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Dubai: The man who paid Dh3.12 million at an auction for the Dubai registration plate E15 will hand the special number to his father.
Businessman Aqeel Sayed Abdullah, 34, already owns a string of three-digit numbers - but none of them is as special as his new purchase.
The Emirati said before the auction on Saturday where the plate was sold, he had expected it to go for as little as half its actual selling price.
Aqeel, who with his 58-year-old father Sayed Abdullah owns a chain of department stores, said: "I liked this number and I wasn't interested in any other numbers at the auction, but I didn't think it would go this high.
"About 80 per cent of the people [at the auction] were interested in buying this number."
As a young boy Aqeel would often accompany his father to work and he is giving him E15 as a thank you for everything he has done.
"I will give it to my father as a gift - it is a surprise. He will maybe use it in the car, although I don't know what sort of car - he is buying a new one," he said.
Aqeel thought the number would sell for between Dh1.5million and Dh1.8 million when it went under the hammer at the Roads and Transport Authority's Distinguished Number Plates Auction at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel.
High demand
"I had it in my mind that it would not go for more than Dh2 million, but there were many people interested in getting this number," he said.
A total of 79 numbers were sold at the event, raising close to Dh30 million for government funds. The second most expensive number was F30, which sold for Dh2.2 million.
Of the many other special numbers that Aqeel already owns, only a few are used on any of his family's vehicles. He said special number plates were good investments since they tended to go up in value rather than down. He has no plans to sell any just yet, however.
"After some months maybe they are 40 to 50 per cent up. We have many numbers, and we use some of them in our cars," said Aqeel, who lives in Dubai and Sharjah and whose main transport is a Range Rover Sport. The recent auction was the first at which the RTA offered two-digit number plates for sale.
Owners can transfer numbers from one vehicle to another if they buy a new car and can also sell numbers privately.
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