Private Number Plate Market Report

The most expensive private number plate ever sold in the UK is 1 F, which sold for £926,000 in November 2025 at RM Sotheby's London Motor Week auction, up from £144,000 when it sold in 2005. Earlier in 2025, JB 1 sold for £608,600 in July at Bonhams, Goodwood, surpassing a record held since 2014. See the full list of the UK's most expensive number plates.

Yes. The UK record for the most expensive private number plate was broken twice in 2025: JB 1 sold for £608,600 in July at Bonhams, Goodwood, then 1 F sold for £926,000 in November at RM Sotheby's London Motor Week. In between, DB 1 sold for £437,000 in September at Bonhams, Goodwood, instantly entering the UK's top ten most expensive plates.

Of the categories in this report, two-letter number ones (like JB 1 or DB 1) sell for the most, with the top ten in this category all fetching over £200,000. Three-letter number ones, three letters with a single digit, and word-style plates can also reach six figures. Suffix number ones top out at around £30,000 and year-based plates at under £20,000 in Regtransfers' recorded top sales.

Many do, especially rarer combinations. This page's own data shows it: JK 1 sold for £209,300 in 2024 and then £336,000 in 2025, and 1 F rose from £144,000 in 2005 to £926,000 in 2025. That said, past performance on rare plates doesn't guarantee any individual registration will rise in value. If you're thinking of buying a plate to hold, read our guide to number plates as an investment.

Not directly. This market report groups sales by letter and number format (for example, "three letters, single digit" or "two letters, two numbers") rather than by total digit count, so there's no single "5-digit" or "3-digit" price band. For a value estimate on a specific registration, use Regtransfers' free number plate valuation tool instead.

This market report shows the highest recorded UK sale prices by category, but it isn't a personalised valuation. For an estimate specific to your own registration, use Regtransfers' free number plate valuation tool, which checks your plate against real sale and demand data rather than record-breaking outliers.

There's no single public record of what every number plate has sold for, but auction results are the best place to look. Regtransfers publishes reports on DVLA auctions and keeps a list of the UK's most expensive number plates. Sold plates also appear in the number plate auction. Private sales are usually not made public.