Dubai Number Reg Plate Auction Hits High Prices

Spending money for fantasy vehicle number plates is a good investment in Dubai, said an Emirati entrepreneur who spent over Dh3 million to purchase his favourite number at an auction on Saturday.

In its first open auction of the year, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai placed 80 distinguished numbers for auction at the Godolphin Ballroom in the Emirates Towers Hotel. The numbers included numbers of two, three, four and five digits.

Waleed Abdul Khader spent Dh3.08 million to buy number 18 of O series on Saturday.

"I came here only for this number and I have got it for Dh3.08 million. It is a good investment that I am making and I advise others too to put their money in unique number plates," said the Emirati businessman.

"Investing in number plates is part of my business and I have full confidence in the potential value appreciation," he told Khaleej Times, in the middle of the auction, attended by a few hundred number plate enthusiasts.

"I have seen the value of number plates multiply several times over years. For instance, a number plate which was bought for Dh2 million about seven years ago is worth Dh30 million now.

The value of number plates has not come down and compared to investment in property or share market, this is an attractive option for me," said Abdullah Shahib, who was waiting to know the pulse of the auction before taking his turn. Some of the distinguished numbers were sold for over Dh1 million.

So what are the top selling number plates in the UK? The DVLA has been selling private plates to UK motorists since 1989. During this time, there have been a number of records set, but most of the top 10 have been bought in the past 15 years. Here’s what currently makes the list:

25 0 – A Ferrari dealer bought this for £518k in 2014. It is now on a £10 million Ferrari 250 SWB.
F 1 – A businessman, Afzal Khan, bought this for £440k in 2008 and put it on his McLaren-Mercedes SLR.
S 1 – This was bought in 2008 for £404k by an anonymous buyer.
1 D – Businessman Nabil Bishara bought this plate in 2009 (before One Direction was formed, so it is not a reference to the band) for £352k.
M 1 – Businessman Mike McCoomb bought this number plate in 2006 for £331k, apparently for his son, who was 10 at the time.
VIP 1 – Chelsea owner and businessman Roman Abramovich bought this plate for £285k in 2006.
51 NGH – This number plate, which looks like the surname Singh, was sold in 2006 for £254k.
1 RH – Businessman Robert Haverson bought this in 2006 for £247k.
K1 NGS – This reg plate, which looks like the word “kings”, was bought anonymously in 1993 for £231k.
1 0 – This very simple but striking number plate was bought anonymously in 2009 for £170k.

These are large amounts of money, but they are all small compared to the top-selling number plates found in other parts of the world. Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, has the record for the most expensive number plate ever sold. That number plate was a simple “1”. It was bought in 2008 by businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri for £7.25 million.

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