Dubai: Whatever people may see in a licence plate, whether a badge of on-road eminence, an exhibition of opulence, a vain obsession, or an astute business investment, there’s no denying the enthusiasm for acquiring the ‘right one’ is widespread.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) surely knows this, collecting almost Dh22 million at the 88th Dubai Public Distinctive Number Plates Auction on Saturday.
The event, which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel at Festival City, attracted dozens of licence plate aficionados, most of whom were Emiratis. The zeal of the bidders could be seen most when two two-digit licence plates were put up for auction. Bids for each started at Dh500,000. While P34 fetched Dh1,940,000, the bid for Q29 ended at a whopping Dh2.02 million.
As many as 85 licence plates were sold during the auction. Before participating, bidders were required to deposit a Dh25,000 insurance cheque at the registration booth, which was refunded in case a number was not acquired by a participant. Those who made a successful bid are given 10 working days to pay the settled amount to avoid the confiscation of the deposit. Those who fail to pay are put on an ‘uncommitted’ list. The winning bids can be settled in cash or credit card through the RTA website or a manager’s cheque addressed to the RTA.
Bids began anywhere between Dh1,000 to Dh500,000, depending on the licence plate. Numbers with recurring digits, such as P44444, started at DH220,000.
Abdullah Al Jumairi, who made winning bids on two plates, said: “One of them which has a code letter N will surely go on my Nissan GTR,” he said, “it’s nearly all nines which is my favourite number. I don’t know what car I’m going to put the other licence plate on, it has the code letter M. Who knows, maybe I’ll buy a Maserati now.”
Mohammad, who refused to give his last name, said his whole family had an interest in coupling the right car with the right licence plate. However, he said that buying a licence plate was also an investment, which can be sold quickly for a quick sum of cash.
“My brother has a special licence plate for his 911 Porsche,” he said. “We like acquiring unique numbers, I can’t give you a good reason why. But, unlike a car, a licence plate retains its value. If we’re ever in need of a large amount of cash, we just sell one of the licence plates.”
Mohammad said he tries to attend nearly every licence plate auction. “You can get them cheaper here than on the market,” he said. “However, I’m not particularly taken by the code letters on the licence plates in this lot. They’re nearly all Ps and Qs. There are a few Ms and Os that I like.”
Suroor Al Awadhi said he makes a good amount of money from buying licence plates at the auction and then selling them off in the market. He made winning bids on as many as nine licence plates.
“I’m not going to sell all of them though,” he said. “There are a few three-digit plates that I’m planning on keeping. But yes, there’s a huge market in licence plates in Dubai. I won’t manage to sell them all in a few weeks. But the turnover is great. I can make a profit of about 10 to 20 per cent on each plate.”
