Many Saudi women opting for vanity car plates

Manama: An unexpected market seems to have emerged following the decision to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia—personalised license plates

Car plates in the kingdom are usually made up of three letters and three digits.

The alphanumerical combination identifying the plates is randomly assigned.

Several Arabic women names are made up of three letters—a perfect match with the official requirement on licences.

Women’s names that have only three letters in Arabic include Haya, Huda, Mona, Amal, Maha, Samar, Qamar, Waad and Hind.

The owners of existing plates which happen to have the same letters as popular women’s names have capitalised on the opportunity to sell their plates at steep prices.

Some have sold their plates for as much as tens of thousands of Saudi riyals, according to the Saudi daily Okaz.

Owning unique car plates has become a symbol of prestige and status in many Gulf countries with people paying exorbitant amounts of money for them.