buy them online.”

He added that the system has been developed and programmed to provide information about available and unavailable numbers along with their prices.

The system also enables enquiring about numbers in four different ways: by code, by number of digits, by entering the numbers required, or by the price.

The RTA also offers distinguished number plates through online auction as well as through live auctions, drawing huge interests from enthusiasts with some plates going for millions of dirhams.

Last year, the single-digit plate D5 was auctioned for Dh33 million, the highest priced number in Dubai.

A TOTAL of 58 number plates are due to go under the hammer at Highlands College next week as part of an auction organised by the Infrastructure Department.

During the last two events, the auction raised more than £421,750 with the money going towards buying equipment for Driver and Vehicle Standards – the department’s authority which oversee the registration of the Island’s vehicles.

In 2013 one anonymous individual paid £71,000 for the plate JSY 1.

Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel said that he was expecting one number plate to receive particular interest from bidders this year.

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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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Students at a school in Surrey have been threatened with having their bikes locked away unless they comply with a new policy on cycling to school, which includes having a number plate attached to their bikes.

In a letter sent to parents, Keith Batchelor, head of the Beacon School in Banstead, said that he was implementing new rules on children cycling into school, and parents would have to sign an agreement before their children were allowed to ride in.

As well as telling students to stick to the Highway Code, wear a helmet, and use hi-vis clothing and bike lights “where appropriate”, the new rules also mean that students will have to have a number plate (supplied by the school) attached to their bikes, which Mr Batchelor hoping that this will make students not following the rules more identifiable.

“On joining the school this September, I decided to refine the current cycling policy to enhance further the safety of the students in our care and develop their sense of responsibility on the road,” Mr Batchelor said in a statement, as reported by Get Surrey.

“The procedures will support the safeguarding of our students on their journeys to and from school and help us to celebrate safe cycling. We will provide extra training to students where it is needed.”

As part of the new policy, the school says that students who fail to follow the rules may be banned from cycling to school, with those who continue to ride in having their bikes locked up until their parents or carers are available to collect them.

Number plates for bikes have been the subject of discussion in recent months after a survey by Halfords found that two-thirds of respondents were in favour of cyclists having to have them attached to their bikes.

However the idea came was slammed by both cycling campaigners and motoring groups, with the AA describing it as “impractical and unnecessary” while Cycling UK said “rather than encouraging people to cycle, and bring all the associated health and wealth benefits, it is more than likely to put newcomers or occasional cyclists off cycling altogether.”

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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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