Personalised license plates are a utopia in some countries, but in those corners of the world where they are allowed, they have become one of the best-selling car accessories, so much so that their price seems to have no ceiling and there are many who invest large sums of money in them in order to speculate later.
You are probably thinking that the world is going to ruin and the truth is that nobody will blame you for it. Everything is changing rapidly and, with the rise of social media, we live in an increasingly stupid digital society that encourages us to show the world how unique and special we are. Now, just spending huge amounts of money on a vehicle is no longer enough.
Together with ourselves, the car we drive is the best way to show other mortals who we are (or who we appear to be), so in those places where the culture of the automobile is widespread, personalized license plates like those sold by Carreg have become a powerful statement of individuality and prestige. And not only that, it has also become a very lucrative business for governments.
In the UK they ride it very well
31 years ago, for the first time, a personalised number plate was sold by DVLA in the UK. The plates sold for £ 160,000 on a Christie’s auction.
Initially, it was difficult for the business to start, with a total of 658 records sold the first year, but in 1990 things changed radically, increasing this number to a not inconsiderable 26,000 copies. However, that is nothing compared to the 5.9 million custom license plates that have been sold in the last 30 years.
The benefits? About two million pounds sterling or, what is the same, 2.22 million euros to change for the state coffers. In fiscal year 2018-2019, a record for personalised license plates was reached with 404,000 units sold. Normally, the average price of the same in online auction is around 807 pounds, while in live auctions they reach 3,225 pounds on average.
Also, the UK market for personalised number plates has some particularly loyal buyers, such as Afzal Kahn. Yes, his name probably sounds familiar to you, as he is the creator of Kahn Design, the well-known specialist in the automotive aftermarket. In fact, Kahn bought the ‘F1’ license plate in 2008 for a whopping £ 440,000, which sports his Bugatti Veyron.
Since then, there has been much speculation about when and for how much he will sell it, as Afzal has always pointed out that the plate is for sale if he is offered the right amount of money. However, no one knows what the “magic” quantity is. On the contrary, we do know that last year the F1 registration was put on sale at regtransfers.co.uk for 12,009,995 pounds sterling.If it had been sold for that amount, the final figure with VAT of the purchase would have exceeded 18 million euros, an inordinate amount for most mortals, but not for many of the owners of any of the 100 McLaren F1 that are in circulation. What is clear is that, if that plate is sold one day, its price will be much higher than the vehicle that displays it.
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