Millions Of Pounds Spent On Personalised Reg Plates

Business partners Adel Abdul Aziz Al Matrooshi and Khalid Salmeen spent around Dh4.5m to buy several fancy plates during the 95th Open Auction of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) at Grand Hyatt Hotel on Saturday. They were also happy to take home the second most expensive plate 'H33' which they bought for Dh2.82m.

Aside from the 'H33', the duo also won the bidding war to grab K8888 (bought for Dh670,000); O120 (Dh350,0000); R3030 (Dh130,000); P7700 (Dh116,000); K8800 (Dh84,000) and a few more special plates. As we go to press, the auction is still going on and the two are aiming to buy more plates with triple, quadruple and quintet numbers.

"We are going to sell these special plates, We have been trading fancy plates for 14 years and it's a good business," he added.

It was, however, "family legacy and heirloom" value that moved Emirati Rashid Ahmad to buy a special plate for Dh290,000.

He said he spent around Dh800,000 in the previous auction and although it was very tempting to re-sell a special plate he bought last year, he opted to keep it as a "family legacy."

"Special plates are not just fashionable, it's an investment like gold which will fetch you really good money," Ahmad explained.

"At the last auction, I bought a three-digit code for Dh325,000 and after a few months, someone offered me to buy it for Dh370,000 but I did not sell it. The money I spent is for charity and the special plate is a good bragging right," Ahmad underlined.

Meanwhile, the winner of the most expensive R13 which fetched a price of Dh2.92m declined to be interviewed. He carried the auction ID number 410.

Sultan Al-Marzooki, director of Vehicles Licensing at RTA's Licensing Agency, said, "The RTA's auction has witnessed a huge footfall from various community segments as they contribute immensely to realising our strategic goal of bringing happiness to people. The auction is part of RTA's third strategic goal which is "people happiness."

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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