Record Breaking Price for the Number Plate 1 D

As was expected, the number plate with the highest ever reserve set an a DVLA auction sold had the auction room packed on Wednesday 25th March at Ardencote Manor Hotel and Country Club in Warwick. For some reason, the DVLA had organised the auction to be in a room that was too small for such an event and therefore many people were standing at the back of the room. With bids coming from the hall, the phones and online, the bidding soon reached £100,000 and increased just as quickly to the £200k mark. The excitement grew as the amount increased steadily and eventually the hammer came down at an incredible £285,000. The total cost of the plate which had a reserve of £20,000 (the highest ever set for such an auction), was £352,411 (including fees and taxes).

The successful bidder was Nabil Bishara, a Lebanese property developer who bought it as a birthday present for his wife. Well, it's certainly a unique present for a someone who may already have everything else. '1 D' is expected to go on her Bentley.

Video of '1 D' auction - Wed 25th Mar 2009

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Number Plate Auction

The second DVLA number plates auction of the 2009 will start next week on Wednesday 25th March at Ardencote Manor Hotel and Country Club in Claverdon, Warwick.

There will be 1600 registrations on offer. If you are a rugby fan you could try for RUG 13Y or if you're brave enough you could get B4 LLS. It's a bit late for Mother's Day but you could also surprise your mum with a belated present and buy B357 MUM.

However, the ultimate registration of the auction will be on day one when the number plate '1 D' is auctioned. This has already broken records by having the highest reserve ever for a DVLA auction. '1 O' was sold in January 2009 for the sum of £210,242 and '1 D' is expected to surpass this amount.

The plate '2 O' will also be auctioned in the second of the series of 'O' that will be auctioned throughout 2009.

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The New Edition of The World of Personal Number Plates

The first issue of 2009 of The World of Personal Number Plates is now available. This will in fact be the 20th issue of the Regtransfers magazine.

In these financially uncertain times, it is good to see that the number plates market is still healthy. This is reported in the magazine and in earlier blog posts.

This issue's exclusive interview is with Dragons' Den entrepreneur James Caan. In the article, James shares with us how he became one of Britain's most well-known and successful businessman and what he thinks about personalised registrations. If you want to find out more about James Caan, his autobiography, The Real Deal: My Story From Brick Lane To Dragons' Den is now available.

There is also a feature with Theo Paphitis's Maybach. Michael Brown, Theo's chauffeur, decided it would be a good idea to pull the Maybach a mile along the Mercedes-Benz World test track in Weybridge, Surrey. This wasn't just for the exercise - it was all in aid of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.

There is also the usual mix of articles, news, letters, photos and listings - so why not get your copy now from Regtransfers. As always, the magazine is free to all!

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Hong Kong Number Plate News

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks here at Regtransfers so apologies that I've not updated this for a while.

I didn't get a chance to blog that a number plate in Hong Kong sold for £150,000 just after the Chinese New Year. OK so that was a while ago but still worth noting.

It was at a Hong Kong auction on February 7th February 2009 that the number plate "2318" with a reserve of $52,000 HKD (approximately £4670) soared to $1.7 million HKD (£152,000). Why so much? Any self-respecting Chinese person knows the significance of numbers. The numbers "2318" when spoken sound like "yee sam yat baat" meaning "easy life and prosperity" in Cantonese. The bidding was between an unknown woman and Mr Liang Qiwei. The woman was the eventual winner of the registration.

Mr Liang, a former race horsing king, was not to be outdone and bought '3218' for $750,000 HKD (£67,000) and also 'MY8' at $440,000 HKD (£39,000). The number plates are gifts for his sons and even after spending the equivalent of £106,000, considers the purchase to be a bargain. He says, "I can easily pay $2 million HKD to $3 million HKD for a horse. So what I paid for the licence plate numbers is nothing in comparison.”

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