DVLA's July 2025 auction was an online event that ran from Wednesday 23rd July to Tuesday 29th July 2025.
As always, prices quoted in this report include fees and taxes.
July's top 5
Top place in July's auction was taken by the enigmatic FER 12C for £45,020. 'Fer' combinations are commonly chosen for display on Ferraris. The only Ferrari we can think of that would really relate to this plate is the Ferrari 12Cilindri.
In second place, 296 VS (£32,193) is another likely Ferrari number. This time possibly referring to the Ferrari 296 VS (Versione Speciale).
In third position, we find an example of an auction favourite. 'O' plates have been very popular for quite a while in the auctions (see our DVLA Auction report, May 2025), and 121 O (£30,074) is fairly typical of its type. A nice, neat number, but examples with just two letters are rather more sought after. The shorter the better is a good rule of thumb.
In the number four slot comes another 'O' variant. Multiple occurrences/repetition of characters is another popular feature and 74 OO was good enough to persuade its purchaser to part with £29,625. Rounding off the top five is 77 LAW at £27,699. This could be a surname, a set of initials or a reference to law in the sense of legislation. A nice plate for a solicitor, perhaps.
Words
104 N (Loan), which sold for £25,760 would be a very fitting registration for someone in the financial services sector.
We hesitate to include 2 GUD (Too good) in the words category, as it's text-speak rather than English, but a price of £24,515 can't be ignored.
Two 'Dentist' numbers were sold in July's auction, and they were pretty different from each other. The first, OEN 715T made £13,061, while a lower budget was accommodated by DCN 715T at a modest £7,181. The former is clearly the more desirable but both work at a glance, which is an important consideration when choosing a word number plate.
OPT 111C (Optic), which sold for £10,699 may have been snapped up by an optician or by a publican or other purveyor of wines and spirits. A keen amateur astronomer may also see some appeal.
Overall, the word category was a little on the quiet side this time out.
Names
154 ACS (Isaacs) was the best-performing name this month: its buyer paid £25,169. Just below it in the price rankings came 100 FU at £25,131. It seems most likely that this one was purchased to represent the Chinese name 'Fu'. 100 is a nice number to have on a plate, but it doesn't quite have the appeal of the lucky number 8, as demonstrated by 8 FU which achieved a hefty £115,640 in last month's auction.
XAM 11R (X Amir) achieved an all-in price of £11,687; ALF 51E (Alfie) made £10,686; AN70 NNY (Antony/Anthony) went for £7,951 and JOS 118 (Josh B/Josh 8) made £6,898.
Nicknames are also a regular feature of the auctions. SHA 466Y (Shaggy) is another obvious-at-a-glance plate, but someone managed to acquire it for a very modest £1,698.
Cars
We saw a couple of likely Ferrari references in the top five, as mentioned above. As usual, a selection of Porsche plates also showed up this month.
981 S sold for £21,279; 911 OC made £9,209; 911 CJT made £6,641; 911 GDB made £6,513 and 911 SDD sold for £5,229.
Others
There are always a number of registrations whose appeal lies in their innate visual impact rather than any intended meaning or message. That impact may be achieved through brevity, symmetry and, as we mentioned earlier, character repetition.
Some examples of this repetition that sold at the July auction included 123 OOO which sold for £20,637, 60 XXX (£12,933), 9999 M (£7,861) and 8888 TA (£6,577).
Top 50 sales
| Plate | Price * |
|---|---|
| FER 12C | £45,020 |
| 296 VS | £32,193 |
| 121 O | £30,074 |
| 74 OO | £29,625 |
| 77 LAW | £27,699 |
| 1 VLW | £27,057 |
| 810 W | £27,057 |
| 11 PKS | £25,888 |
| 599 A | £25,799 |
| 104 N | £25,760 |
| 154 ACS | £25,169 |
| 100 FU | £25,131 |
| 2 GUD | £24,515 |
| SSH 11 | £23,256 |
| 105 G | £22,691 |
| AVI 2 | £21,921 |
| 981 S | £21,279 |
| 247 P | £20,791 |
| 123 OOO | £20,637 |
| 11 JWW | £20,021 |
| 1 TXX | £18,711 |
| AYM 2N | £18,287 |
| 22 LX | £18,069 |
| 78 XX | £17,106 |
| 9 HSS | £16,811 |
| 1 OLH | £16,785 |
| 1 USE | £16,618 |
| 1 KLX | £16,335 |
| 410 H | £15,642 |
| 102 AM | £15,514 |
| 5 OOK | £15,514 |
| 155 E | £15,501 |
| BMT 216J | £15,501 |
| 515 T | £15,488 |
| 173 AB | £14,949 |
| 1 XHR | £14,859 |
| 93 OK | £14,243 |
| 26 HY | £14,217 |
| 27 DJM | £14,217 |
| 9 SJN | £13,832 |
| 117 V | £13,575 |
| 75 UK | £13,280 |
| 4 TYE | £13,254 |
| OEN 715T | £13,061 |
| 130 L | £12,933 |
| 1983 A | £12,933 |
| 42 ANT | £12,933 |
| 5 SUF | £12,933 |
| 60 XXX | £12,933 |
| 80 OSS | £12,933 |
* Prices include fees and taxes.
The stats
June's DVLA online auction comprised 2,000 lots, 1,970 of which were sold and 30 unsold. Purchasers spent a total of £6,370,709, delivering £6,031,988 to the Treasury.
The next DVLA online auction will run from Wednesday 3rd September to Tuesday 9th September 2025.
The Regtransfers auction
Buy and sell with our number plate auction. You can see what is coming soon or jump in to the listings.
DVLA Auction June 2025
Learn more about personal number plates that sold for great prices in the DVLA's previous auction.
