Reg Plates High Value Number Plates At Record Sales Levels

A surge in so-called 'auto vanity' has lead to record numbers of personalised registration plates being sold. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) sold a record 374,968 private registrations last year, up 12 per cent in 12 months.

The sale of personalised number plates made the treasury more than £110 million in 2016-17, a record amount for the DVLA.

Motoring groups suggested the rise in personalised registrations was a way for drivers to stand out. Private plates cost from £250 online, or can be bought at auction, and make a popular gift.

It's also suggested that the plates may be used in vanity, hiding the true age of a car with a non-year-related plate.

Around five million plates have changed hands since the DVLA began selling them in 1989. The latest figures show that 2016-17's £110 million figure represents massive growth in the last few years – up from £96.7m in 2015-16, £79.6m in 2014-15, and just £57m in 2012-13.

Sales of personalised number plates hit a record £110 million in the past financial year.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) said it sold 374,968 plates in the 2016/17 year – 39,968 more than in 2015/16.

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

Since the DVLA started selling personalised number plates in 1989, it has generated almost £2.5 billion for the Treasury from five million registrations.

Edmund King, president of the AA, is one of those who purchased a £250 plate for his car. He said: "People seem to be holding on to cars for longer and by having a personalised plate the car doesn't age as much as it may otherwise. There is a bit of an auto-vanity about trying to hide the age of your car."

The most expensive plate sold last year was JSK 1. It reached £56,200 at an auction in Cheltenham. It now lives on a black Mercedes-Benz.

There are currently more than 51 million plates available on the DVLA’s website, starting at £250.

But many of the more ‘exclusive’ plates are sold at higher prices – a lot higher!

Available at special auctions, the top-selling registrations have included 25 O (£518,000), 1 D (£352,000), 51 NGH (£254,000), 1 RH (£247,000) and K1 NGS (£231,000).

Jody Davies, DVLA personalised registrations senior sales manager, said: “The 2016/17 financial year was another successful year for the sale of personalised registrations, which clearly shows that they continue to be popular with motorists.

“People enjoy displaying a personalised registration number for many reasons – it’s a fun and affordable way of personalising your car.

“Recent research has shown that many customers choose to display a personalised registration as a way of marketing their business or their job, while others want it to reflect their name.”

She added: “We find many of our customers are choosing to buy them as gifts for family members.”

Plates largely come from registration numbers that were never sold or placed on vehicles when originally issued.

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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