Cherished registration sales boom
MARKETS A surge of interest in cherished registration numbers has prompted classic auctioneers to hold regular sales
Classic specialists are responding to an upturn in demand for cherished registrations by holding new dedicated sales for enthusiasts.
Increased demand for personalised registration numbers has prompted North Yorkshire auction house Mathewsons to hold dedicated monthly online auctions. Owner Derek Mathewson told Classic Car Weekly: ’We used to have a few registration numbers in our regular auctions but we now have so many that we’re holding sales regularly.
‘Numbers have been sold for years and there are dealers advertising in newspapers – and DVLA sales – but there has been a great increase in buying and selling them more recently. I think it’s partly because they are relatively affordable.
‘Most registration sales do not come from the vehicles that originally carried them – some had been transferred to successive new vehicles a family had through the years. Some had even been bought directly from the DVLA, which also holds sales of plates.
Mathewsons’ March Cherished Number Plate Auction finishes at 3pm on 26 March.
Entries include RBM 2, with an estimate of £16,000-18,000, PAM 55M (£950-£1050), M4 CAA (£2500-£4500) and JNA 200 (£3500-£4000). Recent auctions have seen the registration 1 AGU go under the hammer for £16,000 and 8 ARN hit £10,000.
Brightwells also holds regular personalised number sales. The first, last December, featured 300 lots and the second, finishing on 5 April, 400.
Auction operations manager, Toby Service, said: ‘We sold some previously but people were coming to our sales mainly to buy cars. We decided there might be enough interest in holding a sale of cherished numbers and there was a big response.
‘I think the increased interest in registrations is partly because people were looking for new business opportunities during lockdown and the increase in online selling.’ Nick Larkin
❚ mathewsons.co.uk
❚ brightwells.com