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The world's most expensive number plates

Highest prices paid for the world's most expensive personal number plates.

What is the most expensive number plate in the world?

The answer is that the Dubai number plate P 7 is the world's most expensive confirmed sale of a car registration number to date.

The UK market continues to grow and there are signs that top British prices could soon approach the levels seen in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It is widely believed that the legendary number A 1 would command a price in excess of £1m should it come onto the market and businessman Afzal Kahn, owner of F 1, claims to have turned down an offer of £6m for that registration.

The World's most expensive number plate

Highest prices paid for personal number plates worldwide

The top 50 highest priced private car registrations globally are shown in the table below.

Ranking sales that occurred in different currencies at different times is difficult, so we have ranked this table according to the converted price in UK pounds. In each case, conversion is at the exchange rate prevailing at the time the sale occurred.

# Registration Price (GBP) Local price Location Year
1 P 7 £12,000,000 AED 55m Dubai 2023
2 AA 9 £7,620,140 AED 38m Dubai 2021
3 AA 8 £7,497,781 AED 35m Dubai 2022
4 D 5 £7,324,207 AED 33m Dubai 2016
5 5 1 £7,250,000 AED 52.2m Abu Dhabi 2008
6 NSW 1 £6,439,044 AUD 12.4m Australia 2024
7 1 E £5,165,930 SAR 24m Saudi Arabia 2024
8 2 2 £4,991,380 AED 23.3m Abu Dhabi 2022
9 O 9 £4,363,000 AED 25m Dubai 2015
10 8 5 £3,500,000 AED 25.2m Abu Dhabi 2007
11
Q
1
£3,156,639 AUD 6.08m Australia 2024
12 5 7 £3,000,000 AED 16.8m Abu Dhabi 2010
13 50 7 £2,958,057 AED 13.4m Abu Dhabi 2016
14 R £2,694,349 HKD 25.5m Hong Kong 2023
15 W £2,421,016 HKD 26m Hong Kong 2021
16 0 9 £2,379,706 AED 13.4m Abu Dhabi 2015
17 6 9 £2,153,846 AED 15.4m Abu Dhabi 2008
18 1 V £2,144,015 SAR 10m Saudi Arabia 2024
19 1 2 £2,061,850 AED 10m Abu Dhabi 2017
20 D £2,042,182 HKD 20.2m Hong Kong 2024
21 AA 22 £1,828,418 AED 8.4m Dubai 2023
22 6 9 £1,720,000 AED 10m Abu Dhabi 2010
23 AA 7 £1,672,619 AED 8.02m Duabi 2024
24 28 £1,616,000 HKD 18.1m Hong Kong 2016
25 6 7 £1,583,333 AED 11.4m Abu Dhabi 2008
26 AA16 £1,565,878 AED 7.32m Dubai 2024
27 18 £1,513,372 HKD 16.5m Hong Kong 2008
28 NSW 4 £1,500,000 AUD 2.4m Australia 2017
29 1 11 £1,346,578 AED 6.1m Abu Dhabi 2016
30 VIC 14 £1,346,485 AUD 2.38m Australia 2022
31 V £1,341,589 HKD 13m Hong Kong 2017
32 VIC 20 £1,321,384 AUD 2.54m Australia 2024
33 AA 69 £1,283,507 AED 6m Dubai 2024
34 12 £1,240,000 AED 8.9m Abu Dhabi 2010
35 SA 8 £1,177,122 AUD 2.3m Australia 2024
36 19 £1,107,325 AED 6.5m Abu Dhabi 2009
37 11 £1,098,901 AED 8m Abu Dhabi 2007
38 AA 19 £1,066,577 AED 4.9m Dubai 2023
39 2 £999,985 HKD 9.5m Hong Kong 1993
40 10 £993,377 AED 4.5m Abu Dhabi 2016
41 VV £978,933 HKD 9.3m Hong Kong 2018
42 22 £967,741 AED 4.65m Abu Dhabi 2016
43 Y 1000 £948,849 AED 4.55m Dubai 2024
44 7 66 £946,236 AED 4.4m Abu Dhabi 2016
45 7 99 £915,612 AED 1.5m Abu Dhabi 2009
46 55 £892,857 AED 6.5m Abu Dhabi 2007
47 AA 999 £866,367 AED 4m Dubai 2024
48 V 39 £862,752 AED 4m Dubai 2024
49 F 55 £855,887 AED 4m Dubai 2022
50 V 96 £855,030 AED 4.1m Dubai 2024
Asterisk (✱) denotes where the series is uncertain.

Assessing the most-expensive rankings is a complicated process. Variations in currency exchange rates over time result in some apparent anomalies. This is why a registration that sold for AED 38 million may rank higher than one that sold for AED 52.2 million: we rank according to the price in British pounds as converted from the sale price in local currency at the rate that was current at the time of the sale.

Representation of the Dubai registration number 1

I have collected 10 number plates so far and I am looking forward to having more. It's a passion.

Balwinder Sahani

World rank: 4

£7,324,207 (AED 33m)

Dubai, 2016

Representation of the Abu Dhabi registration number 1

The price is fair. After all, who among us does not want to be number one?

Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri

World rank: 5

£7,250,000 (AED 52.2m)

Abu Dhabi, 2008

Conspicuous omissions

Readers who have encountered other articles claiming to list the world's most expensive plates may notice two conspicuous omissions from the table on this page. Reports that the Qatar number 333355 was sold in 2014 for QR 200m (£35m) have turned out to be spurious. Abdulla Matar Al Mannaei of Emirates Auctions told Regtransfers that the 'sale' was in fact a system error, so that entry has been removed from the rankings.

Similarly, the reported sale, in November 2016, of an Abu Dhabi number (5) 1 registration for AED 31m (£6.84m) has been removed from the table. The would-be purchaser admitted to writing a cheque that he did not have the funds to cover and was subsequently convicted of fraud.

Full details of some sales are difficult to present clearly due to peculiarities of local licence plate systems and the rather vague nature of some news reports. For example, numbers such as Abu Dhabi's 7 and 11 appear more than once in the table. This is because the same number may be issued in more than one series or category. News reports generally omit reference to the category, announcing only the main number.

The situation is similar in Australia where different states may issue the same numbers. The sale reported internationally as NSW 4, was referred to in many Australian publications simply as registration number 4.

Sources: www.emlratesauction.com/en/, www.td.gov.uk/en/home, www.gulfnews.com, www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, www.arabianbusiness.com, www.middleeasteye.net, www.indianexpress.com, www.jewishbusinessnews.com, www.standard.co.uk, www.khaleejtimes.com, www.bbc.co.uk, www.news.com.au.

We are grateful to Emirates Auctions and the Hong Kong Transport Department for the information provided.

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