GOLD PLATED
THIS IS HOW MUCH PEOPLE ARE SPENDING ON PERSONALISED NUMBER PLATES
PEOPLE are forking out record amounts of money on personalised number plates.
A whopping £167.6 million was made from the sale of 381,856 personalised number plates in 2017/18.
That’s according to data obtained under Freedom of Information laws from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) - and it’s a figure that is on the rise. In 2016/17 the DVLA made £166.9m from the sale of 374,968 personalised number plates. That was up from the £149.7m earned through the 334,818 personalised number plates sold in 2015/16. The DVLA also released data on the 20 most expensive personalised plates sold in 2017/18. Someone paid an eye-watering £73,952 for a plate reading 33 O, while someone else bought JSK 1 for £72,915.
JSK 1 is currently registered to a black Mercedes-Benz - although no vehicle registration could be found for a car with 33 O as its number plate.
It is likely that the JSK 1 number plate cost more than the car itself.
According to Buy A Car, the cheapest vehicle to buy new is the Dacia Sandero at a price of £6,995.
It means the person who bought the 33 O number plate for £73,952 could have bought more than 10 Dacia Sanderos instead.
Generally, number plates including the letter O were most desirable.
The combination 96 O sold for £68,120, 45 O for £66,176 and 200 O for £59,696.
Personalised number plates can either be bought from the DVLA or at one of the many auctions held across the country each year.
But not all number plates are extortionately-priced, with costs starting from £250.
Once a personalised number plate is bought, the buyer gets a certificate of entitlement to prove they have the right to use the private plate.
Some rules do apply, though. You can’t make a vehicle look newer than it is so it wouldn’t be possible to put an 07 registration onto a 2003 registered vehicle, for example. The DVLA also has a list of banned number plates. Each year it published a list of combinations that are immediately banned if deemed inappropriate. For instance, any combination ending in ****SEX is banned, as are other expletives, racist or homophobic terms.