Saudi car registration plate fetches 6.4m riyals in auction

Riyadh: A car registration plate has fetched more than 6 million Saudi riyals in an auction, said Major-General Fahd Al Bishr, director-general of traffic, in remarks published on Tuesday.

The traffic department in Riyadh has organised an auction to sell distinguished car registration plates to the public. More than 17 million Saudi riyals were collected from selling car registration plates in this auction, Al Bishr noted.

"The first registration plate (AAA-1111) was sold for 6,400,000 riyals, while the second that bears the letters and numbers (AAA-999) fetched 3,500,000 riyals," Al Bishr said.

A large crowd attended the auction. The traffic department has set a 50,000 Saudi riyals minimum price for a distinguished car registration plate.

Two languages

This was the first car plates' auction in Saudi Arabia since the Saudi traffic department introduced the new registration plates.

The new plates are written in both Arabic and English while the old ones were only written in Arabic.

Major-General Fahd Al Bishr said recently that the change of the plates is essential as the kingdom has a large number of expatriate workers who do not know Arabic language or even Arabic letters and numbers.

All those who go for getting distinguished plates are owners of private cars. Private cars are the main means of transportation in Saudi Arabia.

"This is unbelievable. I can't believe my ears," shouted a young Saudi attending the auction. He noted that about two years ago 19 distinguished car registration plates were sold for 525,000 Saudi riyals.

"But more than 6 million for a car plate? It is really incredible!" he added.