DVLA's September 2025 auction was an online event that ran from Wednesday 3rd September to Tuesday 9th September 2025.
As always, prices quoted in this report include fees and taxes.
September's top 5
The top of this month's highest prices chart had a familiar look to it. 'O' numbers have been a frequent auction favourite. Those with the fewest digits have performed especially well and this month's most expensive registration, 52 O, is an excellent example.
At £131,061 it became the fifth most expensive 'O' registration sold at a DVLA auction and the highest price paid at a DVLA auction this year. The highest price paid for a number in this series was the £518,480 paid for 25 O in 2014.
In second place was ELL 10T (£103,840), the perfect 'Elliot' name registration. In third place was another recurring auction theme: we suspect the buyer who paid £79,727 for 9 OAT intended it to represent the acronym 'GOAT' (Greatest of all time), rather than the animal commonly found on farms and in petting zoos, but one can never be sure.
In previous auctions we have seen several versions of this, including 66 OAT (£39,897) and XGO 4T (£12,933), both in February this year, and THE 904T (£27,198) in February 2024.
At number four was 321 OO (£33,477) and the top five was completed by 91 SS at £29,753.
Words
The Words category wasn’t the strongest this month, but there were still some very entertaining lots in the catalogue. We're not sure what would motivate someone to buy 411 OYS (Alloys), but the price of £29,317 suggests they were quite keen to secure it. A particularly enthusiastic metallurgist, perhaps.
The event produced a slightly meta moment when AUC 210N (Auction) sold for £25,760. PAD 9L at £14,281 is very probably a reference to the racket sport padel, which is becoming increasingly popular. In fact, another version of 'padel', PAD 6L, sold in February of this year for £32,180.
451 AN (£12,278) would make a great plate for someone wanting to celebrate their Asian heritage. Alternatively, it could be an amusing finishing touch to any Japanese, Chinese or Korean car.
F444 AST (Fast) sold for £10,352 and S710 LEN (Stolen) for £9,158. We particularly liked ONE 817E (One bite) which made £9,068. That could be a great promotional registration for a street food van or the car of a chef or restaurant owner.
Names
5 ULE possibly for the Turkish name 'Sule' sold for £25,773 and snapping at the heels of 5 ULE we find AAD 8M (Adam/Aadam) for £25,760.
TA21 SHA (Tarisha) sold for £22,563, A155 SHA (Aisha) for £14,217, DAR 10P (Dario P) for £13,922 and 642 Y (Gary) for £11,777. 90 OCH was a great 'Gooch' number for just £7,874 and LUC 7T (Lucy T) was pretty near perfection at £7,399.
Another auction favourite took the form of R57 NGH (R Singh) at £6,962. There seems to be an almost inexhaustible supply of Singh plates, which is just as well considering their popularity. There were also place names tucked away amongst this month's lots, including LON 90N (London) at £18,069 and PAK 578N (Pakistan) at £8,477.
Cars
Perhaps fewer registrations conspicuously referring to car brands and models than we're used to seeing, but Porsche and BMW were represented by 911 YOS which sold for £4,112, M37 BMW (£2,417), BMW 14E (£2,006), Y84 BMW (£1,069) and E380 BMW (£1,004).
Imperfect but effective
This category could almost be entitled 'Bargain basement', because there really are some great bargains to be had if one is willing to compromise slightly on the fidelity or accuracy of a representation. We often draw attention to the human talent for spotting patterns, especially familiar patterns.
This knack is what makes even imperfectly spelt names and words work really well on number plates. Embracing this fact as part of the fun of private number plates can also be a great money-saving strategy.
A few examples from this latest auction were HA23 RRY (Harry) at £8,054, ARA 811A (Arabella) at £7,784, RUB 12Y (Ruby) at £7,412, RUP 37T (Rupert) at £6,449 and J74 SON (Jason) at £6,140.
Top 50 sales
| Plate | Price * |
|---|---|
| 52 O | £131,061 |
| ELL 10T | £103,840 |
| 9 OAT | £79,727 |
| 321 OO | £33,477 |
| 91 SS | £29,753 |
| 411 OYS | £29,317 |
| 5 ULE | £25,773 |
| XXX 77 | £25,773 |
| 5 HSK | £25,773 |
| AUC 210N | £25,760 |
| AAD 8M | £25,760 |
| 41 OM | £24,540 |
| TA21 SHA | £22,563 |
| 155 C | £22,280 |
| 7 FUN | £21,921 |
| AAR 11A | £20,637 |
| 520 G | £19,379 |
| 4 YSF | £18,069 |
| LON 90N | £18,069 |
| 2 SUK | £17,170 |
| 29 DJM | £17,042 |
| 1 KYO | £16,849 |
| 1 OHJ | £16,785 |
| MAL 4X | £16,785 |
| 240 S | £16,772 |
| 160 P | £16,297 |
| ARY 77N | £16,169 |
| RAF 4N | £15,629 |
| 177 OOO | £15,501 |
| SAH 13B | £15,501 |
| GSL 11 | £15,488 |
| 786 MHM | £14,923 |
| Y41 HYA | £14,474 |
| PAD 9L | £14,281 |
| 24 YA | £14,268 |
| 123 RN | £14,243 |
| 2 VCL | £14,217 |
| 1 RXA | £14,217 |
| 190 N | £14,217 |
| A155 SHA | £14,217 |
| 252 A | £14,217 |
| DAR 10P | £13,922 |
| GEM 82 | £13,896 |
| 11 GCS | £13,703 |
| 83 WH | £13,061 |
| 71 RAM | £13,048 |
| 771 M | £12,946 |
| MAD 5X | £12,933 |
| 164 SM | £12,933 |
| EHA 4N | £12,933 |
* Prices include fees and taxes.
The stats
June's DVLA online auction comprised 2,000 lots, 1,983 of which were sold and 17 unsold. Purchasers spent a total of £6,434,537, delivering £6,096,533 to the Treasury.
The next DVLA online auction will run from Wednesday 15th October to Tuesday 21st October 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 July 2025
Learn more about personal number plates that sold for great prices in the DVLA's previous auction.
