HARD TO FATHOM SPIRALLING PRICES FOR VANITY PLATES
IF your number plate is worth more than your car, you need your head read.
Or, as custom plate enthusiasts would put it, YRHDRD.
This week I was amused to hear Victorian authorities are taking over ownership of all future custom number plates to stop prices spiralling beyond $1m.
If I bought a plate that expensive, it would mean my number plate would be worth 100 times more than my car. I’d be happier if they banned custom plates outright.
People who get custom plates to show the world they are a wit are usually only half right.
I can’t see the appeal of letting the world know what kind of car you are driving (FORD4ME), the fact that you’re a HOON or even who you’re in love with.
What happens when romance dies but you’re stuck with plates that say ILUVRAY or SEXYJO?
I also say no to cop-baiting cars that read: HI COPS,
FAST AS or GILTY. (I am sorry to tell you these are all real plates.)
And plates offering information we knew anyway: 4 MY EGO, EARNDIT and NRSISSM. No wonder they’re called vanity plates.
VicRoads is more circumspect than authorities in other places with the plates they let through, recently rejecting applications for HUNG4U, LUNATIK and ZEROFKS.
But they have accepted 1BEAST, ANGRY8, MEN4CE, POO and EZY.
You won’t catch me doing school pick-up with EZY plates on my car. Or POO, for that matter.
The list of rejected plates is very instructive, isn’t it? Who wakes up one morning and decides to pay $2000 for the privilege of driving around with FATBUM on their number plate? Or RUACOP? Or BOOBEE? Or LEGOPNR (leg opener), which has been spotted recently on a yellow Lamborghini.
A quick look at mrplates.com.au shows there are thousands of custom Victorian plates on sale right now.
The owners of POUT are accepting offers, as are those with plates reading KID, EURO, GLOWUP and ORDEAL.
SOLD plates are “priced to sell” at $50,000 but they haven’t sold yet. (And no one has looked at the listing for two months.)
You also might be interested to know that the owners of DARLYN are looking for buyers. “Would suit people who want combination of names, eg Darryl, Darren and Lyn or Lynette etc. All reasonable offers considered,” the sales blurb reads rather optimistically.
The owners of ROAR20 are also still looking for Richmond Tigers fans to splurge $20,000 on their plates after the recent premiership win.
But CATSWIN20? Sadly, they’re being given away for free.